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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

351 replies

Mintyy · 20/06/2014 22:38

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?

OP posts:

WhoWantsToLiveForever · 20/06/2014 23:46

YANBU to be pissed off about it and grumble but YWBU for not letting her go in future. That's really bloody mean.

Eastpoint · 20/06/2014 23:47

We've had this & have made it easier by one family having 4 children stay the night & then someone put them in a taxi, it'll be fine if there's 4 x 13 year olds and the cost isn't very high when it's divided by 4. Currently waiting for a 12 year old to be dropped off on her return from a trip by someone, expect them back around 12.30. Ugh.

RhondaJean · 20/06/2014 23:49

Mrscain dd is leaving at 2pm Wednesday morning - we are in Ayrshire?

She's staying at her grans as me and her dad are going to Dublin for a belated 15th wedding anniversary celebration, her and dd2 are there, her gran lives alone does not drive etc, thank god her friend is close by and also going and her mum will take her in. Although a tenner for a taxi would have sorted it.

Luggagecarousel · 20/06/2014 23:50

DS is arriving home about 1 am tomorrow. Left at 4am on Monday. Has had a fantastic time, according to his emails!

Lostinasupermarket · 20/06/2014 23:50

Well I feel very sorry for you - 2.15am! I agree with you midnight or even 1am would be fear easier. It is fine if everyone is heading off, all in trip mode. But for a school trip, for three days with a younger sibling? Horrid and makes for a most unpleasant goodbye.

I hope another parent doesn't mind drawing the short straw and can help. Though even that just helps a little really - you still have to get up to say goodbye, check everything... and then the noise and excitement will probably wake your younger child anyway.

kslatts · 20/06/2014 23:51

YABU - the children will love getting on the coach at that time, and it's a one off. It's no different than getting a night flight for a family holiday, bit of a pain but worth it to save a bit of money.

NickiFury · 20/06/2014 23:53

Hope you're not bitching and moaning at your kid about it and making her all tense and anxious rather than excited as she should be.

It's not a big deal unless you make it one. Which you are.

MadameDefarge · 20/06/2014 23:54

The dcs might love it, but most parents won't, and clearly the teachers won't either.

ravenAK · 20/06/2014 23:59

I didn't think I was being unpleasant, tbh, MadameDeFarge.

fourcorneredcircle made some perfectly valid points, which the OP was rather making a point of ignoring. That's fine, but equally, teachers who put in a huge amount of effort & ridiculous number of sleepless hours to arrange trips are allowed to be wryly amused by some parents' attitudes.

Not necessarily the OP's; I've no reason to think she's been anything other than courteous to the teachers involved in sorting out her child's trip, however much she lets off steam on MN!

If I do feel the urge to be unpleasant, I'll make sure I check with you first as to whether it's necessary, though. Or alternatively, I might just suggest you mind your knitting .

lastnightIwenttoManderley · 21/06/2014 00:00

DH is taking 90 kids to the battlefields next week. Its one night away but they leave at 3am to drive the coach over and get there at a sensible time. If they left later, they wouldn't fit everything in or have to stay two nights. Most parents don't mind.

We did it when i was at school too, both parents and younger brother came to wave me off and the middle of the night departure always felt like such an adventure.

DH was royally unimpressed last year though when one child rocked up at 3am who wasn't booked on the trip! Overnight and fully booked trip so couldn't take him. Best part was parents had dumped and left and the whole trip was delayed by an hour whilst they tracked them down and waited for pick up!

MadameDefarge · 21/06/2014 00:06

well if you were not suggesting that the OP is a TotalArseParent I suggest you say that to her, because that is what I assumed.

MadameDefarge · 21/06/2014 00:08

And the OP was not having a go at teachers, ffs. NOWHERE did she have a go at teachers, or was deprecating about their dedication or efforts. So why she should engage with someone flying off the handle about ungrateful parents is beyond me.

MadameDefarge · 21/06/2014 00:09

And within the context of this thread, fourcorners comments were not perfectly valid. They were another point entirely.

MadameDefarge · 21/06/2014 00:10

Amazingly enough I can knit and read at the same time, thanks all the same.

Singlesuzie · 21/06/2014 00:11

I remember when my dsis was due back at some time around midnight from a trip in primary school. Dad went to collect her and mum stayed with me. As they arrived back dad checked in on his mare who was due to foal, lo and behold she was foaling, he got mum up to help him and dsis obviously got to see it all too. They didnt wake me. Fuckers!

ravenAK · 21/06/2014 00:12

I've no idea!

If she's chuntering on here but being perfectly civil to the staff taking her child on the trip, then that's all any of us can expect, isn't it? She can be as hacked off as she likes about having to get up at 2am.

You assumed wrong, I'm afraid.

MadameDefarge · 21/06/2014 00:13

disingenuous, my dear. really.

OddFodd · 21/06/2014 00:13

oh FGS what a lot of drama. I have to get up at 3am,sometimes, drive to the airport, fly somewhere, spend the whole day in meetings and do the reverse journey on the way home. I'm tired obviously but I cope. It's not like you have to do it every week

MrTumblesBavarianFanbase · 21/06/2014 00:14

Annoying but not a reason not to let DC go on future trips

Its not only in the baby and toddler years we expect kids to disrupt our sleep surely - they still do when ill, then later when they have emergencies at sleep overs or trips (I got a 2am call to fetch DD from a club organised camping trip when she was 7 - the second and final night she and her friend just couldn't cope, after staying awake pretty much all of the first night and 2 full days of outdoor activities), then later when they are teens and going out any half decent parent is on standby for an unsociably late "can you fetch me?" phone call when some plan has gone wrong/ bus missed or whatever... All those things disrupt fewer nights per month/year than a non sleeping baby/ toddler, but as long as you have children who are still dependant on you, they'll disrupt your sleep sometimes... Surely that is part and parcel of parenting.

HaroldLloyd · 21/06/2014 00:18

I would DO this, but I would Moan Like Fuck.

MadameDefarge · 21/06/2014 00:22

harold!

I think most of us would, in RL.

Igggi · 21/06/2014 00:23

You should get that on a T shirt Harold

BackforGood · 21/06/2014 00:30

Yes, YABU.
It's part and parcel of parenting.

FourcornedCircle and RavenAK have made some very valid points about the staff who are giving up their time to take them, at a cost that will be affordable to more of the dc than if they took the extra day/night and flew/crossed the channel in the middle of the day which would probably also involve moaning from some parents who would be at work then. Of course it's relevant, MadameDefarge.

MadameDefarge · 21/06/2014 00:33

Nope. I don't see that as valid at all.

Ya couldn't let it lie....

saoirse31 · 21/06/2014 00:39

God are you an adult or what op? Great trip for your kids and your moaning cos it's a bit inconvenient. ... grow up.

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