Reply #110: I have no children, but I have 3 nieces. I told them that I'd...

[I Have A Dream]

take each of them on an international trip when they turned 16. The only thing required of them was to write a 2-3 page report on the country/countries where we were going. It wasn't going to be graded or anything, but, in my eyes, it was their investment in the trip. Getting the report from the oldest one was difficult, but when I received it, it was a decent report on Paris & London. Getting the report from my middle niece was extremely difficult; I got it on the day of my cut-off date that I had given her. I'm sure that it was mostly copied from the encyclopedia, but I at least received a report on Ireland. My youngest niece never gave me a report even though I accommodated her as much as I could in terms of time. Because she didn't get the report to me, I didn't take her on my trip to England. I still went on the trip and I felt bad about her not being there with me, but I'm glad that I made the decision that I made. My niece was probably not happy with me, but she couldn't say that I didn't warn her. One thing that I do know is that she believes me when I say something. (This was about 6 years ago.)

I can't tell you what to do, but I thought that my story might add something to help you with your decision-making process.