Should a 13-Year Old Carry Her Own Passport?

Does she carry a phone? Anybody old enough to carry their own phone is old enough to carry their own passport. If you should get separated for any reason when traveling, she should have proper identification, especially if she doesn't speak the language wherever you are.

Does she carry a phone? Anybody old enough to carry their own phone is
old enough to carry their own passport. If you should get separated
for any reason when traveling, she should have proper identification,
especially if she doesn't speak the language wherever you are.

My answer too.

Does this 13 almost 14 year old have any trouble keeping track of things like school ID, lunch money, other personal items? If the answer is "usually no" then she should be able to handle carrying her own passport.

As others stated, it would be better for her to have in case your group gets separated and she would need assistance in getting back with you.

First, we never carry our passports. We carry other ID and our 13 (nearly 14) year old carries our hotel’s business card on him in case we get separated while on a trip. He also has cash, in a wallet in his pocket.

You indicated she will be wearing a money belt under the clothing. In that case, yes. And the tip about carrying a business card from the hotel in case you become separated is, in my opinion, a must.

When our sons were in that age range and want to wonder a bit without the leash. We made sure they had an hotel card or address and a 20 euro attached to the card an buried in their clothing. Idea is that if they do lost or separated they would have taxi money and a location. Second, if you got separated you would return to the last place everyone was together and wait an hour. Fortunately we never had to test any of these methods so have on idea how well it would work.

It's much safer to keep the passport at the hotel and carry a photocopy.

Worst case, what if there is a natural disaster or terrorist attack and your child is unconscious or has no way of identifying herself? If she's mature enough to travel with you, she's mature enough to carry legal identification.

And what if your hotel burns down or gets blown up while you are out? How will you get home then?

Nope.. We leave passports in the hotel safe and carry copies. I agree with carrying a small amount of cash and the hotel address/phone number

My kids carried theirs in a neck wallet on travel days. On non travel days, I carried them. Because I am a selfish person, I didn't want them losing their passports to affect my trip. Since they were minors, I'd have to be involved. Now that their grown, that's all on their time. They can go spend a day at the consulate. I'll be having a glass of wine elsewhere.

Astorienne - it is much more likely that a 13 year old will lose a passport than our hotel will explode or than a hurricane will hit Rome. I take the common sense approach.

I carried my own passport at that age and look what happened. Travel addict.

I think a good comparison cell phone question is, not only does she carry one, but has she ever lost it?

I wouldn't unless she is an unusually mindful and responsible kid. If you are concerned that she needs ID for a disaster then a copy of a passport will work (not for legal issues but for identifying her in the unlikely situations mentioned above. A lost child won't be in trouble for not having a real passport on their person, the parents will be contacted). I have traveled with babies and kids (my oldest is now 11). They are certainly old enough to travel with me but do not carry their passports. Maybe an 11yo could, but not mine, he'd loose his head. At a point this gets absurd - a 6 year old? 2 year old? Obviously not, that's a parents job. No one expects otherwise. 13/14 is fine if the parents think their kid is responsible, but certainly not required. I'm planning on letting my kids carry theirs when they are old enough to go out and about without me in Europe (like to a museum or restaurant for a few hours, not a hop to the convenience store downstairs). I'm not sure when that is.

So have her carry a passport copy, card with hotel name and address, your phone number, and 20-50 euros. That will let her call you, identify her to the police if she is injured so they can call you, give her a way to ask directions to the hotel, and pay for...whatever comes up.

I thank you all for your thoughtful feedback.

I believe the 'takeaway' here is that it somewhat depends on my subjective experience of how responsible our daughter is. She will be turning 14 and I believe should be pushed to learn how to fend for herself. Yes she has a cell phone and has not lost it as of yet (of course I think she'd be more likely to lose her head before she'd leave her phone behind LOL).

Hubbie and I are in the unique position of having been touring in Venice during the 9/11 2001 attack. We are from NY. Our story is quite a doozy and might be an interesting post on another forum...(I certainly hope Italian authorities handle these things better nowadays).

With the hope of turning our daughter into somebody who is sure of herself and has a love of the world and traveling in it, I think we'll teach her to wear her passport on her moneybelt. That, and I am feeling better knowing that the actual passport is with her/us in a worst case scenario.

I always made my kids carry their own passports and a little money, along with contact information, in a neck wallet - but I didn't start taking kids on trips till they were big enough to carry their own bag either.

The upside is their passport will be important if they get lost or seperated from the rest of the family (as will money and contact information). The downside is kids' part of the brain that assesses risk isn't fully developed until age 26, so it's impossible to expect them to use the care an adult would use.

We never lost one but there were times I had to scold them for wearing their neck wallet outside their shirt or leaving it in an awkward place in a hotel, where they might forget it when we moved on (e.g. inside the bedding).

With the hope of turning our daughter into somebody who is sure of
herself and has a love of the world and traveling in it, I think we'll
teach her to wear her passport on her moneybelt. That, and I am
feeling better knowing that the actual passport is with her/us in a
worst case scenario.

I lived in Germany when I was 12 for nearly 3 months and carried my passport with me in my wallet. Not that it matters, but I think you're doing the right thing as you wrote above.

I carried my 13 yr old sons passport when we were traveling , but when just sightseeing we always leave them in hotle safe . I don't worry about hotels blowing up .

At 12 I was sent to stay with my grandmother in Europe for three months . When we travelled I carried my own passport as I was more responsible than my doting but somewhat dotty grandmother . I am and was a completely different person than my son .