« Beach Beach Beach!
Prostitution »

Welcome Schoolies to Byron bay

Schoolies week is a journey for parents also, writes Corrie Perkin after seeing her daughter head off to Byron Bay.

JUST before 7am yesterday, I watched my teenage daughter board a Virgin Blue flight to Coolangatta. Destination: Byron Bay. Event: schoolies week. Purpose: fun. “You’re letting her go to Byron Bay?” How many people have asked this question since last month’s Rex Hunt incident? When the high-profile football commentator went public about his family’s fight with local Byron youths, a collective knee-jerk reaction followed.

There were anti-Byron stories. Anti-schoolies week stories. Tales of similar local-versus-tourist tensions at Noosa and the Gold Coast. At the same time, thousands of year 12 students were trying to focus on their exams. For many, schoolies week was on the backburner. Their parents, meanwhile, pondered the potential issues facing those teenagers who had planned post-exam trips to the beaches of eastern Australia. Would our children be safe? Rex Hunt was not the catalyst of our fears. For months, parents of my daughter’s year 12 cohort have discussed the pros and cons of schoolies week. The school, also, has been proactive in tackling issues such as alcohol, clubbing, spiked drinks and personal safety.

But the post-Rex media coverage reminded everyone how easily a carefree evening, drinking, volatile behaviour, and us-and-them tensions that might arise in a seaside community could prove toxic. What action can a parent take? We let them go. We offer advice and set rules — that’s a given. But we must remember that these young people are turning 18. If, as adults, they’re unprepared for potential dangers, it is our fault, not theirs. It’s not the fault of the people of Byron Bay, nor of Rex Hunt, who might be accused of whipping up emotions.

If your child has survived a tough VCE and shown a commitment you admire, he or she deserves to be rewarded. It doesn’t have to be a trip — it might be a big 18th birthday party, or a night at the local pub. But the gesture is justified and the children will appreciate the faith we have in them. Will my daughter know what to do if her drink is spiked? She may be comatose, but her friends will be there and I value their decision-making abilities. If our kids are confronted by locals, as the Hunts allege they were, then I hope there will be enough lucid thinkers in the group to deactivate the situation.

Parents of 18-year-olds should also remember that if your child (a) has friends and (b) goes out on Saturday nights, they have quite probably been through these experiences before. “We’ve had friends who have passed out because of drinking. We’ve watched our guy friends get into fights,” my daughter and her friend told their mothers last week. The mums were speechless — although not to the extent that we couldn’t ask: “Excuse me, when?”

“We understand what can go wrong because we’ve seen it before,” the girls said. “You have to trust us to know what to do.” Yesterday, driving back from the airport, it occurred to me that schoolies week is a journey for parents, also. It is a key moment when we must realise — and celebrate — our children as adults. School is behind them, they will now carve their paths. The trick, now, is to chant this mantra every time you are tempted to make that phone call.

Posted: Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005 Under: News. | Home |

Byron Bay Recent News Articles

Comments are closed.