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?

She should change career because you had kids???

I haven't read the full thread so apologies if this has been asked.

What happens if one of these people calls in 'sick' over Xmas? Is there a rota of subs who have to be on call in case?

Childfree people do not exist as a resource for parent collegues fgs. It should be give and take in a workplace.

I once had an Italian colleague start in mid July and within three days had requested Christmas off whilst the rest of us were told we couldn’t request Christmas leave until at least September. I complained that I had been there longer and wanted to visit family in America. He went on holiday and I ended up working the holiday. Fuckers.

@Chickenkeev I think the point is - anyone who wants Christmas day guaranteed off, should change jobs to one where it is not a requirement. Otherwise they should all take their turn.

She’s got it off, I believe. Not sure why she needs to change jobs when it’s the parents complaining about having to work.

Indeed - spending Christmas alone with ice cream is a perfectly legitimate (and throughly enjoyable) Christmas plan!

Childfree people don’t need sick parents or family abroad to have the same opportunity to take that day off. But funnily enough you’ll find many more will be happy to, if it’s not demanded of them!

Also have people ever thought how insensitive and cruel it can be to tell someone who is childfree not by choice, or who has lost a child that they should have to work Christmas Day because they don’t have kids?

Fair enough, apologies.

For single parents that could be very difficult as no childcare is open on Christmas Day.

Yes.
You can have a secular version of Christmas Day any day, but you can't have Midnight Mass or Christmas Morning service any other day.
It might not apply to a majority of people these days, but I would like to see religious observance seen as a priority.

You could equally say that if you don't think that an adult spending time with their lonely and very elderly parents who they don't see much all year and who won't be around much longer is more important than a 6 year old who's got both his parents around most of the time, you are very selfish.

It's also pretty unfair to say that a single parent can't create a great Christmas for their 6 year old.

The reality is that you just can't generalise and say that children trump adults every single time.

and that isn’t a problem it’s the responsibility of the childless/childfree to solve.

Ah yes, Christmas leave! I have 'fond' memories of coworkers with children battling it out over who got the 'last' leave slot. The arguments included 'my children are younger than yours', 'my baby's first Christmas', 'mine still believe', 'your children are too young to 'get' Christmas', 'your children are too old for Santa' amongst others.

We had a rota and you dropped to the bottom if you had Christmas off the previous year. Swaps were OK (no coercion), but there were never enough swaps to go round.

Oh right! By saying Christians, Catholics and Buddhists it looks like Catholics are separated from Christians in the same way that you've named Buddhists separately 😉.
I've often seen Catholics named separately from other Christian denominations, you never see "Christians, Baptists and C of E" listed do you? As it's a given that they are already under the Christian umbrella.

I don't get people suddenly needing to be with family they haven't see all year. Do you only want to spend time with them at Christmas?

I doubt most small children know or care whether they get Christmas on the 24, 25 or 26 December. It’s their parents who care either because they’re reliving their own childhood or from sheer self-importance or from some other reason.

I never understood why non-religious people make such a fuss about the 25th December with young children. If the kids are young enough to believe in Santa, then they're young enough to not have much of a clue about dates and not to notice whether you celebrate Christmas Day on the 25th, 26th, 27th. Why not just work the real Christmas Day and have Boxing Day as your Christmas? The only difference is that you wouldn't get the church services.

@nearlywinteragain yes I agree it could be difficult but it's still not a reason to offer one individual leave every year over another. My team are aware I do this as fairly as I can.

@SoShallINever I just wanted to be inclusive of religions that celebrate on the 25th.

I'd swap for people with small kids , but I wouldn't be pressured.
One of my colleagues has somehow got away with working Christmas Day for the last 12 years when we usually do alternate.
This is a crap management issue though.

“I used to work Christmas and weekends before I had kids and did my bit for the people who had kids. Now I have kids it would be nice if the favour was returned.*

Who are you expecting to return the favour - the parents you were covering for or the people who still don’t have children? It’s all very well to say that people without kids should cover for parents because they’ll get their turn when they have kids - but what about the ones who never do have kids? Are they expected to work Christmas for the rest of their working lives?

and that isn’t a problem it’s the responsibility of the childless/childfree to solve.

It is however something a manager planning leave will have to consider.

What a horrible, tone deaf, selfish post.

Year about, kids or no kids, easy peasy!

Equally annoying is people expecting half terms and two weeks in august. I don't actually want school holidays off currently but it shouldn't be expected.