Twitter.com – Follow Us! The Chaperone hits theaters on February 18th, 2011. Cast: Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Ariel Winter, Kevin Corrigan, José Zuniga, Yeardley Smith, Kevin Rankin, Enrico Colantoni In the film, Ray Bradstone (Triple H) is the best “wheel man in the business,” but he is determined to go straight and be the best parent he can be to his daughter, Sally (Winter), and make amends with his ex-wife, Lynne (Gish). As Ray struggles to find honest work, his old bank-robbing crew, led by Phillip Larue (Corrigan), offers him one last job. He agrees at first, but changes his mind at the last second leaving the crew without a driver. Ray decides instead to serve as a “chaperone” for Sally’s school field trip. When the robbery goes awry, Larue blames Ray and chases the school bus all the way to the Museum of Natural History in New Orleans. Ray must deal with Larue, while supervising Sally’s class on what becomes one of the craziest school trips ever. The Chaperone trailer courtesy World Wrestling Entertainment.
Question by Anna_Blue: Have you ever been a chaperone on a trip to another country?
I am considering being a chaperone on a high school trip to France next summer.Actually, my husband and I both are. These will be mostly 16 year old boys and girls. Have you ever been a chaperone on a trip like this? How was it? What kind of problems did you encounter. What were the sleeping arrangements?
Wow, Gary! Thanks for taking the time to write that for me. I will definitely share this with the teachers and other parents involved. I am so glad I asked the question, and that you chose to answer it.
Best answer:
Answer by Gary C
I have. I hope you have thought about the “teenage” issues that can arise when you are abroad. 
My suggestions (and they may sound harsh, but I would insist on obtaining agreement from both the students as well as the parents before leaving on the trip):
a) Your word is law while on the trip. No complaining, no whining. The kids need to see and respect the chaperons as authority figures, not as volunteer babysitters. If anyone becomes too disruptive on the trip, you have the authority to send them back to the US early.
b) You are not going to be able to keep them in the hotel/hostel at night. Accept this. However, insist that 1) Nobody leaves the hotel without a buddy, and they stick together at all times. 2) They are always reachable by cell phone.
c) If you are traveling throughout France, set your departure times to leave early in the morning. Tell the group that you will be leaving on the bus/for the train station/for the airport at the agreed upon time. And STICK to that time. If they are late getting up- they just have to catch up to you in the next city. That’s the only way you can keep them from staying out/up all night and turning the trip into a scheduling nightmare for the leaders.
4) Have the students collaborate and pick one or two destinations in each city that THEY want to visit. It does not have to be a cultural site (the Hard Rock Cafe was often picked on our trip). It gives them something to look forward to and blow off steam. Jim Morrison (from the Doors) grave site in Paris might be another venue. (Do 16 year olds today even know who Jim Morrison was?)
5) Re the sleeping arrangements- if possible separate guys and girls by floor or at least by the wing of the hotel. Other than the chaperones, nobody stays/sleeps with anyone of the opposite sex, it doesn’t matter if they are boyfriend/girlfriend. Allowing people of the opposite sex to stay with each other during evening hours inside a hotel room is the quickest way for a trip to start becoming dysfunctional. It’s also grounds for sexual harrassment or worse.
Again, I know this may sound harsh. But I have found it necessary to have these rules in place, otherwise everyone ends up doing their own thing and the trip ends up disorganized and valueless.
What do you think? Answer below!
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