Unaceptable taking a "snow day" when schools are open

[Creambun2]

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!

The snow has been here all week and snow in the U.K. is hardly unusual. We’ve had more than enough of it, even in my children’s lifetime (still at primary).
Kids make their own memories, you can’t create memories for them...and keeping them home for that, rather than because you live too far to walk or a bus isn’t running or the school didn’t open, was what I (and some others) were commenting on.
Will those same kids, when they grow up be the ones to go into work to provide a service to others? Or will they be the ones to ‘flake out’, being more concerned with “staying home &
making memories”.
My most vivid childhood snow memory was with my friend Esther, when snowflakes started coming down in the playground. Not anything to do with my parents, despite that I know we made snowmen etc.
Even as adults, we don’t choose what we remember and I’d find the idea of someone else actively trying to create my memories a bit creepy or at least misguided, wouldn’t you?
Teaching resilience, being countable-on and focussing on contributing to others, whether in school or the workplace, equips for personal mental health and a society that functions.
It’s the grit versus the snowflakes!! 2 exclamation marks, one for each of them.
(Tongue in cheek at the end. Peace)

'Making memories' is a stupid internet thing.

But allowing your children to stay home when temperatures are very low and road conditions are hazardous is not going to turn them into slackers with no gumption as adults.

The snow has been here all week and snow in the U.K. is hardly unusual

Why do people keep saying this shit? Snow like we have had this week is very very unusual for most of the country. It's almost 40 years since we have seen an event like this!

Of course you can create the situations that they remember, how stupid to suggest otherwise! Having a bit of fun and making a snowman is not going to put them on the wrong life path.....

No I agree Math, because that’s a practical concern and not a world view or ‘how people choose to parent’. I’m sure Luca is not alone in believing making memories for others is not only possible but “you’d be stupid to think otherwise”.
My experience of memory is it’s very random and for better or worse, it’s not controlled by parents. Just have a look at your own, since you can’t actually look at someone elses (unless I’m being stupid again). Fun things our parents might have planned have disappeared from existence completely, or some small and not necessarily fun fragment may be all that remains. So going on holiday, I remember changing apartment because the first one hadn’t been cleaned!
Most memories are snippets of every day things, catching the bus to school, getting up on Sunday morning to watch Elvis films with my brother.
Yes the weather conditions have been extreme, but its not just been ‘one day’ that you could have blinked and missed. Even if it was, kids come out around 3pm and surely more than a couple of hours out there(!) is sufficient?
People are “saying this shit” because snow in the UK is hardly a once in a lifetime event. But hey, we remember what we remember.

Even a few days off - even a week off - is not going to be make or break for children.

There is no need to be so hung up on 'how the kids will turn out'. Not every single decision needs to be based on how they will behave 20 years from now. Having a parent who is too anxious about how you will turn out is far worse for a child than having one who allows a child to stay out of school when it snows, or allowing a child a mental health day once every so often.

Snow like the UK is experiencing really is a once in a lifetime event. I grew up in Ireland and the last really big snow I recall was in 1982.

My dc need walking to two different schools with the little one having to walk to the others one before doubling back. Not fun on icy pavements. Factor in parents who have to commute to work and an area where journey times back from work were taking 3 hours plus assuming any transport was working and an after school club which took the reasonable decision not to operate and then the school saying it might close early and for parents to keep an eye on the twitter account, I don’t blame parents who decided not send their kids to school to probably just do filler activities as many kids were out.

I'd rather the school did close, I grew up where there is lots of snow and can remember the misery of walking home alone through three miles of snow after school.

I agree with the op. DDs local infant school was open on tues when we had the worst in my area. The local high school and junior school were not because not enough teachers could get in. On my class whatsapp group a whole lot of parents didn't send their kids in because it 'wasn't fair' or they wanted to go sledging.
Dd told me they didn't learnt the phonic sound or do the days maths because it wasn't fair on the missing students. So they played musical statues or something.
Now , I think it wasn't fair on my DD and the others who did go in actually. Most of those students could have made it and didn't bother.

Lol at memories that can only be 'made' between the hours of 9 and 3 on a schoolday! 😜
The best time for playing in the snow is getting up early and having a couple of hours before school. There's always the park after school to play in with friends. This week it's been lovely to see children who normally scoot to school being dragged in by a sledge! Friday afternoon we took the ks1s out to the field last thing. Oh the moans! Half just stay in in the warm and read books. You can't win!