Thoughts on taking your DC out of school to enjoy the sunshine?

[Dorsetdelight211]

DD is 14, year 9. She's just had a message off her best friend to say she won't be in school today as her mum is taking her and her younger sister to the beach for the day. Que DD saying how cool the mum is and how unfair it is that I never let her miss school for fun stuff. I've got to work and even if I didn't I still wouldn't let her do it.

YABU-its a beautiful day, one day off school won't make a difference
YANBU-school is important and you can't skive off just because the weathers nice.

What a regimented way of living your life!

Lots of adults can take last-minute days off or flex their weeks so they can have a long weekends occasionally 🤷🏻‍♀️ the self-employed often arrange things so that they can take time off to do things like go to the beach or have a cheap holiday.

I find MN is very black and white about school and workplace attendance for some reason, though. I'm just glad most people I know in reality aren't quite so strict!

I find it very rigid about these things as well! Odd isn’t it.

Yeah just tell school theyre ill.....but dont be surprised if their life doesnt turn out how you'd wished....you never know they might find inspiration on the beach and become founders of the worlds largest donkey rides business.....or they might end up being entitled little wasters with no sense of responsibility who add nothing to society because no-one has ever taught then how to go on

Oh save the bloody dramatics 🤣

Classic mumsnet, your kids future is ruined because you took one sneaky day trip to the beach 🤣

My in laws do this q a lot with their kids. I do try to ensure mine goes at all times apart from sickness. I always have in mind keeping her absence quite minimal in case we ever wanted to arrange a holiday abroad term time, I don't have any issues people taking them out of school for this.

I took my 7 year old out of school for the afternoon after they'd had sports day in the morning so we could spend it at the beach, I very much don't regret it, it was great.

I wouldn't do it now she's at secondary now though.

'School attendance is a non issue in a lot of the world'. And people think this is an admirable state of affairs? God help us.

The data showing that poor attendance leads to poor outcomes is irrefutable. Govts don't demand figures for shits and giggles and schools aren't insisting on your child being there just to spoil your fun beach day.

The thing is... Everyone has had the 'pleasure' of knowing people who were brought up like this. The princesses, the precious ones, the spoilt ones, the entitled ones who do as they please. Schools spot them a mile off. They roll their eyes at their antics and wish these kids had better role models at home than their know-it-all parents.

@GrinAndVomit I think children should be allocated a certain amount of days per year to allow them to spend time together as a family or to book dentist appointments and holidays etc. without having to fake illness or worry about getting into trouble.

We have these in Switzerland, they're called Joker Days. -
Each school year, two joker days are available to every student. Joker days may be taken individually or en bloc. School half-days count as a complete Joker Day. A joker day may not be divided into two half days. The following periods of notice apply when taking joker days:
a) Always inform the class teacher eight days in advance
b) Where they are taken at the end of holidays, inform the class teacher before the holiday begins

Children should be in school

There are plenty of school holidays

There is time after work to go to the park, beach, pool etc

Slightly off-topic, but I would never turn down a dentist appointment for my child because it was during school hours.... do people do this?! He'd probably be waiting 2 years or so for another one!

What's the logic in that? Is one day really going to have a significant impact on a child's achievements? Surely academically able children could always learn more, score higher etc as well? All it does is teach able children they don't need to try or work as hard

Thats just how it is though.

My husband got 5As at higher and barely opened a book. Because he’s always been academic. I got the same but had to study my arse off. Thems the breaks 🤷🏻‍♀️

I loathe this “I can’t have it so no one should have it” attitude.

And no. I definitely wouldn’t take my child out of school to go to the beach.

Emoloyees use their leave allowance, FFS. They have to request the time off, they don't just decide not to pitch up one day. And once they've run out of leave, that's it. No more beach days.

Children, too, use their leave allowance. They have 13 weeks, more generous than the vast majority of paid employment. It's just that those holidays are mandated in terms of when they are.

You seem to be suggesting that school children have some sort of magical flexible timetable when they go to school if they fancy but, hey! no biggie if they don't.

It's not 'regimented' fgs. How else do you think schools can teach hundreds of kids at once?

Were you someone who skipped school a lot? You seem like it.

I'd be at the beach as quickly as I physically could get there. Only young once x

Oh I get it now. This is why some of my younger colleagues think it's okay to miss a shift because they "have somewhere else to be".
Clearly their parents let them miss school for any reason so they think it's okay to let the rest of us down.
Yes I have been to work today in a boiling hot bakery but then I was brought up with a good work ethic.

It depends on what they are missing at school. Building block subjects like maths and science can be a problem if you miss key topics.

Yes, I know they use their leave allowance but they can generally pick and choose when they take it, within reason.

Children have a lot of holidays but they're restricted to certain times - and I genuinely don't see the issue if a child misses the odd day of school to make the most of the nice weather, no.

And yes, I was allowed a few days off school each year for various reasons - I still managed to go to a good university and graduate with a good degree, and I now run my own business so I can't say it did me any harm 😉

I was a child who was always told to be at school, no matter what. I never had extra day off except those that already are in school calendar. I am not more successful or richer because I was always at school, I can tell you. In fact, I actually feel kind of deprived, because my parents always insisted on books knowledge. I never got to learn from experiencing life when I was a child. My husband, on the other side, was quite independent child, he ignored things that weren't interesting to him etc. and he has a hobby that brings him lots of money, unlike me. Average person, but good student back then. I know this post might be bit too much, but I just wanted to give you a little perspective when you have to make this decision once again at some point. What I wanted to say is: Missing day at school isn't something bad if your kids got to experience something way much better.

If I was off work anyway (I work shifts so maybe), then don't see the problem occasionally mainly as some school buildings are unbearable in the heat.

It sets a precedent and indicates to the children that their parent values a day at the beach as being more important than school, despite all the hand-wringing and whining about Covid etc. What if it's sunny next week or there's fabulous snow in Winter, will they be taking another odd day off?
If the child misses something important will the teacher be expected to waste time updating the sand-babes, possible at the expense of the pupils who have sweated it out?

Tbf my DD10 has an inset day today so is lucky enough to be off anyway, but I might have kept her off since Friday is a PE day and they were planning to still do their cross country running session. No way would I allow her to do that in this heat

Meh, sorry to disappoint you but I really can't get worked up about kids missing the odd day of school to go to the beach or play in the snow, lol.

If it's managed properly by parents it doesn't set any kind of precedent, either. I missed the odd day of school for holidays and days out with family who visited from overseas - I somehow still managed to get my A-levels, graduate university and get a job despite my horrendous 2-3 day a year school skipping habit 😉

So you would be happy if your child's teacher decided to skive off work and take their child to the beach?

It sets a precedent and indicates to the children that their parent values a day at the beach as being more important than school,

Sometimes a day at the beach (or wherever) is more important then school.

It really wouldn't bother me, lol.