To think this was an overreaction by teacher

[Lydiaatthebarre]

One of my Friend's is a teacher and was supposed to be away for a few days. I was surprised to bump into her yesterday and she rolled her eyes and said two kids from her class had turned up at the same hotel so she insisted to her husband that they leave.

She said she wouldn't be able to relax, use the hotel swimming pool and changing room, have a drink etc without looking over her shoulder, and neither did she want parents coming over to talk about their kid's progress while she was on holidays.

Would most teachers feel like this or was that an over reaction?

My teacher friend was out socialising at a private party; turns out, a pupil was at the same party (friend did not know about the same connection). Pupil thought it funny to report everything friend did, ate, drank etc. Not a nice feeling to have every move monitored. Friend only found out when some lovely pupils went to her to tell her about it (teacher friend is not on social media). So your friend is most def not BU.

Totally get it. I live in a small town and hate banging into my psychotherapist, I spill my guys to this person and will leave the shop etc if she's there

I don't blame her to be honest.

I would leave if children from my nursery were there

Wouldn’t have left but def would have felt that way.

Not an overreaction at all.

I once abandoned half a load of shopping in a supermarket because there was a client of mine (who had a shocking lack of boundaries) in the store at the same time. Pupils and their parents must be far worse than that.

Many of my colleagues won't live in the same area as they work in because of bumping in to clients, and I get why tbh.

Not an over reaction.

I wouldn’t leave but I teach primary secondary would be different I think.

Although I wouldn’t leave I would be watching and my holiday would change because of this. It’s bad enough in Asda when you hear your name being shouted from the opposite end of the aisle.

What a massive overreaction! I can't imagine the kids were any more thrilled about seeing their teacher either (unless they were particularly young).

But I'm used to the International School life where not only do you see the kids/parents on holidays, but you often live in the same building!

And when parents unbelievably did want the occasional word about their kid, it was perfectly easy to be polite and say we could make an appointment in term time. More often than not, they offered to buy me drinks

I'm a teacher and even a civilised, non-alcoholic lunch with friends is spoiled if there are parents and children from the school in the same place, especially if they think its cute to send the child over to say hello. Parents on their own are usually Ok, its when they do that almost showing off thing that they 'know' the teacher. Agree with pp that every September there will someone who ended up sharing their Corfu hotel with one of the pupils.

Something else that comes with all taking hols at same time: what about when you find you're sharing a hotel , or even just a resort, with a colleague you thought you were going on holiday to escape!

I teach particularly challenging teenage boys so would hate if theywere there too as they are exhausting (I love my job btw). I would definitely leave as my holidays are for relaxing and recuperating ready to tackle the next term and I want to wear a bikini and drink wine without teenage boys around 🤣🍷

But funny things do happen, sometimes it can't be avoided when you live and work in the same place, once went for a smear and it was my pupils mum 🤣🙄😱 I live further away from where I work now!

Don’t blame her really, I’m a HCP and don’t love bumping into patients in a social setting (and am quite sure most of them find it awkward too!). Would be worse if dealing with minors.

@farangatang have you actually RTFT?

If you did you'd see the cf and abusive behaviour that a lot of UK based teachers have experienced. It might be very different in your international school, but I don't think that many people whose initial instinct was that it was a complete overreaction would still have the same opinion if they had read the whole thread.

Might have felt uncomfortable at first (depending on the pupils) but no chance I'd have curtailed my holiday. So yes, massive overreaction.

Im a teacher. A few years ago I went with friends to see a rather raunchy male stripper show.
Sitting at the next table was one of the parents of a child I taught.
I went up to her , smiled knowingly , and said “ I won’t say anything if you don’t “ and winked .
Caused no problems at school.
However I would HATE to see a pupil and their family in a holiday hotel that I was at. I would not be able to fully relax, enjoy drinking or maybe a bit of raucous fun if it arose. Many primary children still think that “Miss “ has no other life outside school, and is wheeled out of the cupboard each morning to teach them.

