Why is do parents not "thank" a teacher?

[Dcteacher]

I took 11 children to Borneo. For 2 weeks.

We did a lot.
Suba dived in the South China Sea.
Trekked the foothills of Mount Kinabalu.
Stayed in the jungle and learned jungle craft.
Spent to day on a tropical island.

On return. Not one single parent thanked me for the trip of a lifetime for their child.

I had spent the previous 2 years helping with fundraising, answering questions doing the paperwork, taking time out of my holiday. This is not in my job description. I don't have to do this.

Not one.

Why?

'grateful to give it up'

Literally no one asked her too, in fact most parent at our school actively despise it. We are from a poor area yet the schools are putting on trips to fucking Dubai and us parents don't get a say, the school foist it and the costs onto us and we are the 'bad guys' when we can't afford it.

I don't care how much people work, as a disabled person not currently able to work due to ongoing health issues it doesn't bother me if OP never works, works part time, full time or anything else. It bothers me when I'm being guilted into paying her free trip of a lifetime that I can't afford and no one asked her to do and berated for not being grateful enough for it.

Imagine instead of the teacher its your kids school friend goes up to you child and says 'Do you want to come to Alton towers with us this weekend?' without pre-asking you. Then once your kids all excited and insisting on going they tell you 'tickets cost £136 and the petrol will be £20 just bank transfer it to me' and then moan to everyone that you aren't grateful enough that they 'babysat' for you. Nah, its rude.

People who refer to school trips as a "holiday" have NO idea what is involved. So, unbelievably ungrateful.

@DancefloorAcrobatics just because the teacher isn't an instructor, it doesn't mean any down time! In this time I'm doing paperwork, comforting children who may be homesick, helping children get in and out of safety equipment, talking to them, giving positive encouragement, doing first aid if needed, taking kids to the toilet etc. It's really lovely being able to have proper conversations with the children and see a different side to them, and I enjoy it, but it's not 'down time!' This is also the case when they go to bed. I've spent many an hour as a cleaning up vomit, sorting nosebleeds, comforting homesick children, checking sugar levels of diabetic kids...the list goes on. I do it because I enjoy it, but downtime it is not!

@Isthisreasonable all 36 pupils at my daughters school made the money this past two years. And businesses are still sponsoring. And they did lots of project work in the local communities on the trip so I don't see why they are a bad thing. The kids experienced and learnt so much.

This is a really interesting thread, it's good to see different points of view.
Me saying children could die on school trips isn't over dramatic, it's true and it does weigh heavily on me when I take them away on residential trips and add to the stress. There's a lot of pressure, but of course there is with other jobs too.
We get pressure from management to organise trips so they can brag to attract more pupils as we are competing with other schools, so it's interesting that some parents "despise" them. I've always appreciated the ones my own kids have gone on and seen the benefits of them, but also always said no if we can't afford it (e.g. school skiing trip next year was over £1000 per pupil-no chance). I don't begrudge the school and my daughter hasn't become despondent that she is missing out, it's just life and she knows if we can't afford it we just can't.
I find it a bit odd that some parents hate trips so much...but it does explain the lack of thanks!😄