As summer approaches us and schools dismiss their students for vacation numerous summer music festivals are among us such as Spring Awakening, which starts this weekend.  These festivals are designed with the intent to provide entertainment, with incredible light shows, food, DJs and musicians it is understandable why teens would want to attend these “fests.”  Unfortunately, not all of the reasons are as wholesome as a parent would hope.

Drinking:  Although they do ask for ID’s at the beer tents at festivals, some teenagers already have fake ID’s or find an adult to buy them alcoholic drinks.  Consequently, drinking at music festivals can lead to driving under the influence when the festival has ended.  Too many drinks at the festival can lead to poor decisions at and/or after the festival has ended.

Drugs: A study done by drugabuse.com looks at the types of drugs being used by those who attend different music festivals across the United States. The study, which looks at instagram posts from festival attendees, shows the statistics of the types of drugs used related to each festival.  Drugs are surprisingly easy to acquire at a music festival – and not just Marijuana or Ecstasy, all sorts of drugs are being purchased and used at music festivals.  This link contains a diagram, which illustrates just a few different types of drugs that are reported of being used at different music festivals.  All one needs to do is watch the news or look online to find numerous overdoses and deaths at festivals.  Teens may think that they are purchasing one type of drug at a festival when really they are being given dangerous, even deadly, chemicals.

Injury:  Most concert attendees want to watch the performance from as close to the stage as they can possibly get, this results in hundreds-to-thousands of people being compacted in a space made for maybe half the number of people normally.  This can lead to injury and even death.  Crowd Surfing, when the crowd lifts a person and “surfs” them to the front of the stage can cause injury if the person is accidentally dropped.  The dancing crowd can accidentally crush or step on others in the crowd.  Just a few years ago several people were sent to the hospital after being injured in a mosh pit at the Chicago Music Festival, Riot Fest.

Lost/Stolen Possessions:  Some music festivals are not always held in the best of locations, and a very diverse population attends these festivals.  Teenagers attending these festivals with their latest iPhones and wads of cash to spend at the festival may be setting themselves up for disaster.  Being robbed is less likely to happen than losing one’s phone or purse at a music festival but that is not to say that it does not occur.  Music festivals are not the most ‘valuable-friendly’ place.

Unprotected Sex/Sexual assault: Drinking and drug use leads to lowered inhibitions which can lead to unprotected sex, or even, non-consensual sex.  During some music performances the crowd is within such close proximity of one another that it is impossible to not touch the person next to you, but some people may take advantage of the closeness to inappropriately touch others in the crowd. Sexual assault and rape occur to both men and women, and although it is impossible to know how many sexual assaults may occur at music festivals, don’t be in the mindset that they never do happen.  Teach your teenager about ‘safe sex’ and how to protect themselves from being a victim of a sexual assault.

It would be almost impossible to ban your teenager from every music festival solely because of these reasons, and just because drinking and drug use occur at music festivals does not mean that your teenager is involved in such behavior. But, it does not hurt to talk with your teen about safe festival behavior and the dangers and consequences of drinking/drug use.