We’ve recently been on a family holiday to Cornwall and we stayed in a caravan park, as I walked past the park one evening to meet my hubby and son who were playing football there, I heard “hi Miss” and turned to look and sure enough there was not one but two families there from school! The kids were excited, me not quite so much but I would never have come home and it didn’t stop me using the pool and having a quiet G&T.
How ridiculous to let that ruin your holiday!

I travel 3 hours to an airport in another part of the country and I have still shared a flight with pupils. It put me on edge and I definitely wore my cover all swim wear as its usually teenage boys I see. It's awkward and does make it hard to relax. Plus there is the social media threat too. I went all the way to Florida and realised I was on the same flight as my pupils. I feel vulnerable and awkward enough in swimwear without seeing my pupils, so if it was a UK hotel, I'd have probably left too.

cariadlet no I haven't RTFT. Just expressing my own opinion in response to the OPs question.

BTW, it was no different when I worked in the UK either (although I lived slightly further away from school).

Clearly some people have had horrible experiences with students on holiday, but I doubt it's the 'norm'. Maybe OPs friend is one whose students would behave in a disrespectful manner / don't have boundaries, in which case it would not be an overreaction on her part.

Bloody hell do parents actually approach teachers in their free time and discuss their child's progress?! I'd say hi, probably buy them a drink then disappear to a different part of the hotel!

It does sound dramatic to leave entirely if you've paid for the hotel. Surely you could still go out outside the hotel - the children probably won't be in the same place as you most of the time - you could just avoid them as needed. That said I doubt they'd have given up a holiday lightly so I guess the teacher just felt super uncomfortable.

I know my SiL is a teacher and once met a child on holiday (not at the same hotel but they kept bumping into the child at a beach) she found it funny (she lives in a small town and always says she can't leave her house without someone saying "oh look it's miss" so she went all the way to Portugal and the same bloody thing happened!). She didn't mind too much but did avoid sitting near him and his family!

I sometimes see pupils past and present on holiday... We all go bto sodding Norfolk every year. It depends on the family. Some are lovely, kind and normal folks. Some are not. One year a family I. Knew bumped into. Us in Cromer, and the mum. Said literally 7 times, why I don't intake your number, we're looking for a babysitter lol (actually said lol) honestly, 7 times. First or second time we laughed "oh hahajah, extra pocket money". But she didn't stop saying it..... In the end I said "oh look, there's my sister, must go....". My sister was home in Oxford

Teacher here... yes, leaving is perfectly reasonable. I would not have been able to relax and my stress would impact on husband and family.
The fear of having my beach unready body on social media, the strain of not being able to have a drink (I don't get drunk). It would be a waste of a holiday to have stayed. Better go home and loose the money than to be on duty minute of the day.
And I really don't mind bumping into parents during my time off, that's quite different to being on "holiday" with my charges close by.

Former teacher and yes, would have legged it too!

@leighaj don’t avoid. I absolutely love seeing my children and parents outside of school. But having to trot around in a bathing suit and holiday with my children from school would be seriously uncomfortable.

Bloody hell do parents actually approach teachers in their free time and discuss their child's progress?! I'd say hi, probably buy them a drink then disappear to a different part of the hotel!

This thread is educative. I'd never dream of sending children across to their teacher. Buy them a drink and then leave them alone.

I can't believe the rudeness & thoughtlessness that teachers have to put up with. Huge sympathies.

@Riv

Just out of interest wouldn't your family be devastated to have to abandon their holiday. Wouldn't it be better just to stay, even if you couldn't relax or show off your body or drink just so the kids could have their holiday. Surely it's unlikely you'd be on the same day trips most of the time anyway?

(Hope this doesn't sound judgemental - I can totally imagine it would really suck and spoil the holiday just curious as my DC would be devastated to abandon a holiday)