[KathieBlogs]

Hi.

I have a couple of questions to pose I'd love to hear from you about. Hypothetical, of course

Situation one: Four 12-year-old boys are allowed to walk to/from the store at a public camp. The trek to/from is about 1.5 miles. The path to/from is blazed through brush, obscure from the road/campsites, traveled by bicyclists and campers going to the store. One of the 12-y-o boys is your own. Would you let him go? Why or why not?

Situation two: Same 4 boys go swimming out in a cove in the early morning hours (9am). They "move" three logs halfway out into the cove, then tire and leave them there. It's not discovered until later when the entire group (including adults and younger kids) get ready to go boating the logs where moved. What questions and/or concerns would you have, if any?

Finally, based upon these two scenarios, let's (hypothetically) say you learn of these situations upon your son's return home from a week of camping with friends. He's been invited to go camping later in the summer with them, but you're unable to go with him. Would you allow the same people to take him along and provide care/supervision? If yes, why? If no, why not?

Yep, there really is a point to all of this and I'd love to hear your honest and candid responses. I'm in need of some outside thoughts, ideas and opinions. Thanks so much for "playing" along!

Kathie