Parents need to stop lying about term time holidays

[Ljcrow]

If parents want to take their kids out of school for a term time holiday because it's cheaper, I wish they wouldn't give the bullshit that it's an "educational experience". There's an article about this on the BBC today, but working in a school I've heard it all before. Can we not pretend that an all-inclusive to Lanzarote or similar is a rich cultural and educational experience?! If you want to take your kids our because it's cheaper that's up to you but don't try claim the moral high ground, no one's falling for it. (Fwiw I think holiday companies shouldn't be allowed to hike their prices up in school holidays, it's disgraceful, and as a parent myself I have no choice but to pay those inflated prices. It sucks.)

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Your username is very fitting.

I wasn't the one who swore...

What would you have done then if you were in charge of education?

Parents cannot win. Close the schools for COVID. People complain. If they were open. People would complain.
What exactly could they have done? It's a no win situation sadly.

No but pointing out silly mistakes trying to say I didn't have an education.
Anyway my kids are fine as I said my daughter is in top set for everything and is planning on going uni. So having one week off did her no harm and thankfully neither did the schools shutting for half a year for a cold. I bet others weren't so fortunate.

"I'm not judging the holidays, I'm not even judging taking the kids out in term time, I'm specifically judging the lying about it"

So your issue is specifically lying about term time holidays?

There was a mother on BBC 2 the other day who had been honest about taking her DC on holiday rather than pretending they were ill. She was prosecuted by her LA and now has a criminal record.

I do not buy at all that people who go away in term time can't afford school holidays.

A term time week in Lanzarote or crete or the like costs more than a UK camping week. There are lots of less expensive ways to do a holiday than what people tend to do who take children out during term.

What people mean is they can't afford the holiday of their choice in the most expensive weeks. Well join the club really.

Ultimately this thread comes down to one question

Should we teach our children its OK to lie to avoid consequences?

OP didn't ask 'is it OK to take termtime holidays'. They asked 'is it OK to lie to avoid fines'.

I teach my children that sometimes there are rules we don't agree with, and we have 2 choices

• we go along with them because it's not a battle which is important enough to us to fight
• it is important to us, so we openly and politely challenge the rules, and stand up for what we believe in, and accept the consequences of doing this

What we do not do is hide behind lies, that's the cowards path, and not an example I want to set to them.

Ithink parents taking their children on holiday in term time is unfair on those children whose parents cannot afford to or don’t do so on principle. It’s divisive.

You could argue though that parents are being forced to lie because of the fear of receiving a criminal record

OP didn't ask 'is it OK to take termtime holidays'. They asked 'is it OK to lie to avoid fines'.

Erm, are you sure?

The 'lie' OP objects to is people saying their holidays are educational, which OP perceives to be a lie because she thinks differently. She's not actually mentioned fining.

@Ljcrow But if we go on term time breaks to the countries that we are from it really helps with the children’s language development. It can be slow to start when learning 3 languages and you really have to be consistent. They make great strides when chatting with relatives, cousins and friends children when we visit. We also go for cultural events that would fall in term time. Unless your children are in the middle of exams or anything it seems a bit extreme, especially now that you can have it put on your criminal record.

They are not being forced to lie, no one is forcing them to take a termtime holiday. They are making a choice, and with that choice comes a consequence.

I have broken many rules in my time, I'm definitely not a mindless rule follower. And sometimes it has ended well and I have made a change by breaking the rule and explaining why, which has made people think twice about whether the rule made sense. And sometimes I have got in trouble. These are my choices and I own them, and I teach my daughters to do the same, on a small level, bit to always be honest and stand up for what they believe in, to not be sneaky about it

I think being able to afford to take your family away during the holidays is an absolute luxury these days. It's eye wateringly expensive. Why should only the wealthier families get to experience family holidays.

It's disgusting how much they fine you now for doing this. It should be up to the parents what they do with their child

Yes. If you read my original post you'll see that.

You were extremely rude. People who think that they can be extremely rude and get away with it because they did not swear are incorrect.

You meant to be rude, she responded accordingly. Not swearing does not, in any way, put you in the right.

Lying to bullies is absolutely fine.

I understand the position raised by OP, and to a point I agree. On the rare occasions when I deem it necessary to put my own decisions about my child's wellbeing above the state's - albeit I can't envisage many circumstances where I'd deem it in everyone's best interests to take them out for 2 weeks - then I'll inform the school of my decision. Without fudging, lying or scrambling around for 'permission' if my reasons didn't meet the LEA's precise criteria.

There are, however, some situations in life in which honesty isn't always the best policy. Old cliche's like 'the better part of valour is discretion' became cliches with good reason.

I don't think parents should be fined and potentially criminalised for taking their kids on holiday. I don't want to lie but I don't want a fine either.

Silly poor people getting ideas about their station. They should all have caravan holidays because that’s all they can afford.

Do you mean the teachers who try their best for our children every day, put in hundreds of unpaid hours, change childrens nappies, feed them, clean their wounds and give them a hug when they are sad. Not exactly my definition of a bully!

Oh, you mean the nasty mean old government! The one the public voted in. But that's not actually who is being lied to is, people aren't ringing up Sir Kier to say 'my child is sooooo poorly, they will be off for at least a week, the poor thing is soooooo unwell' whilst driving to the airport

Nice try!

We don't do term time holidays for a few reasons - it disrupts our son's routine (he's autistic) I worry about him falling behind as school isn't naturally easy for him and also if we take a week or two off in terms time we'd never be able to cover the actual school holidays - oddly something I very rarely see being talked about when the topic of holidays comes up! We go on UK holidays, club together with family/friends or we don't go.

I don't think families should get fined while holiday companies are allowed to put prices up so much. But I also get how disruptive it is/would be if the whole class was coming and going whenever they wanted for holidays, on top of sickness, appointments etc and to pretend it isn't is just silly to be honest.

Like I said, lying to bullies is fine. Good, in fact.

Lying to lapdogs and enforcers for bullies is also fine and good.

Yep. It's horrible, bullying behaviour. When you bully people, they will do whatever they have to do to escape the bullying. Lying to bullies and their lapdogs and enforcers is fine.

I wasn't rude. How on earth was I rude? I just pointed out a spelling mistake. 🤷‍♀️