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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I am aren't I? Don't want DS to go on school trip he is too small!

184 replies

BupcakesandCunting · 31/01/2012 12:32

DS is in reception class (4 years old) and we got a letter home last week to say they are going on a school trip to Twycross Zoo. I offered my services as a parent helper as I do help out sometimes at the forest school/trips etc and his teacher said "No but thanks, we'll be taking members of staff for school so we're all covered!"

Errrr, you what?! How many staff are they taking to cover 60 4/5 year olds?! There's only ten teachers at the school anyway and I don't think they'll be taking all of the teachers out.

Oh help me and tell me I'm being a nob. I have visions of DS or one of his classmates inadvertently getting separated and lost from their class or whatever. In my defence, I'm not the only one I earwigged on some other mums this morning in the playground and they're a bit Hmm about it too.

OP posts:
BalloonSlayer · 31/01/2012 13:22

Just don't send DS with a stick with an 'orse's 'ead 'andle and things will probably go OK

roundtable · 31/01/2012 13:23

The teacher won't lose your child, don't worry.

Far too much paperwork to fill out if they did. Grin

BalloonSlayer · 31/01/2012 13:24

Oh x-post DeWe and look at the times!! Grin

WibblyBibble · 31/01/2012 13:25

Uh, well- you know if you really want to go and watch him they are normally desperate for parent volunteers to go along on trips, right? At my daughter's school they try and grab you in the morning if they feel like they don't have enough and jam you onto a minibus full of screeching kids, never to be seen again without vomit on your jumper. So if it's something that would help you feel better about it then I'd go and offer to be a parent volunteer if I were you- fortunately for me I'm not and thus get to sit about with a cup of tea rather than a million 5-year-olds hyped on sugar and gibbons.

DeWe · 31/01/2012 13:25

Grin Great minds and all that... creepy! Grin

WibblyBibble · 31/01/2012 13:28

Oh you tried that. Well, they are normally better behaved with teachers than parents, so he'll probably be fine as long as there aren't any rampaging polar bears.

Perriwinkle · 31/01/2012 13:36

Which illustrates the point Denj33 that 99% of parent helpers are only helping for purely selfish reasons in order to (a) keep an eye on their own kids (b) nose at what the teachers are doing and earwig for gossip or (c) nose at the other kids' work and compare their little darlings with them.

I lost count the number of times these oh so altruistic parents helpers used to approach me telling me things about my child that they'd observed while volunteering their services. Always that he was very bright and said in a way as if they didn't expect him to be. Always got right up my nose.

onadietcokebreak · 31/01/2012 13:45

Not really no- we have poor links here.

I find it unbelievable that do our best to keep them safe in cars yet use lapbelts on school trips.

FaithHopeAndKevin · 31/01/2012 13:48

I felt like this when my PFB went on his first trip. I had to be restrained from getting on the coach with them.

Turns out he gets coach sick - who would have guessed Grin and he was handed back to me by the TA who said "I scraped the biggest chunks off" but I didn't know if she was talking about him or her, as she'd had to sit next to him.

There's a lesson in there for you Wink

ShowOfHands · 31/01/2012 13:50

DD's reception class brought home a letter last year to say they were going on an outing. To the village postbox. Alpha Mum sidled round the playground reassuring us all that she'd be following at a distance to make sure all was well. It's about 500m from school to little red box. No road crossing involved.

So even if you do dress up as a chimp and swing through the trees behind them, there's always somebody worse out there...

stealthsquiggle · 31/01/2012 13:57

well nowadays (Y5) I only get to know about DS's many and various trips after the fact or if I read the calendar which I was sent at the beginning of term - I appear to have signed some magical universal permission slip at some point Hmm.

DS's nursery took them all somewhere (I forget where Blush) when he was 2, so I got the "first trip" thing over and done with very early. The poor nursery staff strapped 80 different car seats into coaches - as one of them said, they could have written their own Which report on usability by the time they were done.

Bunbaker · 31/01/2012 13:57

"they are normally desperate for parent volunteers to go along on trips, right"

No. Some schools deliberately don't want parents on trips. For the reasons Perriwinkle and WibblyBibble state. Also, they want children to be independent and not have parents hovering over them all the time.

