Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Have you ever forgotten to pick up your child from school?

139 replies

Ellerehj · 04/03/2022 16:14

DSD has now forgotten to pick up our son 3 times.

I live closer to his school than he does and luckily I've been on hand each time to go get him otherwise he would have been sat there for another 20 minutes or so.

He said he just lost track of time because he's working at home. I don't think that's a good enough excuse?! AIBU to be totally pissed off.

OP posts:
spacehardware · 04/03/2022 19:24

My mum once forgot I had a half day. It was in the 1980s so no mobile phones, and she was having an incredibly rare afternoon to herself having her hair done and window shopping. She still remembers it (she's someone who has a huge puritanical / Calvinist streak) so I think the combination of enjoying herself whilst "neglecting" her child horrified her

I was completely fine, the art teacher kindly stayed with me until she turned up at 3pm

spacehardware · 04/03/2022 19:25

Overall I think confusion over finish time of it's chopped snd changed a lot is forgivable. But just being disorganised with a regular end time is a bit shite

lanbro · 04/03/2022 19:27

I didn't actually forget to pick them up but I'd missed the memo that they finished at 1.30 for Christmas, another parent rang me and I went straight there, 15 minutes late. They were fine, helped the office manager take down the Christmas tree! Never done it again, and never been late to drop off

Happyhappyday · 04/03/2022 19:48

Yup, I thought she was booked to stay till 5, got an awkward call at 3:15 asking if I was coming! Mostly feel like it’s funny, they were worried DD was going to lose her shit but she didn’t even notice.

DH’s parents used to forget to pick him & sibs up from boarding school all the time.

allmysons · 04/03/2022 20:45

No never.
My DH forgot once because he didn't usually do pickup.
Once I didnt pick up because a club was cancelled last minute and I didn't see the email. DD (yr5) walked home and all was well but now I make sure I check emails in club days

Lacedwithgrace · 04/03/2022 20:46

Haven't forgotten to collect her but I did forget to drop her off. Got a call at 10am asking if everything was okay while we were on the sofa watching a film in our PJs. I thought it was Saturday...

Emmelina · 04/03/2022 20:48

An unusual one, but my school was closed due to snow but my children’s school open. So I ran them in and went home. Thought I’d be lazy and nap.
Their school decided to close after all, and I slept through a text and three phone calls 🤦‍♀️
First I knew was DH walking in with them concerned I wasn’t contactable after school followed the contact chain!

Ozanj · 04/03/2022 20:55

@Ellerehj

DSD has now forgotten to pick up our son 3 times.

I live closer to his school than he does and luckily I've been on hand each time to go get him otherwise he would have been sat there for another 20 minutes or so.

He said he just lost track of time because he's working at home. I don't think that's a good enough excuse?! AIBU to be totally pissed off.

I would report it to social services. They might not do anything but it will build up a picture if more things occur. Am sure he must be neglecting him in other ways too.
Fundays12 · 04/03/2022 21:00

No never not has my husband but my dad forgot to pick me up once when I was about 7. Thankfully my friend across the roads dad took me home as he saw me waiting and couldn’t see either of my parents which was unusual as my mum was always there.

RishiRich · 04/03/2022 21:06

I've forgotten 3 times too Blush

  1. DS was at nursery while I was at home, heavily pregnant. I put on the natal hypnotherapy CD to practice and fell asleep.

  2. I attended "parents evening" at 2.30 on a school day. Having 'done' the school thing, I completely forgot to get DD an hour later and was engrossed in work.

  3. DD's school has an early finish on Fridays. I forgot the first Friday back after the 2021 lockdown.

We're only a 5-minute walk away so it was a 15 minute wait rather than being left for hours, but I realise it's horrible for the child and annoying for the staff and was very apologetic to both. I now have a recurring meeting set on my Outlook calendar now so I get alerts at 30 minutes and 15 minutes to go.

TheDoveFromAboveCooCoo · 04/03/2022 21:28

We also had an afternoon where I had had to travel to a different city with no car, DH was due to pick up DD at 5.30. He came out of work at 5 l, went to the car and someone had blocked him in. Spent ages trying to track dickhead blocker in but eventually he came out and moved his car at 6pm!! He had let school know and the headteacher had taken DD into her office and played card games with her 😂

What a day!

Hankunamatata · 04/03/2022 21:32

About 3 times spread over 8 years. Twice I didn't realise the time and once I fell asleep. Iv also been an hour early a couple of times too

olympicsrock · 04/03/2022 21:41

I’ve forgotten 3 times ( needed to arrange for someone to do as I couldn’t myself) . Incredibly busy life, and complex childcare arrangements. School understood

kookievee · 04/03/2022 21:46

Yes when I'd thought I'd booked after school club but had got distracted and didn't compete the online booking!

