Most schoolies believe they don't need a nanny, as Clownfish says, and no amount of "advice" is going to stop them doing what they would do anyway.

Look at the Americans and their college "spring break", now that's a "schoolies event" for lots more people and several years of college at that. Mostly the starting age is the same. Lots of kids get into trouble and lots of kids do not.

Some friends of mine offered their daughter an all expenses 2 weeks at a Fiji resort (before the troubles) and thus side stepped the whole schoolies issue.

You've brought up your kids as well as you can, you have to let them go sometime.

The police are having trouble with parents supplying their under age kids with alcohol, on the gold coast.
So whose responsible for the troubles they cause.

My daughter went to a coastal town for schoolies week last year.
After 2 nights, she rang us to come and pick her up.

She was bored because she doesn't like alcohol, and found that babysitting drunk friends was no fun for her.

I am thankful it is all over now, because it wasn't her behaviour I was worried about, it was the 'toolies' - the older guys who went to the schoolies events/areas hell-bent on 'scoring' with younger girls.

I feel sorry for all the parents whose kids haven't gone through this yet, but I certainly think they should read this article before they go.

This year is the tenth anniversary of my schoolies experience. I spent a blissful week on the Gold Coast, surrounded by friends and fellow revellers. I didn't get into any fights, and I didn't witness anything horrific. I did consume a little bit of alcohol, despite the illegality of doing so. And I survived, going home with very fond memories.

I would suspect that the vast majority of schoolies this year will have exactly the same experience. It is certainly true, though, that schoolies - as with most young people - have no idea of the potential consequences of their actions. Had I been punched while under the influence, I could easily have got into a scuffle which would result in prosecution. That would have ended my ambitions of becoming a teacher, for sure. I never thought of it at the time, and nobody was there to tell me.

As for your quip about the abortion industry, runner, the overwhelming majority of volunteers at schoolies - at least back in '99 - were from evangelical Christian churches. They ran 'time out', they ran beach parties and they turned a blind eye to the heavy drinking. Far from promoting abortion, they did the opposite. They seemed to keep a watchful eye on those schoolies who took 'guests' back to their rooms. In the morning, they woke up with stickers on their doors asking 'what would Jesus do?'

Let 'em party. But let them know what the consequences are likely to be if they party too hard.

At the risk of pontificating it seems to me that worrying about 17/18 students at schoolies and the excesses I would point out that if they haven't learned from the parents, a sense of perspective/proportion and what's important by then it's 14/15 years too late.

Our 3 children didn't go to schoolies because in their words "We can get 'pissed', if that is what I want, at home for a fraction of the cost and safer to boot.... schoolies is an over hyped ripoff"

The eldest preferred to spend his money buying a car, the next a top range computer etc. The youngest waited untill schoolies had finished then her and her two best mates went away on their own.

NB there is nothing extraordinary about either these Young adults or the way we raised them except we (parents) were involved.