LordGiveMeStrength · 31/01/2012 14:00

Let him go. I'm sure that whatever adults come along will be CRB checked. You can't say that of every parent who might have potentially gone.

Denj33 · 31/01/2012 14:01

Yes there are definitely a lot of parent helpers who only "help" to be nosy- and then take great pleasure in telling their friends about it. We had a lot of that when parents were invited to help kids read, there was plenty of talk about which child was "struggling"
I used to hear it at the school gates, sometimes the children were there listening as well.

Poledra · 31/01/2012 14:01

Muppet

Best toughen up - it'll get worse from here on in. 5-yo DD2 went on a Rainbows sleepover the other weekend. She had a fab time and I did not worry one little bit.

Denj33 · 31/01/2012 14:04

Oh and stealthswiggle, I seem to have signed that universal permission slip as well. There seem to be many trips I have no idea about :)

ZuzuBailey · 31/01/2012 14:06

I've been to Twycross and it's mostly monkeys and apes. There's a nice little indoor play centre and an outdoor playpark.

Have a look here.

He'll have a wonderful day. I know how worrying it is as I'm shitting myself about DD's upcoming trip abroad at the moment.

PatriciaHolm · 31/01/2012 14:10

School will have done risk assessments etc, they aren't just going to hop in a coach and hope for the best, honest....

Our school always takes parents on this kind of trip, but I know other schools manage it differently. We usually have a ratio of around 1 adult: 4-5 children, but I don't think there are any legal limits for trips.

It's possible they have asked some parents already of course and don't need any more and the teacher was trying to avoid arguments about who was asked!

IShallWearMidnight · 31/01/2012 14:10

DD3s school have very strict rules when on coaches - bottoms on seats AT ALL TIMES, seatbelts fastened AT ALL TIMES, and encourage them to snitch on each other if they even think sideways about breaking the rules Grin. School has a supply of booster cushions for smaller DC, or parents send them in if needed.

Having done a Y3 trip to the Science Museum in London (on the train and the tube, which was a bit [eek]) the adults spend all their time counting heads and trying very hard not to lose anyone particularly the DC of the most PFBish mother who they know will Cause A Fuss.

It will be fine Bupcakes, honestly.

WhatIsPi · 31/01/2012 14:11

I was sure this was going to be about the lack of child seats on buses again but no its about being eaten by apes. Fair do's.

My dc have suffered much greater harm in the playground [grr] than they have on school trips - not sure this is calming info though.

Gooshka · 31/01/2012 14:14

I think they stopped the parent helpers because of the necessity for all adults to be CRB checked (which can take a month to do and obviously costs money). I totally understand how you feel - my two 11-year-olds will be going to France for 5 days with the school in July and I know I'll worry about them! Also, I had a note from my other son's school only yesterday about a Year 2 trip in April consisting of an overnight stay - he's only 6!!!! Of course I will say 'yes' but I can't pretend I'm not dreading it Blush Hopefully the parents' meeting next week will put my mind at rest.

NormanTebbit · 31/01/2012 14:15

FGS

Let him go. He will be fine. And have taken another step towards independence.

( I have to confess I never had a seconds worry about any of my kids on school trips - not even DD2's nursery trip to the zoo when she was three. They will have ratios worked out. And children are surprisingly sensible when out with teacher)

NormanTebbit · 31/01/2012 14:16

I've helped out on school trips , you don't have to be CRB checked ( although I am for work)

diddl · 31/01/2012 14:20

I´m sure that they´ll be taking the correct number of adults.

I remember when by PFB was about 6 he went on an afternoon trip with Kindergarten as did all those about to start school.

As the bus drove away my PSB started sobbing hysterically-convinced that he was going away for ever!

HuwEdwards · 31/01/2012 14:22

All I would say is do ask what the child/adult ratio is on the trip.

When my DD was in reception (she's yr6 now) I asked how many adults were helping on a trip and they had got the numbers wrong and were taking too few adults.

They apologised profusely and enlisted a few more parents.