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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To have picked my 4 year old up 15 minutes early from school?

125 replies

Hanspannerly · 14/01/2013 17:02

I live in the north east, it is extremely snowy today. At lunch time there was abut 4 inches and road completely covered and it was snowing heavily. I live at the top of a large hill at quite high altitude, school is at bottom approx 1 mile away. It is also about -1 today. I do not have a 4x4

I rang the school to ask if I could pick DS up 15 minutes early as I could not get my car out, it was stuck in the snow. Friend who has a 4x4 offered to take me and 2 yr old DD to school to pick up DS. it had to be slightly early as she then had to pick her own child up from a different school.
Receptionist in the phone was fairly rude but agreed I could pick up early.
So I arrive at school with DD and receptionist was v rude to me. Kept going on about how the head was EXTREMELY unhappy with this. I asked what I should have done. Apparently I should have walked with a small toddler. In 4 inches of snow! She told me off like I was a child.
The hilarious thing is that when I got to reception classroom, they were watching telly!
DS has excellent attendance and is doing very well at school. AIBU? I didn't think so...but she was so rude!

OP posts:

SquinkiesRule · 14/01/2013 18:01

YANBU I had a lot of friends who lived on farms, the school would call all their parents and send them on an earlier bus home as only the main roads were cleared. Two of them still had to wait on the main road and get the father to bring the tractor to get home, steep hills and a few miles out of the village. Not fun in snow and girls school shoes are hardly appropriate for snow trekking home in. Didn't happen very often.

libelulle · 14/01/2013 18:02

The child is FOUR for gods sake, not sitting his gcses next week. Of course ywnbu. And to the person who said they were likely watching something related to what they were learning- I doubt it! In dead time when they're knackered ours get to watch Charlie and Lola, octonauts etc. and in area my dh is from rural kids sometimes get snowed in for a week or more at a time, school just has to suck it up.

Dinglebert · 14/01/2013 18:02

Does the receptionist have children? I don't think people realise how difficult (if not impossible) it is to push a pushchair in the snow. It really doesn't work, especially up a hill because as you push up, you also slide down (as I know to my embarrassment as I got stuck on a hill one day ).

Beamur · 14/01/2013 18:02

YANBU. Storm in a teacup.
I bet they weren't watching anything important either! DD's school often used to let the kids watch a DVD in the afternoons especially when the weather was poor and they couldn't play outside at this age.
Her school is in a location where quite a lot of parents live in fairly remote locations (not everyone can manage to live on the doorstep of even their nearest school) and certainly further away than you could manage on foot, so the school have a pretty relaxed attitude about parents picking kids up early (or even not coming in) when the weather is bad. I had a text from school this morning saying if parents wanted to pick their kids up early that was fine - the school wasn't closed though.

Crinkle77 · 14/01/2013 18:03

Don't see what it has got to do with the receptionist. It is not her place to tell parents off

Dinglebert · 14/01/2013 18:03

And ... I would comment to one of the teachers about the receptionist. She is there to answer the phone, not to be rude to parents.

SushiPaws · 14/01/2013 18:03

As I live in Scotland I think YABU. 4 inches of snow isn't much. A 2yo can walk down the hill to school no problem. Back might have taken you longer but would've been fun all wrapped up.

Original poster

Hanspannerly · 14/01/2013 18:05

It's interesting isn't it? My friend who took us to school whose daughter is in school a few villages away and at a much lower altitude had a text from her school saying that due to the bad weather parents were welcome to collect earlier!

OP posts:

Startail · 14/01/2013 18:09

YANBU
Our HT would much rather everyone arrived and departed safely, than worrying about 15 minutes.

Personally it's generally that we are late because the road is under water, again.

I've certainly run in on the dot of 3.20 put DDs coat on for her and ran down the road before the river rises any more.

LadyBeagleEyes · 14/01/2013 18:09

Just how bloody high is this hill you live on the top of?
It's just a bit of snow, we could get a lot worse winter than this, then what would you do?

insanityscratching · 14/01/2013 18:10

YANBU I waited until the end of the day but when I got there more than half the school had already gone. Apparently a rumour had gone round Facebook (falsely) that school was closing. I'm not on Facebook and so was oblivious.

