To think school isnt a childminding service

[Xcountry]

So many posts about schools closing half day for end of term and god forbid you have to be there for your child.
Teacher strikes so you have to be there for your child.
School holidays so you have to be there for your child.
Child was ill and got sent home so you have to be there for your child.

Am I the only one who reads this and thinks well yes your career is probably important but you chose to have your children and this comes as part and parcel of being a parent? A school is not a childminding service. Yes it can be a pain in the backside to juggle and work around but that is what happens when you have children, they impact on your professional life and your social life.

Yes, not formal teaching all the time but I would be massively in favour of a lot fewer vacation weeks for dc and shorter summer holidays.

There was a suggestion recently that our dd senior school might end the school day 20 minutes earlier. The result of this would almost certainly be lots of part time working parents asking their employers if they could change their hours. Many of these employers are local businesses, many of whom are already accommodating flexible working for their employees so that they can fit jobs around current school hours. Schools don't exist in a vacuum. They are part of a community and the decisions they make have an impact on everyone in it. I hugely resent the implication that schools can do whatever they like and parents/employers will just somehow fit in.

As a nurse (whose pension is fucked too) who has far far less days away from the workplace as a teacher, it grates a little that every teachers strike, snow day, early closure etc entails me or DH using precious annual leave separately, leaving less for us to take together as a family.

It's very rarely days with little notice though is it?

At my school parent's evenings for next year are already planned and dates distributed, ditto half-days, term dates (3 years in advance), sports day, trips etc. You need to speak to your school if these things are really being sprung upon you with little notice.

As for schools being treated as childcare - some parents do. I've been the teacher desperately trying to raise the parents of a sick child on more than one occasion without luck or with the parent going "I'll be on my way" then turning up 4 hours later or arguing that despite them throwing up several times they are fine and I should just send them back to class. This is usually accompanied by the child pointing out that they were ill all night but mum/dad/grandma said they'd be fine at school.

Im not sure whether all America school kids go to summer camp but I know it is part of their culture. An expense that is just factored in as part and parcel of life. Butif you can live in a huge Mcmansion for 170 grand your relative outgoings will be less than a uk families.
I guess there has been a huge shift in the last 50 odd years and childcare needs have not evolved at the same speed, nor our flexible working practices.

Does the government not treat schools as childcare though?
I'm not saying that this is the way the majority of parents feel. However the law does state that single parents move from income support to jobseekers allowance when the youngest child turns 5 (ie starts school) so this does suggest a certain inference.
Most working parents (single or otherwise) are aware of school holidays, I think the majority of complaints relate to short notice changes of plans - my DC's school regularly gives less than a week's notice of things such as sports days and parents' nights which parents are expected to attend and also changes term dates during the course of the term. My kids' dad needs to give at least 3 weeks notice if he needs time off (paid or unpaid) and I'm sure he's not the only one.
Parents aren't putting their careers first, they are simply trying to stick to their employment contracts and thus stay employed!

Agree woth dooin. Parents are expected to work whem their dc are at school.
I have no axe to grind, flexible employer, helpful parents, helpful childminder. This stuff is rarely a problem for is but I can see that we arr the minority

Summer camp is not the thing in the states that the movies make it out to be. Nobody I knew went to a summer camp, unless it was like a two week sports camp or something - and that itself was very unusual. They were more the option of the wealthier families, perhaps in larger cities.

We spent our summers at the local swimming pool, riding our bikes, and playing with our friends all of June, July, and August. Until you reached about 12 and then you could do detasselling in the corn fields for a while in the summer as a summer job (in the Midwest), which was hot work, but a common job for kids.

And yes, according to my mother, childcare was a nightmare in the summer. Three months is hard to cover.

I notice OP has not been back!

Thanks alice good to have real input. Sounds idyllic for the kids but obviously still a nightmare for parents then.

So OP you've started a thread about a thread to get people worked up and then buggered off. Come back and answer the sodding questions if it bothers you enough to start a TAAT.

it is rarely days at short notice though, is it?

Well I think it really depend on the school!
As an example, we've had in the last month or so, dc1 going back home late 3 times due to cricket/athletics/whatever sort the school is involved with. All with 3 days notice if that. The latest one , we've had the letter today the event is on Tuesday. Dc2 1 event and a 'percussion performance' fir the parents to attend. Again a few days notice, certainly less than a week.

