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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Unaceptable taking a "snow day" when schools are open

409 replies

Creambun2 · 28/02/2018 11:28

It really annoys me that the vast majority of schools are open in my area, yet many, many children have been taken out of school by parents "to enjoy the snow". Talk about lack of respect for the staff and other pupils who bother to turn up. We only have a couple of cm of snow!

OP posts:
IpreferFrieda · 28/02/2018 18:53

Hang on user did you say you were a new to the thread? Then I suggest you rtft.

Bimbler · 28/02/2018 18:55

Asking someone like that to read the thread will be tantamount to bullying in their mind.

user1492877024 · 28/02/2018 18:58

IpreferFrieda

If the inane drivel you have posted is representative of the thread, I would rather not. Hope that is OK.

MaisyPops · 28/02/2018 18:58

Idontbelieveinthemoon
I agree.
They're just part of life.I've had next to no snow days either at my school.

If it's school is open and it's safe to travel, go in, even if you're a bit late.
If it's not safe to travel then don't go in.

Keeping kids off because you want a snow day is just silly. My lessons yesterday were lessons as normal. Any students who missed work need to catch up (just as they would for any other reason).
Keeping kids off because you cba to walk 15 mins round the corner is silly.

Then again I seem to work in a school where staff and parents largely apply common sense to most things (probably why we are massively oversubscribed and kids do well with us).

user1492877024 · 28/02/2018 19:01

MaisyPops

Thank you God. I was beginning to despair, I really was. Your students are very lucky,

IAmMumWho · 28/02/2018 19:03

Most in my borough had closed bar my kids. I walked them up a steepish hill and got there but late. Only a handful of kids were inside.

LockedOutOfMN · 28/02/2018 19:04

Unless it's dangerous for the child/family to get to school (as in any circumstances) then they should come into school if it's open.

Aragog · 28/02/2018 19:06

I have no issue with it tbh, despite being in school with many children all day.

I also allowed my 15y (Y11) DD to stay home today, although her school was officially open. However, me and dh made that decision together for what we felt was best - and I am adamant it was. We could have got her in with us BUT we already new local buses weren't running and some school buses weren't running. There'd be half classes and no full proper lessons taking place - and yes, they sent children home at lunch time. Instead she stayed home and did 5 hours of revision - we told her to do her normal 'school hours' so 5 lessons = 5 hours. She got way more done today at hoe than if she'd gone in.

My school opened at 10am. Its an infant school - parents need childcare. So, by then they've organised childcare or taken time off work. - why then rearrange again to take them in. Especially when they may come again - we did at lunch time.

Take them out and have some fun in the snow if you can. Stay off the roads and leave them clear for those who really need to be moving.

Aragog · 28/02/2018 19:09

Oh, and although we opened late and closed early - most staff were in well before that. Staff went home in shifts based on distance/time/difficulty to get home, and depending on how many children were left. Some of us were there til the end of the school day when the last few children were collected. So, its not just so the staff can have a jolly!

Namechange16 · 28/02/2018 19:12

The kids who are off school probably play outside for an hour and then are inside for the rest of the day. Sounds very productive!

allthegoodusernameshavegone · 28/02/2018 19:14

I’m bloody livid, a women at work has called in “sick” so I’m covering a double shift and shes now been seen on someone else’s Facebook playing in the snow!

IpreferFrieda · 28/02/2018 19:16

user

I think you need to step away from the screen and go have some fun in the snow. You might unclench then petal

user1492877024 · 28/02/2018 19:18

allthegoodusernameshavegone

Lol

Valentinesfart · 28/02/2018 19:24

Me - wow, some people on this thread are really patronising and ssume they know best. I don't want to be like that

Valentina/Frieda/bumbler/tiggy - how dare you! We know best!! You don't know, your views and experiences are invalid because your kid is younger!! Come back to us in a few years! listening to policy makers and assisting with lessons and lesson planning and social events at school for many years and hearing what makes things difficult is utterly irrelevant and worthy only of a putdown to make me feel superior! "Of course I know best, I'm the parent"!! "Calm down "love/chick"!

Me - yep, you're exactly the sort of people I was talking about and would never ever want to be, cheers.

Yes that's largely correct, we were saying we know what's best for our children. You may have noticed that actually almost all of the teachers on the thread have agreed with us. Not all, but most. You then made some comments about your family that were nothing to do with snow days and about horrible parents. And let me tell you, teachers put up with some horrible shit. But none of their stories start with "this horrible woman thought a snow day would be an acceptable reason to take a child out of school once in three years".

So your stories of putting up decorations at school (again, yes, we've all done that. It's parenting) were bizarre and not at all what anyone was discussing., nor do they make you an expert You are the one who is refusing to consider that anyone here might have something useful to tell you on parenting. You've literally told a woman with 5 adult children she got it wrong.

the education system is full of well meaning and brilliant teachers however it is not up to the teachers to decide the infrastructure and rules that go along with it. most are sensible people who think parents can look after their own children perfectly well though (as they do, with their children). But teachers and schools can and do get it wrong. Many parents who home educate for example do so because their children have special needs and the school just doesn't know how to accommodate them, and yes, gets it wrong.

