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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this mother is right. Holiday in term time.

444 replies

derxa · 26/04/2016 12:14

Normally I think children should not be taken out of school for holidays but this mother may have a point.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3559089/Mother-four-fined-60-truancy-taking-youngest-daughter-term-time-holiday-Government-free-meant-children-s-Easter-breaks-different-times.html

Good sad face as well

OP posts:
Katnisnevergreen · 26/04/2016 12:20

But why not at least use a bit of the overlap of dates? If the elder children were due back on the 11th, and she broke up on the 8th, surely there were better dates to go away?
I'm a teacher and it drives me mad when kids miss chunks of term for holidays. This creates more work for me to catch them up and disrupts plans of several are out.
When I have kids I won't be able to take term time holidays, so why should other parents??

SaucyJack · 26/04/2016 12:21

I don't entirely agree with holiday fines full-stop, but no- I don't think is a special case.

They didn't need to go to Ibiza. They just went on a jolly.

Redglitter · 26/04/2016 12:25

Excellent sad faces

She knew the risk when she chose to book the holiday. They didn't NEED a holiday she could have waited till summer when they're all off. So, I'd say YABU it's no more special a case than all the other excuses people trot out

PPie10 · 26/04/2016 12:26

Yabu, nobody needs a holiday. Children won't suffer lasting damage if they don't have a holiday, those sad faces are a joke.

ChessieFL · 26/04/2016 12:27

Yabu. A holiday isn't a right - they could have gone in the summer holidays instead.

Original poster
derxa · 26/04/2016 12:29

I'm a teacher and it drives me mad when kids miss chunks of term for holidays
Yes Kath I'm an ex-teacher and it used to drive me witless. However I don't have that problem any more.

OP posts:
SeekEveryEveryKnownHidingPlace · 26/04/2016 12:29

Nope, stupid woman. Nobody 'needs' to go to Ibiza in the Easter holidays. If she can afford that she can afford the fine.

I do think it's stupid that Easter holidays were so out of sync especially this year - but fighting this on the grounds that it means children can't go to Ibiza is ridiculous.

'Morally I am in the right' lol - what 'moral' is it that says you have to go abroad for Easter?

ChemistryHunt · 26/04/2016 12:29

Its not a special case. Many families have children with different term times.

My eldest attends a school which is run very differently to most in our borough. His school doesn't have a 6 week summer holiday and they are only ever in for about 5 weeks at a time, before a week off.

This means that he is only off at the same time as his siblings for 1 week over Easter and 2 weeks in the summer. We holiday in these weeks or don't go.

I do wish that the others were at his school though. Almost all his weeks off fall outside of normal half terms, which means holidays are super cheap when he is off school.

Hariasa · 26/04/2016 12:32

I disagree - she doesn't have a point at all.

No one needs to go on Easter holiday to Ibiza. She should have waited until the Summer or accepted the £60 gracefully.

My DSis children had different Easter holidays this year, it's not that uncommon.

NickiFury · 26/04/2016 12:32

I don't agree with term time fines either and do not let them stop me taking holidays during term time. That said the law says you'll be fined if you do it so you just have to suck it up IMO. I will take a term time holiday again this year and if I am fined I will pay it .

sonlypuppyfat · 26/04/2016 12:33

This does get to me, most people not the special ones, teachers, only get 4 weeks a year and if say you work in a shop you have to work around other people's holidays. Sometimes if you want to go away with your children term time is the only way to do it

Moreisnnogedag · 26/04/2016 12:36

If it was somewhere else would you be more inclined to be sympathetic?

I think she has a point. There was never going to be a good time to go away. Personally I'd have just been fuming and paid the fine, moral high ground or not.

Marmite27 · 26/04/2016 12:41

Did anyone else wonder why her 21 year old brother is still at high school Hmm

Buzzardbird · 26/04/2016 12:43

Looks bloody miserable on the holiday snaps too.

DownstairsMixUp · 26/04/2016 12:43

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

ChemistryHunt · 26/04/2016 12:44

Sometimes if you want to go away with your children term time is the only way to do it

^ However that is a choice. It's not a necessity to go away on holiday, it nice but you can live without.

If you make the choice to go away in term time you have to suck it up and pay the fine, and calculate this into the cost of the holiday.

We choose not to interrupt our children schooling so we only go away when all the children are off school ( a choice of 3 weeks in a year) or we don't go away at all.

Even if we cannot go on holiday we still fit in plenty of fun family bonding days and we will have weekends away.

BarbarianMum · 26/04/2016 12:45

Not clear why the summer holidays wouldn't provide a suitable time to go away as a family tbh

Original poster
derxa · 26/04/2016 12:45

Looks bloody miserable on the holiday snaps too Grin

OP posts:
TimeOfGlass · 26/04/2016 12:45

I disagree. Surely there's some time in the year - such as summer holidays - when all her kids are off at the same time?

I know that some people don't get a lot of choice over when to take holidays, and some of these people won't be allowed to take time off work during school holidays. I'd have more sympathy over parents booking term time holidays in those circumstances. But the article doesn't mention any problems like those. Just the schools having mismatched Easter holidays.

Baconyum · 26/04/2016 12:46

She didn't have to holiday at Easter and I do think it's bad to take kids outta school for holidays.

That said, this ridiculousness of kids in the same family having different holidays? That's crazy. I really think the English education system needs to get a grip. I'm in Scotland and our whole shire has the same school holidays and in service days. How the hell are working parents meant to arrange holiday childcare?

NeedACleverNN · 26/04/2016 12:46

Yes I would have paid the fine and not moaned either

£60 is nothing compared to the potential savings

Off topic, there's no way I could have kept a straight face long enough for a photo. I would have kept bursting out in laughter

Original poster
derxa · 26/04/2016 12:50

That's crazy. I really think the English education system needs to get a grip

I think this is probably the point Bacon

OP posts:
ThumbWitchesAbroad · 26/04/2016 12:51

I think she has a point too.
I would imagine she went abroad at Easter because it was cheaper than summer, and she's a travel agent so may have been able to get better rates.

So she may not be able to easily afford a £60 fine, just like that.

Having said that, she should still have paid it because she did still break the rules, and if the courts find against her, she's going to be massively worse off, so that's a bit daft.

RudeElf · 26/04/2016 12:51

I managed to have easter without travelling. I imagine they could have stayed at home too. Easter holidays (going away) arent necessary. They'll have 6 weeks in the summer.

ChemistryHunt · 26/04/2016 12:52

That said, this ridiculousness of kids in the same family having different holidays? That's crazy. I really think the English education system needs to get a grip

However for some children, a different pattern of holidays works better for them.

I think having some choice is good.

I know my son is doing really well with his pattern of holidays and I wouldn't want that taken off him, even though it does limit the time our children are all off.