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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

495 replies

Dorsetdelight211 · 17/06/2022 07:55

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.

OP posts:
DelurkingAJ · 17/06/2022 08:44

People always say ‘it’s just one day’ but from talking to friends and family in education it never seems to be…the same families do it again and again and again and then (in one case I know well) complain because their child is behind. To my mind it sets a terrible example of work ethic when the children are very impressionable.

RampantIvy · 17/06/2022 08:44

Not something I would have done. It is teaching kids the wrong lesson and sets a bad precedent. They have had enough disruption to their learning over the last couple of years as it is.

MrsElijahMikaelson1 · 17/06/2022 08:44

Not acceptable at all. Children have already had two years of disruption in their education and how will she catch up on work missed other than creating extra workload for her teachers? what sort of message does it send for her children for their future? When it comes to being employed you can’t just take a random beach day!

Brefugee · 17/06/2022 08:45

ask your DD if she'll be doing schoolwork in the holidays when the weather is bad, to catch up.

It's bad practice for so so many reasons.

Veol · 17/06/2022 08:46

Skipping school to do fun stuff outside of school seems like a dangerous precedent to set when you have teenager.

ChocolateHippo · 17/06/2022 08:46

Classrooms are going to be unbearably hot today unless they have AC. I doubt the children will learn much and tbh they'd probably be better off at home health-wise.

Soontobe60 · 17/06/2022 08:46

BaaCake · 17/06/2022 08:43

Pre covid as a one off fine. But not this cohort, they've missed so much already every day counts. Hopefully some of their teachers will suggest a lesson on the field or something.

As a teacher, the last thing id do on a really hot day is suggest a lesson on the field. UV levels are extremely high, as is the pollen count. No doubt after school the kids will be in the sun - in school they’ll also be out in the sun for about an hour during break / lunch times - most with no sunscreen on.
So no, this teacher wont be taking the kids out on a scorching hot day.

BaaCake · 17/06/2022 08:46

Also you dont know what the contents of the missed lessons are. They could be vital.

scott2609 · 17/06/2022 08:47

I do think it depends on the child’s age, but one of my absolute best childhood memories is of an impromptu beach trip on a school day when I was in year 3 around this time of year.

My Mum let me have a bit of a lie in and I remember frantically saying ‘Mummy I’m late for school!’ when I was woke and realised what the time was.

My Dad (who would usually have been at work at that point) then bounded out and said we were going to Bournemouth beach for the day.

I suppose I may have missed something important at school, but it was a one-off and I still remember so clearly the surprise and overwhelming excitement, and the wonderful day we had together as a family.

Soontobe60 · 17/06/2022 08:47

ChocolateHippo · 17/06/2022 08:46

Classrooms are going to be unbearably hot today unless they have AC. I doubt the children will learn much and tbh they'd probably be better off at home health-wise.

Going to the beach isnt spending the day at home. The beach will still be there tomorrow.

Blanketpolicy · 17/06/2022 08:48

If it is truely a one off, never to be repeated then fair enough, but I doubt it. I have seen some of ds's friends who think school is optional for the weakest of reasons and it soon becomes a slippery slope trying to explain to a teen why it was ok for you to take them out for an occasional day in the sun together, but not ok for them to take a more important day off because the new fifa game is out!

Fixyourself · 17/06/2022 08:49

Life is too short! This would be a memory that your kids will have for a lifetime! Enjoy 😎

dessertsun · 17/06/2022 08:49

I'd do this, no problem. I think there are some people who think that missing school is somehow immoral, I disagree.
I also don't understand the argument about what if the parents have to work and can't take them. Is this about "fairness" or about if you had the opportunity would you also do the same? I'm not going to make choices for my family based on other families' lives and decisions.

RampantIvy · 17/06/2022 08:50

ChocolateHippo · 17/06/2022 08:46

Classrooms are going to be unbearably hot today unless they have AC. I doubt the children will learn much and tbh they'd probably be better off at home health-wise.

It's not going to be hot everywhere. It is very windy here in South Yorkshire today.

And what about pupils sitting GCSEs and A levels? Should they skip off as well?

DD took her A levels during the glorious summer of 2018. She and her cohort managed perfectly well.

SausageAndCash · 17/06/2022 08:51

They’ll be stuck in a traffic jam in the boiling heat and then find nowhere to park. 😉

Queenoftheashes · 17/06/2022 08:52

The friend is prob a vampire so the mum has to hide her on sunny days

ForTheLoveOfSleep · 17/06/2022 08:53

People really take children out of school for this? It's one hot day of many to come over the coming months. Ridiculous. Some people can be so dramatic when it comes to the weather.

BertieQueen · 17/06/2022 08:53

Personally wouldn’t have told anyone.

We are currently on holiday by the coast, it’s our last day today we have had a glorious week in the sunshine which we didn’t expect, if we was at home we would still be going to work/school.

Ladymartin · 17/06/2022 08:54

Honestly I would do it, my sons friend died in his sleep not so long ago. Nothing is guaranteed. Life is for living and one day won’t hurt. I remember as a kid doing similar and my neighbor also kept my friend off and we went to the beach together. I remember it still and us giggling about being naughty and not going to school. Doubt I’d have had such nice memories of another day in a stuffy school.

Kanaloa · 17/06/2022 08:54

I wouldn’t do it because they can enjoy the sun at the weekend or holidays. However, I also wouldn’t start a thread asking opinions about what my daughter’s friends’ parents do. Let them do what they’re doing and you do what you’re doing. Employ the old classic ‘oh well shame Hannah’s mum isn’t your mum.’

edgeware · 17/06/2022 08:55

Life isn’t just about work. All the hardcore ‘lazy habits’ people need to realise that.

AbleCable · 17/06/2022 08:56

No, kids have holidays coming up and weekends to go to the beach - and have missed far too much school already.
The advice is to stay out of the sun between 11 and 3 on a hot sunny day anyway, so they might as well be at school - and take them to the beach with a picnic in the late afternoon and evening - it will still be warm then.

Vapeyvapevape · 17/06/2022 08:56

RampantIvy · 17/06/2022 08:50

It's not going to be hot everywhere. It is very windy here in South Yorkshire today.

And what about pupils sitting GCSEs and A levels? Should they skip off as well?

DD took her A levels during the glorious summer of 2018. She and her cohort managed perfectly well.

Show quote history

Healthwise ? They won't boil to death. Good grief 🙄

Hopingforabagofbuttons · 17/06/2022 08:57

YANBU. All you’re teaching your kids, by letting them have the day off to go to the beach because it’s hot, is a bad work ethic later on in life.
When you see those entitled teenagers on YouTube etc, it’s because they have parents like that.
Id be telling them to get in the car and stop their whinging.

Veol · 17/06/2022 08:58

What she going to say when her DD skips school because she wants to make memories in the park with Barry in 10C? Her daughter could argue that it is a more rewarding life experience than double geography.