Your job as a parent will not be to defer to everything your child's teacher says but to listen, absorb and continue to parent. Mostly they will get it right but sometimes you will need to say actually, no that doesn't work for us. Because yes, as the parent you know whats best for them. Yyou will need to advocate them in hospitals, schools, and sometimes you need to be that parent.

BlessYourCottonSocks · 28/02/2018 19:25

We're rural and I have a long drive to work (teacher). Neither I nor many of the other staff could get in today. And frankly I don't feel like attempting it tomorrow, even if school is open. It's dangerous and on hilly roads and the weather is not improving with high winds and drifting snow.

Most teachers (because we never grew up and left school Grin) are as desperate as the kids for a snow day. I am not the slightest bit fussed about it. Enjoy the snow. It won't seriously impact on your education if you can't battle your way like Captain Oates through the blizzards. Even if you are my Y13s.

Soubriquet · 28/02/2018 19:29

School was closed today for us

It might be open tomorrow. However if it's anything like it was today, I won't be able to get dd in. The pushchair was way too difficult to push when it wasn't this bad. Dread to think what it would be like tomorrow

Valentinesfart · 28/02/2018 19:30

Also wtf did creambun disappear to? Hmm

And how did she know the snow gear kids weren't home educated anyway?

FizzgigFizzgog · 28/02/2018 19:34

We weren't allowed to play in the snow (20 years ago, mind) at school, because the boys always took things way too far, throwing enormous balls of snow and ice, with stones in, at everyone. Also, people slipping over and getting soaked through in the freezing snow, and having to remain that way for the rest of the day is hardly fun. We were lucky we had a few dryers at our school, but I know many didn't, and I can't imagine all that many having them now tbh.

DD12's primary school was the same, for the health and safety reasons.

IpreferFrieda · 28/02/2018 19:37

Agree valentine even if that makes us bullies and partonising Wink

Katyb1310 · 28/02/2018 19:42

Ours phoned me to collect DC but then later this morning it turned out they hadn't closed....I think it's because we live a bit out. A few other parents from out of town turned up at the same time as me. They did eventually close but had also said people could pick their children up if they wanted to.

mogloveseggs · 28/02/2018 19:43

Ds school (primary) was shut yesterday but dd (high school) wasn’t. She didn’t go in-missed bus, didn’t want to walk 3 miles and I couldn’t take her as Ill with stomach bug. I really couldn’t give a toss what people think.

headoutofthesand · 28/02/2018 19:43

Thanks for the stick shaking etc. I am continuing to re-read the rules and, whilst it said I could drop breakfast, after the initial two weeks, as I am trying to stick to bootcamp, I wasn't sure what the position was.
I managed not to have the cheese today but that was by accident rather than design & I did feel wobbly on the way home.
Food today:
B - nothing
L - chicken breast with skin, green veg (can't actually remember what!)
S - not sure... depends on when DH gets back from work
Snacks - bowl of sprouts with Lurpak garlic butter; two slices ham. Coffee with a dash of full fat milk.

W - prob only 1.5lr so far.

Is butter OK to consume in large quantities if I am trying to drop dairy or should I be trying to replace it with oil or something instead?

beepthemeep · 28/02/2018 19:46

Valentina - YOU may have just done decorating. Speak for yourself. Perhaps that's all your school thought you could do?

I didn't tell Frieda she had anything "wrong". I said I didn't want to be like her, with silly patronising stuff about calming down in the snow and calling people "love". Fine for her. Not for me.

IpreferFrieda · 28/02/2018 19:47

head think you are on the wrong thread Grin don’t worry your post is actually far more sensible than some on here Grin

mathanxiety · 28/02/2018 19:47

Playing in the snow in school is a terrible idea. Children have to wear silly uniforms made from thin fabric and unsuitable footwear for snow. Their clothes and socks get wet and then they have to sit in class all afternoon cold and wet.

It's not a big deal to miss a day of school.

My mum used to pack us all off to school no matter how much snow there was, and we would find about six other children and two of the nuns waiting for us there. The nuns would phone home, dad would have to leave work to come back and pick us up (mum didn't drive and bus service was always curtailed out where we lived) and by the time we got back all the neighbours with sensible parents would have already made snowmen and forts and snowballs, and we would be left with snow all tracked over and everyone else inside having hot chocolate after a nice morning's fun. Mum never learned.

The high school my DCs attend in the US had a total of four snow days in its 120 year history. This is not because it never snows but because several blizzards over the decades happened on Friday nights and the streets were cleared by Monday. They did close for a big Tuesday blizzard a few years ago, for a period of intense cold a couple of years ago, and again this year when very heavy snow fell midweek. Many years ago teachers could afford to live in the community but they can't any more, and having enough staff in attendance has become an issue to take into account as there are safety regs. The special ed students have to be able to get onto and off their buses safely (they are the only students who get bussed here) and bus travel has to be safe too - plus bus drivers have to be able to get to their depots.

They announce school closings in a ticker during the evening news, usually with private schools announcing first, followed by public school districts. There is a school closing website too, plus automated phone calls. It's all very organised.