Deadringer · 04/03/2022 21:48

I forgot mine twice. The first time was my son, he usually went to chess club, and i forgot that it was cancelled and went out for lunch with my mum. The other time it was my youngest dd, i had a brain fart and forgot that she finished an hour earlier than the older dc, i was mooching around the shops when i got a call from the school. I was mortified!

Girlmumdogmumboymum · 04/03/2022 21:54

My husband didn't leave the house until DD should have been picked up once. I was 200 miles away on training. I was having kittens. Absolute kittens that DD wasn't being collected. He knew that it was a half hour trip in school time traffic.
I'll tell you something, he didn't do it again. It's absolutely not acceptable.

Natsku · 04/03/2022 21:59

Not for school but when my daughter was in daycare. I lost track of time and realised just around the time I should be picking her up. Got on my bike and rode at top speed in a snow storm and ended up having an asthma attack and collapsing on the side of the road half way though.
Turned out my partner had picked her up anyway, but forgot to tell me.

jesusmaryjosephandtheweedonkey · 04/03/2022 22:14

Dp managed to pick one child up but forgot the other ( same school) and the eldest didn't mention it till they got home 😀

bumblingbovine49 · 04/03/2022 22:21

I forgot once. It was a work day where I finished at 2.30pm but somehow I got it into my head that it was a different day when DS went to after school club day and I was due to finish at 4pm. Luckily I rang DH from work to ask him something at 2.55pm and he asked me why I wasn't at the school gate ( which was a 20 min drive away!).ShockBlush I ended up 20 mins late . DH called the school to let them know . I was pretty mortified. Still no idea to this day what happened

Longingforatikihut · 04/03/2022 22:23

When my sister and me were 11 and 7, mum forgot to collect us. Sister walked us home which was empty. Walked us back to school (it was school Xmas fete so open late). Mum turned up about half eight in the evening, semi hysterical and took us home. Never knew where she was. Father was abroad for work.

It was the 90s... Can't see it happening these days.

MargaretThursday · 04/03/2022 22:26

No...

However I did have one time when I messaged a friend and asked them to pick ds up "tomorrow" because I had a medical appointment for dd. She didn't reply until the morning, but said "no problem."
I arrived home about 20 minutes after school pick up and phoned her to check she was home before going out to pick him up.
We chatted briefly, then the landline phoned, and I said "must go, I'll be down in about 5 minutes to collect ds".
The landline was the school saying "we have ds, what's happened?"

While I was on the landline, my friend was calling me back on the mobile saying "but you said tomorrow..." 🤣🤣🤣

Different one was one time when I got a call from my 18yo to say ds aged 8yo had arrived home. We lived about 50 minutes walk from school. I said "but he's got football after school".
He had. but it had been cancelled, and the children told to go to the afterschool club (which, from past experience they would then have charged me!!). Unfortunately they'd forgotten to tell his form, so he'd gone out, seen no footballers and decided to walk home (still wearing his football boots). No one missed him.
I was tempted to turn up at school and pretend I'd come to pick him up and let them panic. I was kind. I didn't. I just went straight down to school and spoke to the deputy.
It was quite lucky though, because dd wasn't normally at home at that point, she'd normally have been in college. I'm not sure what he'd have done if she hadn't been there. I suspect he'd have gone to a friend's house, probably without telling them what had happened, so it could easily have become a police matter.

And that's all my pick up incidents in 3 dc and nearly 38 years of school between them in total.
So yes, forgetting three times isn't normal.

teebles64 · 04/03/2022 22:32

I worked night shifts as a nurse when children were small. Remember being woken by a call from the school secretary. She was a friend and knew the situation and walked them home for me. No harm done x

crackofdoom · 04/03/2022 22:47

I did, just a couple of months ago. Until recently, I had a quite complicated lift share with a neighbour- I did mornings and she did afternoons, but there were various exceptions- I only took her younger DC in on a Wednesday, and every other Friday I had to do the afternoon pick up for DS2. I simply forgot it was Friday Blush. Luckily, they just put him in after school club and I don't think he was any the wiser.

XP has done it twice Hmm.

MrsSkylerWhite · 04/03/2022 22:49

No. Obviously.

LadyPropane · 04/03/2022 22:53

As a one off it's totally forgivable. Everybody fucks up sometimes. But I don't think I've known anyone to make this mistake more than once.

Sounds like he doesn't need to worry too much about remembering because you'll sort it out for him if he fucks up. He has a charmed life.