Momliz

Go for it! I think the surliness is to a greater or lesser degree a facade, although the whole family should have some input into the planning. Our family is not a democracy, but opinions are always welcome, if politely expressed.
My neanderthal is a little younger - 14 - and he has two little brothers as well. We are planning a bike tour, during spring break also, to tire them out. I will ask them what they would like to do. They all are different people and it's only fair to try to accomodate everyone, within reason.
Have fun! I find my son to be charming and very intelligent, when he feels like it.

CHELLOLIVE

Amsterdam.

annabelle2

Ireland, great idea! Fun and friendly music scene (and isn't there a U2 owned hotel in Dublin?)


Hi 5alive, maybe it was me who made the drinking comment. As you can tell from what I wrote, I agree with you. Traveling with my parents as a teen and getting to drink wine at meals is how I learned about the whole wine/food thing.

I just didn't want to give teen drinking advice -- not up to me!

Kathyngs

If Paris wins out: My son and his girlfriend took a Segway tour of Paris last year (a gift from his Mom and Dad), and they still say it was the highlight of their trip to Europe (which included England, France, Italy, and Germany). See http://www.citysegwaytours.com/paris/.

elithorn

I am bridging the generation gap plus the us-eu divide with websites based in oxford. Reached in their hard hat state via lotus-4u.com More friendly than London warmer than Cambridge and holland
Have psy student working with me seriously dating a gig and there are plenty in oxford which is waking up we have a new vice chancellor Oxfords CE who is both an engineer and a buisness man. Give it a whirl if hes keybord he hope full go live on the web with my hammond. Being a oxford string man was how our pm gotten to be neaderthal he'll be at home here.

bigtyke

I would go ahead and do what you want to do. If he doesn't like it - TOUGH LUCK!

My 15 yr old says he never likes anything we do! Why do we have to travel? WHy can't we just stay home? Yet every time after we have done something, I ask him "wasn't that fun?" and he has to admit that it was.

francophile03

I agree with bigtyke. Our son acts the same way. He used to be totally interested in visiting Europe until puberty struck. Since then it's been dissent. However, he had to return to France in July because of his tournament. He didn't want it to be in France but I know he enjoyed himself in the end although he's the last to admit it.

amwosu

Hi bigtyke! (Wasn't it you who suggested FHs, AZ to me for which I am forever in your debt!)

I can relate! Several years ago we took the darling teens to a small museum in Aspen on a rest day to learn about the early years of the town and how it evolved from silver mining town to ski resort. They acted like idiots while in a different room from me and the curator had to tell them to settle down. These are children universally praised by teachers, other parents, neighbors, and grandparents. As we dragged them down the street the 14 year old screamed, "I didn't ASK you to bring me to Aspen!!!"

toneeg78

This in response to hanging out with other musicians. When I was in Florence last year, I walked through piazza santa croce around 11pm or midnight and there were a bunch of twenty-something kids just playing different instruments and dancing and pretty much hanging out. i'm not sure if this was a special occasion or a nightly thing, but i'm more inclined to say that it was a nightly thing. it just seemed like a whole bunch of kids hanging out. granted, this would probably be fun for him if he was doing it himself, so if you feel comfortable in him exploring the city (any city, in fact) on his own, he might find something off the beaten track that he might enjoy.