Of course I can say that dc1 isn't going to participate to any if the sport events as his CM us picking him up at 3.15pm and can't wait until 4.00pm or 5.00pm (or come back to school) to pick him up. But I would have thought this would be detrimental to him. not even talking about going to said events!!
And I can say that unfortunately I can't come to the 'concert' with dc2 would will be very disappointed, esp as all his friends will have a parent there.
Now I extremely lucky that my ostentation can cover all if these events. But what they couldn't? What if they had stayed in itr home country? Dc1 and dc2 would be missing a hell if a lot because of that.
The same applies to 'early finishes' but I am 'lucky' that our school never does that, proving, if need be, that these 'early finish' aren't actually necessary.

Usually very short notice for things at ds's school - like the assembly on Wednesday to listen to them playing instrument. We were told about by text at about 1pm Tuesday afternoon.

Holidays of course I expect to sort out childcare for my ds. Equally if he's ill. Half day closing early cos it's the end of term/there's been a couple if flakes of snow no. His school is open 8.30-3 Monday to Friday and I don't expect it to shut on a whim.

This term at ds' school we've had;
1x sports day, parents expected to attend
1x father's day event, ditto
1x take your parent to school day
1x end of year party, ditto
1x strike day

All falling on days when I'm working. All before 6 weeks of school holidays. On top of 2 unexpected closures for dd's nursery.

I don't think it's being precious about my career to want more than a few normal working weeks between April and September!

My children's school has only just sent a letter out regarding the strike on Thursday. Of course I knew it was on the cards from the news but our school doesn't always strike and when they do its rarely the whole school.

It's fine for me, I'm working but the children can come with. I can't imagine it's easy for all the other working parents to arrange childcare/time off with less than a weeks notice.

I have had to arrange work around inset days on two different days for different local schools this week. At least they are all striking on the same day next week so I know where I am

I'm dreading all this when DD starts this year. DH and I don't have enough annual leave between us to cover half terms and holidays, let alone anything unexpected, or even expected stuff like plays, assemblies, parents' 'evening'. After school childcare for 3 days a week is already going to cost us in the region of £300 a month, Christ knows how much we'll be spending for the holidays, so taking unpaid leave on top of all that is going to leave us very strapped indeed. We have no family nearby to help.

We'll have to see how it goes but I can see it may be the case that I will have to stop working .

I think we should print off this page and publicise it. Government wants us to work and pay taxes. But it's nigh on impossible for us to do so....

I feel sorry for parents. You are pushed into employment by the government and are then left to pick up the pieces when 'childcare' goes wrong and an employer is less than understanding about it! This is not a mock, I really do feel for you!

But not all schools are the same. 'Your' experience with your child's school is not how ALL schools operate. There are schools that do not have 'half-days', have staff that do not strike and have letters that are sent home with plenty (like 3 months!) of notice for events in the forthcoming term.

My dd finishes at 1 every Friday. Good job I don't work on a Friday.

This is what happens when you have a government mainly consisting of wealthy men. They are quite capable of holding two incompatible beliefs simultaneously - that 'parents' should not be excused from seeking and performing paid work, and that childcare is the responsibility of parents rather than the state. This is partly because, at a subconscious level, they believe in these things called 'women' which exist to provide unpaid domestic labour for people ie men.
They also haven't thought much about the reality of employment for many people: that you can't negotiate very much with your employer when you are working for the minimum wage in some large corporation: you either do what you';re told and shut up, or you get sacked and replaced. And because, as wealthy men, they generally have domestic staff as well as wives, they think everyone else does, too.

Headteachers who give short notice need to be have it explained to them clearly that unless they only want the school only to attract the children who have parents on the dole they need to get better organised!

School has always been childcare, tho. Full time schooling was devised because once children were banned from factory work they were on the streets getting into mischief. best to civilize them into little clerks and beat them into obedience. The difference is that it is now socially unnacceptable to expect a class of 6 year olds to enjoy the walk home and play till mam comes home from t'mill.

My pet hate is the appointments for parents evening advertised only on the classroom door. I never flipping go near the classroom door, which is why I want to go to parents evening!

Totally agree, solid gold brass. It is also what happens when schools are filled with people who have only ever worked an academic year and never in a normal job.

what amazes me is the number of parents moaning about "short notice" when they are reminded a week ahead about a planned school closure eg INSET, which has been on the school calendar and was published in term dates a year ago! and why are people amazed that the school is closing at lunch time on the last day of term when it's the same every year