Christmas Leave 'I have kids'

[paintityellow]

Yes I know this comes up every year, but it's so bloody annoying. The Christmas leave list went around in September, with it being specified that priority for Christmas Day would be given to people who worked it last year.
Despite this we now have a couple of people really trying to pressure others to give up Christmas Day because 'I have kids'. One of these women has had the last 3 Christmas Days off, the other's kids are teenagers. One of the people they're trying to pressure wants to fly home to spend Christmas day with her parents, Another has no family in the area so also wants to travel home for Christmas. Both worked last year.
AIBU to find this attitude infuriating?

I don't live in the UK, and very few people here work on Christmas Day. The only places open for eating are those who are providing a catered Christmas lunch - generally hotels, the likes of McDonalds certainly aren't open.

How young are you talking about? My nephew would absolutely know at 4.

Definitely. I used to work in hospitality as a student and often worked over Christmas. I hated ut then and literally planned my career with the ability to never have to do this.

Christmas as an adult became more important because as a child my parents worked every Christmas. So it was nice to actually have a Christmas meal - I'm 39 and have eaten exactly one Christmas dinner in my life!

This year we can't meet - the family are going out for a meal, I went last year and caught covid and can't risk it again

Another family goes every year to the same restaurant, same work as my parents were in. She's 5 now and we all know not to say it's Christmas Day because they tell her it's Christmas Eve and swap the days as they're working

I’d say 10 - to cover ages 2-12. Christmas is for children. It’s magical for them. Of course parents of young children should be favoured when it comes to leave arrangements - for the children’s sakes. I wouldn’t expect all childfree people to understand this, but I’m appalled by how many parents on this thread are all for children being without their mums or dads on Christmas Day. Scrooges, the lot of you - and that’s putting it kindly.

The point is..it is the main point for Christian people.
Not being in that ‘world’ doesn't negate the fact for those that are.

My work we either have to work Christmas or new year I have volunteered to do new year coz I have young kids but if I got roated in Christmas I would probably quit

can you make your post even more goady and insulting or is it the best you can do?

What about 55 year old Helen visiting 85 year old Brian and Sue? Neither of whom are terminally ill but Sue has dementia and Brian is looking after her and has arthritis?

So someone without children should never be allowed to see their own families on Christmas Day?

No. That’s not fair.

Vicars and other Christian ministers etc

I work a shitty minimum wage retail job my manager knows I would quit as I chose this job around my kids because I don’t particularly care about it I work hard am a supervisor but my kids are my priority

Are you appalled? How awful for you.

So upsetting,

Exactly! But this kind of nuance is lost on the absolute pea-brains on this thread.

I think you are being the arsehole unless you are religious Christmas is boring for adults children feel the magic

So you think parents with young children are more important in the workplace at holiday times?
Thankfully most employers follow an approach where everyone is treated as equals.

It isn't. This is a very myopic view. 'Christmas' is important to people for whatever reason they feel it so. Christians don't have a monopoly on this, and nor can they speak for the rest of the population.

Yuletide and the Winter Solstice were important to Pagans. The Christians didn't bother about that when they were persecuting them, or murdering the women they accused of witchcraft, or appropriating Pagan festivals and grafting their own middle-eastern faith onto these far older, established, British traditions.

The solstice festivals were Pagan. We were there first. But the fact is immaterial. Because does that give us carte blanche to dictate who these traditions were most important to, or who had original claim on them; or, for that matter, who gets first dibs on time off in December?

No. Of course it does not.

Rubbish. If a parent wants to ensure they don’t miss Christmas with their kids, they work a job that doesn’t require it. In work 24/7 shifts in the emergency services, we are paid a premium for working shift work. If you take the job knowing that and knowing that you might be scheduled to work Christmas then you should expect to work some Christmas shifts.

Christmas is NOT for children - it's for everyone. It is quite possible to have the celebrations at a time when the whole family is together if parents are working on Christmas Day. I'm appalled at how having children makes some people think they take top priority in everything. As a pp said, some women don't want to be discriminated against in the workplace because they have children, but are more than happy to use those children to discriminate against others. You can't have it both ways!

We are all adults - DC’s in their early 20’s. Christmas is still very special to us. Nothing boring about it.

Christmas is boring for adults?

That's news to me.

If an adult doesn’t feel any magic at Christmas maybe they’re the one that’s boring?

I can’t work out how to quote to reply properly to people. No, I don’t think parents are more important than their colleagues; I think their children are more important a consideration. @RosieGirl27 summed it up succinctly.

Two of them went to HR to complain that you aren't working Christmas this year???

now we're into streams of Christmas consciousness.