Would you let your child go on this school trip?

[Bubblegirly]

Hello

7yr old in year 3 has the opportunity to go to London to see a musical. It’s for those children who are involved in performing arts at school. It’s an evening performance and coach will likely not be home to midnight. It’s on a school night (organised by school) and children are allowed in later the next day.

1 parent is point blank saying no because it’s too late!
other parent thinks 1 late night is ok for a child that has a well established routine generally and that they will be sad to miss out!

YANBU = let them go
YABU= don’t let them go it’s too late

Oh let them go. How exciting!

Gosh my DD’s secondary school do this but book the afternoon matinee performance. Wonder why the school hasn’t done that?

How far do you live from London?

It really depends on your child. I’ve taken both of mine to evening performances - usually due to the eldest child being the main person involved in a performing group and invited but with family offered tickets not just the member child. Youngest has always fallen asleep during the second half. Like clockwork. And older than 6. Did so last year aged 11!! But it’s not put us off going - single parent so easier to take the younger one at the time as I don’t have babysitters.

School seem sensible about it though giving them a later start the day after. So if the child really wants to go I’d probably say yes.

Children are resilient when it comes to going but not resilient when it comes to not going?

Absolutely let them go. Access to the arts is so important for young people and it is harder and harder to do with the cost of tickets. Totally worth it for your child and I would take the chance in a heartbeat for my daughter.

We can all sleep when we are dead! Let the child go, seeing a show in London is amazing. I am pretty strict with routine but there are allowed to be exceptions.

Mine are in high school now but the primary school has done the O2 school choir for years which ends at a similar time and then get to go in late.
I did it when I was growing up and it felt so grown up going in late the next day!

let them go

I'd allow them but wouldn't judge other parents who didn't. DD would start later the next day, but I wouldn't, she'd still need to be at childcare for 7am, so I can understand why a late start might not work for everyone

Depends on your child and the impact a late night would have on them, some will sleep on the coach, settle to bed once home and be fine after a lie in the next day. Some might not sleep on the coach, might take ages to wind down once home and then might still wake at the crack of dawn. Probably depends on what night of the week it is too, on a Thursday where they only have one more day of school to get through before they can have a chilled weekend fine, on a Monday night with a whole week of school to get through it might be trickier! Obviously for some families with 2 working parents it might not be possible to let the child have a lie in if parents don’t have flexible working. I assume it’s open to children across school of all ages so the age of the child will probably matter, a late night may have less of an impact on a Year 6 child than one in Year 2. Ultimately there is no right or wrong, it should be up to individual parents to decide what’s appropriate for their individual child.

If I drove (can't due to disability) then yes, I'd happily let them go. I don't drive so would need to check I could sort transport to pick them up first.

As for personal circumstances, I'd ask my DC if it's something they really want to do, as mine usually fall asleep by 8pm and London is 4 hours away from us.

It sounds more suitable for an older age group.

This. I think it’s a crazy idea from school, what’s wrong with a matinee?

id also be fuming if I’d paid £££ to go to the theatre for the evening and got sat next to a trip of 7 year olds!!!

If they’d be ok going there and they would enjoy it then I would as a one off. It will be a brilliant experience that they will remember for years to come.

@Bubblegirly

It's a great opportunity, OP - if at all possible, any child invited should go along.

Which musical is it? I'm thinking perhaps 'Matilda'?

PS Having said that, on reflection, the musicals on in London generally have matinees - were tickets for a matinee not possible for the school group?

You have the chance to take your daughter at any point. Theatre tickets aren't restricted to 7 year old school kids.

The chance will also be available to see theatre when they're 8, 9, 10,11, 12+ years old.

Personally I think it's ridiculous sending 7 year olds to a late theatre performance. A great number will fall asleep during, which renders it a bit pointless.

Most theatre shows have 8 performances a week which includes 3 x 2:30pm matinees. Absolutely no reason not to choose one of those afternoon performances, especially as the school is allowing the kids to miss the following morning.

Let your little person live! One late night isn’t going to harm them too much (unless, like one of my daughter’s friends, they suffer from migraines when they don’t get enough sleep, in which case you wouldn’t then be considering it so 🤷🏻‍♀️)

Let them go!

Please let them go!

As someone who's children missed out on so many of these kind of opportunities in primary due to COVID lockdowns - I would advocate for sending kids on every trip/experience/occasion that you can!

There are children leaving secondary school who have never been on these kind of trips because of the limitations lockdowns and then cost of living issues have caused.

I'm a "say yes" person - you're only young once and these sorts of treats can be magical

Depends on the child. At 7 mine would have really struggled. But if they’ll be fine or just really want to go I’d let them!

I’d say yes as a one off and I’m really strict about bedtimes. Sounds so fun!

Is it more the older kids going? Because at 10yrs old (yr 5) my daughter could handle this a whole lot better than in yr 3

Sounds like a great trip, and as someone said, she’ll likely sleep on the coach on the way home. If not, you will probably have a tired and grumpy little daughter the next day. So what? If she enjoyed the musical, it was worth it.
if you stop her going, she will undoubtedly be very upset. Ok, so that’s life, and you can’t have everything you want, but in my opinion, if it were my daughter, she would be going. I am, of course, assuming that you have checked the ratio of teachers/parents accompanying the children.
Are most of her drama friends going?

It depends on the child, the majority would probably be fine and would be back to normal in a couple if days after 1 late night. One of mine had similar trips as they were in the choir in primary school and would go all over the country for comps. They were fine.
I do have a younger child who is autistic and my experience with him is that one late night will throw his routine and his mood for a couple of weeks.

You know your child. How will your child cope with a very late night and then in school for following day but starting later? What day of the week is the event taking place? If it's a Thursday, and then later into school on the Friday morning, that wouldn't be an issue, because your son will have the weekend to recover. However, if the event is a Monday night, back into school on the Tuesday starting later, but then still had 3 further school days to contend with, I'd be more wary. There's no right or wrong answer, it all really depends on your son.

I’d be irritated by the choice of evening rather than matinee, meaning a late night then grumpy, tired DC, but would agree to DC going.