Spring Break Vacation.They could not miss any days of school and you left a few days early with the younger children.
You have shipped all the luggage in advance.
The children have around their necks ID pouches with a copy of their Passports, $50.00 cash each for food and emergency and a copy of their tickets and Boarding Passes.
They are brought to the airport directly from school with their backpacks and are clear that their mother will meet them on the other side of their direct flight.
They both have cell phones.
Now when they check in they decide to spend $25.00 each and check their backpacks instead of carrying them to the gate. That leaves them with $50.00 for food and drinks. They board the plane with $10.00 remaining for emergency.
I NEED YOUR HELP. The question is not just should they have checked the backpacks, its should they have used $50.00 which is a lot of money for the convenience of not carrying their school backpacks to the gate. Basically they were travelling on their own so should this be a good time to teach a lesson or should I just be happy that they arrived safe.
Answer the poll below on whether or not they should be responsible for the $25.00 each for checking their backpacks or carrying them to the gate.
2 comments:
Hmm...That is a tough one. But, I would have to go with the "just be happy they arrived safe." They just were inexperienced travelers and they probably didn't think about it. I give my 8 year old the choice to carry her bag on and get $20 to spend in the airport or check her bag. She always chooses to carry her bag on. But, I am giving her the choice. If you said to your kids: "If you carry on your bags you can KEEP the $25" you might have gotten a different outcome. But after the fact it seems hard to penalize them--after all they did arrive safe and sound. Hope you are having a fun vacation.
When asked by a grown-up airlines official if they wanted to check their bags, your kids probably felt it was good to oblige her (him), as most kids will not challenge an adult unless the situation has been rehearsed. Also, if they are not used to money values, the amount being spent would not seem to be an issue to them as it clearly was ok with the adult in charge, and you did give them the money unrestricted, so would it have been ok if they bought a toy, books, magazines, candy with it instead? Kids need to be taught what money is worth, ie, you could buy two American Girl dresses, or this, which is better? Our family could have a pizza night, or five quarts of Haagen Dasz, or this... then they begin to get costs. Maybe you should understand your responsibility for the outcome, given the cloudiness of the instructions, and learn how to help them more informatively, so they are truly empowered to be in charge of their actions. If you want to hold them somehow responsible you'd be putting them in a double bind: calling them 'stupid' for not resisting an official, say. They may have felt trapped once they grasped the situation which would have required them to challenge the airlines people even more forcefully.
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