I did not think it was safe for an eighteen-year-old high school student to be off unsupervised during a party week like spring break. I could'nt believe that the high school was even planning such an event for my daughter. It did not help when I found out that the chaperone was going to be a teacher that I thought was too friendly with the students in the first place.
I called the school to discuss this with the administration. I was told that this teacher was organizing a Myrtle Beach, south carolina spring break. Myrtle Beach named for the Myrtle Trees in the area vacations average from about $400 dollars to $700 dollars per person for 5 nights and 6 days, so the cost was fairly affordable. The students would have some free time to play on the beach, but the main objective was to help rebuild two habitat for humanity homes that had been damaged in a tropical storm. I was told that the Myrtle Beach spring break was going to be closely supervised because parents were being asked to come along. If two sets of parents or four adults did not sign up the trip would be cancelled. The trip was being limited to twenty-five students so this would be five students per adult. When I got off the phone I talked with my daughter more about this. She said that I had not given her a chance to explain the purpose of the trip before I said no. We had both lost our temper and she had left the room. I apologized for not letting her explain the full trip to me. We agreed that we would discuss this further with her father when he returned from work.
Over dinner we brought up the subject of the Myrtle Beach spring break with her father. His first reaction was very similar to mine. Once we started talking about the home repairs that would be done for needy families he began to listen. We asked our daughter if she had any idea of who the parents would be. She told us that she was hoping we would agree to go. Her father is a general contractor and she thought it would be fun. She said that her friends agreed that we would be good chaperones to have along.
After dinner my husband and I discussed this further. He told me he did not like spring breaks as a college student that he did not think he would like one as a chaperone, however he could tell it was important to our daughter. We decided that this would be an interesting trip, and we would all be going on a myrtle Beach spring break and stay at an ocean beach resort Hotel.
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