school trip for 13 year olds which involves setting off at 2am?

[Mintyy]

My child is going on a 3 day school trip to a European country.

Today I find out that the timing of the outward bound flight means that we have to get her to school for boarding the coach by 2.15am.

Aibu to think this is nuts?

Agree with Hulababy re mass sleepover. If I had to do this, the trip wouldn't happen.

The key word is 'had'
No one should be made to take on tasks outside of the planning, teaching and assessing we are paid to do. The rest is all a freebie, so should be voluntary and without pressure from our employers.

The school where my DD goes is doing this also, I wonder if it's the same! To be fair, we know what to expect for when she goes to another country at the end of this year.

The only way around it, would be to keep the students at school, feed them dinner, then let then stay up or nap with sleeping bags, putting them into groups to sleep before the flight?

Just a thought.

i am off at 3 am in a couple of weeks - its part of the job
Plus it means the trip is cheaper because of the early tunnel thing

Ask the teacher to put out an email to see if anyone wants to pool lifts/taxis (admittedly taxis wouldn't work for the return bit as timings are so unpredictable).

Ask a friend to sleepover so you can leave younger children behind.

See if younger children can sleepover elsewhere.

There are workarounds. Yes, some people might not be able to manage these but I suspect they'd be in a very small minority. I am saddened to think people would deny their children these opportunities without fully exploring the options.

I don't want to volunteer to look after someone's else kids all evening because they can't be bothered to get up in the middle of the night MrsD. It's no skin off my nose if their kids don't go on school trips. And it's not the teachers' problem either.

Oh and I'm a single parent.

Well i'm a single parent and would happily volunteer to look after the trip goers even if it wasnt my DC's year to go.

School trips at 2am
Is that really, actually, a thing?

Definitely one for the 'do it but MOAN LIKE FUCK' list.

Yes, I was completely unprepared for that bombshell Randall. But, apparently, it is the norm for foreign school trips (even if you live in a quiet backwater like London) - so this thread has at least given you advance warning .

I am certainly in the Do It But Moan Like Fuck category, as witnessed by the very existence of this thread.

Heh heh! crossed posts Coconutty. Cunts don't bother me, honestly.

What JohnnyBarthes said.

Basically, there are lots of ways you can make it work if you want to. Just the same as the regular threads you get on here about "not having any babysitters" - sometimes you have to be proactive (and also trust other people) or you can choose to miss out, but ultimately the issue is whether you want to opt in or opt out, not for you to moan at the school / moan at the lack of opportunities to go out. If it really were such an insurmountable problem, then people wouldn't go on the trips year after year. Some people prefer to moan than to seek a solution.

what happened to good old venting on MN then? Is it not allowed anymore?

Better scrap AIBU then.

I don't think I've ever been a cunt for such a mundane reason before

I'm also in the Moan Like Fuck category but it's a bit like when babies only sleep for 2 hours at a time isn't it? One of the crappy bits of parenting

Venting is good. Calling people making suggestions cunts, not so good.

If there really isn't a workaround, approach the school.

I don't have any babysitters.
Thanks for the advice though.
'Be proactive' I would never have thought of that.

Johnny, I feel I must speak up for Coconutty. She wasn't saying that people making suggestions were cunts, not at all.

Venting is fine but with AIBU you need to deal with disagreement as is so often said. But mintyy is a more robust sort than some

I promise I wouldn't have started this thread if it had been a midnight meeting or a 5am meeting.

It is 2am! 2AM!! The kids have a full days itinerary planned out for them. They are going to be useless, hopeless and feel like shit.

Disagreement is fine, being bitchy is not.

we havent. We are doing the trip. Hotel and shower and a couple of hours downtime

then a meal out ( with sights)

TBh i wasnt thrilled my colleague did the 3am thing - but hey ho

Vent away, me ole mucker

I wonder if each of the teachers that are going could take say 5 kids each home with them for a sleep over that night ? Prob solved!