To be a bit sad my kids will never 'bunk' off school (school email alert!)

[stellenbosch]

So, obviously it's a very good thing. But it's also a bit sad for this generation that they seem to have no freedom.
Dd was late for the bus this morning, which I knew about. But I was very surprised to get an email from the school saying she'd been late. Also, once when she was ill and I'd sent an email, but it hadn't left my outbox, they emailed me to ask why she wasn't in.

This is great. Obviously. But... the 90s were great too, when you could skip school, or just not answer your home phone, and not be tracked down or completed at slave to technology!

Sigh@nostalgia, I must be getting old! 🤣

...Or the 80s, where you sneaked back with your friend to her mum's house while she was out at work, and lazed around listening to The Smiths and being all 'philosophical'.

Lol loved bunking off. Got shit results though 😉 My kids wouldn't dream of it, went nuts when I took them out of school for a day to go on holiday! Won't smoke either but that's a good thing!

I learnt many life skills bunking off school. My friend and I would jump on a train and wander around London for the day or sneak into a cinema and watch 15 rated horror films at 13.
Id be livid if my 13 yr old did this [hypocrite emoticon]

Unfortunately kids not arriving at school these days often doesn’t mean they’re eating chips in the shopping centre or hanging out in the park. In schools near me, it’s frequently a sign of grooming sadly enough.

I used to bunk off double maths on Friday afternoon and no-one noticed, think was a cry for attention as parents splitting up and dealing with their issues at home. It would have been nice if someone had noticed.

I'm pretty sure schools did phone home if you didn't show up(80s/90s). But obv without email and texting etc if they didn't get through I don't expect they kept trying!

Letting you know your child is absent is a safeguarding criteria. I bunked off school, many years ago, and no-one cared enough to let my family know!

I feel sad that they don't have school discos anymore so kids don't know the delights of a 'slowy and snog' with a lovely 5th former.

I'm pretty sure schools did phone home if you didn't show up(80s/90s)

Mine never did. I went to a slightly posh all girls school. I still managed to bunk off quite a few days when I was 15. Being known as a bit of a swot has the advantage that no one ever suspects you're up to no good

Good fun!

We used to go back to my house and watch Scrubs instead of doing double French occasionally. No harm done.

I could have bunked off, but never did.

Damn. Am now finding out what I missed...

I forgot to call school a couple of times when DC were off sick and they never called me to ask where they were

Lighthearted thread turns into bunking off being a sign of ‘grooming’? Just what?

I mean I get it’s not ideal but yes, sometimes you skipped lessons, and tbh its part of growing up isn’t it - because just sometimes you skip work too. Just sometimes.

But we seem to have jumped to child molesters round every corner again. I agree, OP, give them a bit of freedom.

I worked at a school where there were morning and afternoon electronic registers which generated these emails if a student wasn’t marked as present. It didn’t take the kids long to realise they could bunk off after getting their afternoon attendance mark. Unhappily for them the deputy head had the bright idea of taking the afternoon register at the end of the last lesson instead of the start of the first one!

I have every faith in the ingenuity of the youth of today - I am sure they will soon find a work around!

Kids can still bunk off, your parents just know about it now which is obviously much safer. I let dd1 have a day off every few months and will do the same with my younger kids, they know I would allow it if they asked so theres no need for them to do it without asking.

I wish I had been brave enough to bunk off; at least on a couple of occasions.

I used to bunk off and eat chips in the caff and do windmills dahn the alley with my little band of besties. Fucking brilliant. I have absolutely shit GCSEs for this reason though!

We used to hide from the school bus and make out we missed it, by the time we got home our parents had gone to work, no way of contacting them so we could have the day off

Or the 90s when you snuck off to the local holiday park and played snooker against a proper professional snooker player, and then stayed on the beach for the afternoon before walking across the fields to meet the bus coming back from school.....

Or when you got your big DSis to make a phonecall to the school secretary to say you were ill (I was the big DSis at the time, and sounded remarkably like DM when I wanted to)

Zaphod I never bunked off either!

herbigchance This was me !

I never once bunked off. Had no particular desire to . Anyway, school would have phoned home - they still had phones in the 80s!

I used to bunk off school in primary school ... it was just a short phase and we found loads of interesting, fun things to do.

I think life has become much more "controlled". Especially once you have children. You can't even take them out of school for one fucking day between 5 and 16 without being fined. Parenthood today: all the responsibilites, none of the joys!

Upsideup wish you were my mum when I was growing up

I skipped school one afternoon a week for the entire school year and my parents were oblivious. As it was a lesson I was rubbish at I don't think the teachers cared as they never spoke to me about it.