MissyMooandherBeaverofSteel · 14/01/2013 18:12

A bit of snow is hardly an emergency amazing

Fwiw I have 4 kids, no car and lived out in the back of beyond in NE Scotland for years and coped perfectly well, it is do-able.

Original poster

Hanspannerly · 14/01/2013 18:13

Just incase you haven't read all the posts Ladybeagle, I usually manage by moving the car onto the main road which is usually passable, today I didn't do that and it got stuck!. We've been here 5 years and been snowed in several times, once no one in village without a 4x4 got out for 3 days!

OP posts:

bringonyourwreckingball · 14/01/2013 18:13

Our school specifically asks parents not to pick up early when it snows as it's so disruptive for the kids, but they guarantee someone will stay with the kids until parents can get there if the traffic is terrible. But we're not in a rural area. I don't think YWBU in the circumstances - 15 minutes? in reception?? Much better to get home safely as you had the option.

specialsubject · 14/01/2013 18:16

doesn't seem a major issue for those 15 minutes.

but a mile walk, hill or not, is nothing unless you are disabled. Correct shoes/boots all round and off you go. Unless the toddler is huge and you are tiny, seems like time for a sledge in the snow and a walk the rest of the time.

ginmakesitallok · 14/01/2013 18:17

I am confused - why couldn't your friend have dropped you off on her way to pick up her DC, you wait until home time, pick your child up at normal time and then friend picks you back up on her way home??

thebody · 14/01/2013 18:17

Well it's difficult.

I am a reception class TA and some parents see a tiny bit of snow as a major emergency. The same parents who see a lost glove as a financial catastrophe and expect the school to immediately drop everything and hunt for it ( and its always the ones who shout loudest who DON'T BLOODY PUT NAME ON STUFF)

However it's bloody hard pushing a buggy in the snow and your child is 4..

At our school we wouldn't have made too much of a fuss as a one off but think you may need to just get in with it as we could have snow for months. It's happened before..

Original poster

Hanspannerly · 14/01/2013 18:19

Thanks for all the replies. Was just a bit shocked to be lectured like a naughty child but didn't think I really deserved it.

OP posts:

Original poster

Hanspannerly · 14/01/2013 18:21

Gin, my friend lives several villages away. We are not on her way home. Also her car does not fit 3 child seats in the back so this wasn't an option.

OP posts:

jchocchip · 14/01/2013 18:23

I remember buying a sledge on the way home and letting ds and dd1 take turns pulling dd2 home. Had to abandon car at garden centre as roads not gritted and unsafe. YANBU picking up early if you had a lift, but it could be made fun if you have plenty of time and the snow isn't too slushy and appropriate clothes. Living at the top of the hill makes it harder though...

Original poster

Hanspannerly · 14/01/2013 18:23

The body, this is definitely NOT me. DS has all items named and had hood ripped off coat last term. I did not complain! In case it matter, he is also never late and always picked up on time, completes his homework and is otherwise a model student

OP posts:

Delalakis · 14/01/2013 18:24

YANBU. Surely schools in that area should be used to this type of problem. I'm equally sure that they will be quick enough to close without considering parents' convenience if the teachers have similar problems in getting int.

snowybrrr · 14/01/2013 18:25

YANBU.Next time see if they are happy to be stuck with your kid all night!

Indith · 14/01/2013 18:26

I live in the NE too. Of course different areas have had different amounts of snow so it may well be a lot worse where you are. Anyway, we had heavy snow for a large part of the day, there is a fair bit on the ground. I too live around a mile from school but we don't tend to use the car at all if we can help it. WE walk. So I walked to school today with a 10 month old baby in a sling and my 4 year old to collect the 6 year old. I took the sledge so I could pull the children if they were tired and in the playground all the parents were talking about how daft it was that another school in the area had sent all the children home early for a bit of snow .

Seriously, a mile is not far, walking would have been fine.

BeerTricksPotter · 14/01/2013 18:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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