Is this your child? Staying home on Friday?

[NetballMumGrrr]

Article about how more children are staying home on a Friday as their parents are at home?

Link to BBC News

I’m assuming it’s vulnerable children. Not sure why people are not valuing education more or AIBU?

IMO kids are more likely to be ill enough to stay off school on a Friday - because a cold or whatever combined with tiredness at the end of the week presents worse. Combine that with parents being at home on a Friday so it’s easier to keep kids off and there probably would be a statistically significant difference in absence rates on a Friday which are related to genuine sickness.

I’d definitely be more inclined to let a child who was marginal for going to school stay at home if I was already working from home. I’ve done it once this year and it was a Friday! They might have made it through school ok, but were marginally better off at home. Other child has 100% attendance, so we’re not taking the piss out of sickness absence!

I’d guess it’s people keeping their kids off for illness more than they did before (thank god). Kids are more likely to be ill later in the week because they get tireder and tireder as the week progresses.

Lockdowns. Terrible terrible business.

I've read the article but not the thread.

Why are mum and dad at home on Fridays please?

@Mumma212 does that mean I’m not allowed to have an opinion on anything that I am not directly involved in? Like the war in Ukraine? Or Tudor history? Or the royal family? In fact, now my kids have left home perhaps you think I shouldn’t comment on a thread in school attendance.

You’re being ridiculous.

'Maybe many parents value education, but don't consider school to be particularly good at it.'
'I think a lot of people are jaded and fucked off. Everyone's knackered. I can see why people are doing everything a little bit less or a little bit worse than before'.
I think both of these comments are very relevant especially the 1st one.
I value education but don't consider school to be the only provider ,my 3 went /attend regularly but i feel no guilt at all when taking a rare friday off to go away for a weekend .
Sadly i have to lie as i will not be paying a fine but i know that rare weekend away enriches my family's lives.

Because parents were told for so long that one day or one week ruined their education yet a week off for chicken pox never seemed a concern.

Anyway school shut and kids were sent home to isolate non stop and they all said kids have not been impacted by schools being shut and lessons being missed so now many will think fuck it especially for younger ones.

I think most parents would far rather not have their kids at home when they are!

My main thoughts why it might be is perhaps parents are more willing for kids to stay at home if they're a bit unwell (or if they're claiming to be unwell!) when they're WFH. I used to WFH on Mondays pre-COVID, and I'll admit I was probably more likely to keep a slightly unwell child at home on a day I was wfh anyway whereas I might have sent them in if I was going into the office. I mean, I'd say that happened maybe 2-3 times over 6 years, so not at all a regular thing.

YABU. My dc isn't in school every day. It's certainly not because we don't value education.

I have a kid in my class who is rarely there on Mondays. I can see why, as I’d like to have Mondays off every week! 🙄

This HAS to be anti-Labour's "4 day working week promise" fear mongering propaganda. A week after Labour announced it promised a 4 day working week, the BBC releases this bollocks that because mum and dad are home on a Friday more often, kids aren't going to school and thus their education is suffering. It's so obvious and transparent that's their angle here...

A lot of areas are trialling a 4 day working week already, to be able to provide good data on how it affects the provision of services in various fields. My local council does it. And it looks like they are sticking with it too!

One less day to be propagandized. Or they are learning at home. Or on a 3 day trip. Or they have colds. What did the Left expect when they shut down everything for eons. So many possibilities. Part time homeschooling? I doubt it’s laziness, that makes no sense as they’re getting there the other four days, and surely both the parents and the kids are not all lazy at the same time and only every Friday.

When given the option of what days to WFH, most people choose Mon and Friday.

😂

But why assume children are not getting an education when they are not in school? Do you believe education is just school books and class time?

This is about kids that should be in school on a Friday as they’re registered with a school.

This is interesting, I have friends in the travelling community who do "lads and Dads" day on Fridays.
This involves taking their sons out of school and to work with them, training them up in their business.

My child has very good attendance and we haven't taken time off school like this.

HOWEVER, Covid and lockdown made me realise three things:

1. Holidays and breaks from the routine are REALLY important for mental wellbeing.
2. Sometimes there ARE things which are more important than being in school.
3. The government are completely incompetent and do not really care about your kids' education - so you should use your common sense and not blindly obey them about time off.

So whereas in the past I would have lost a lot of sleep about missing odd days out of school, now I just think life is for living and if we need or want a day off for some special reason, then so be it.

End of week Autistic burn out. Kid overwhelmed and at can’t manage, parents desperately supporting kid to attend school but failing to succeed.

When did "the left" shut things down for eons? Do you mean the conservative government ie the right?

I highly value my children's education , but as a mental health practitioner of two decades and having the insight i do , I value my children's mental wellbeing more for very good reasons.

Our schools are not trauma informed... and there is a LOT of trauma out there.

Post covid has demonstrated that schools are not trauma informed and throwing mindfulness exercises around just doesn't cut it .

So many Mumsnetters are weirdly obsessed with “not judging” others. If your child is enrolled at school, not homeschooled, and you are constantly letting them have random days off, then yes, you deserve to be judged. It’s not OK. Kids need to be in school, not playing Roblox on the sofa.

tsmainsqueeze I agree. I don't let my DC have Fridays off, both of them like school for socialising reasons as well as education but I'm not convinced it is going to have the biggest impact on my DS's grades as he is naturally bright and hard working and a big reader. He will do well regardless and due to his experience in his mock exams we are both seriously concerned that the school is thinking of not allowing study leave, making all year 11s revise at school. If the mocks are anything to go by, where some younger children were making barking noises and the teachers did not stop them. Plus the lack of quiet spaces to revise, the noise and mayhem, the poorly behaved children distracting others, al these factors will be detrimental to quite a few. I really think DS like others is more than capable of not being in school almost at this stage and achieving very good grades. It would be better to organise study leave in school for those with no self-discipline or nowhere to study due to their home being cramped or noisy.

Equally, my younger DC who is in year 7 has been taught by cover teachers without a degree. I am not sure of the 'quality' of education in that regard. Or many teachers DD tells me just look bored and hand out worksheets. There is an over reliance on ed tech and I wouldn't call that a high quality education. Of course there are many good teachers but my family and DH's are full of enquiring minds and value knowledge and its acquisition. If you grow up in that kind of environment it is just as important as school IMO but obviously school does have a bigger value than just academic attainment.

Any “conservatives” who were in power at the time are deathly afraid of the left, are more left than right, and appease the left at every turn because they know who really holds the power. Most leaders during covid were leftists or else intimidated the few who weren’t. And the conservative parties in many countries have been taken over by the left like everything else, media etc.

Why would lazy parents keep their kids at home, it's more work