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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not want to send children to school when there’s a storm

184 replies

Bestofbothworlds19 · 23/10/2025 07:52

It’s rotten today where we live. Throwing it down with rain all night and this morning, set to continue all day. Winds are strong too, I can see one of the trees along our road has lost one of its branches (not a small one either) which has snapped into the pavement and is partly in the road. I then worry about anything like that happening close to us when walking to school. Fairly certain my youngest won’t even be able to hold her own in this wind anyway lol. I’m not talking about a typical windy rainy autumn day here, it’s far worse than that where we are. Would you keep your children off or not? (Mine are primary school age but question applies for any age really)

OP posts:
Anditstartedagain · 23/10/2025 09:25

Theunamedcat · 23/10/2025 08:03

What weather warning are you under?

This is important. Yesterday it was a yellow warning. If it was a red warning I would consider keeping mine at home.

xla · 23/10/2025 09:26

Anditstartedagain · 23/10/2025 09:25

This is important. Yesterday it was a yellow warning. If it was a red warning I would consider keeping mine at home.

Anyone can go on the met office and see there’s only yellow warnings in place

BoudiccaRuled · 23/10/2025 09:27

This is a post from a SAHM if ever I saw one!
Get your arse out the door, it's just a bit of weather.

ClearFruit · 23/10/2025 09:31

Jesus, just take the kids to school. Talk about dramatic.

Digdongdoo · 23/10/2025 09:34

I'm assuming DC are all at school by now. Wasn't even raining here. Just a little bit windy.

mindutopia · 23/10/2025 09:35

Nope, because it’s presumably too windy and rainy to do anything besides sit on screens in that case, so it’s better they are in school. In the real world, people actually work when it’s storming. Do you not need to be at work today? Kids need to learn resilience from the start. That means getting up and getting on with the day even if it’s windy. We have trees come down where we live all the time (very rural). We crack out the chainsaw if necessary and get on with our day.

wandererofthekingdom · 23/10/2025 09:35

Where do you live? We walked to school this morning in the area with the weather warning, yes it was unpleasant but it was also an experience! The older kids kept tutting about this British weather!

noidea69 · 23/10/2025 09:35

I think its fine to say you dont fancy doing the school run in crap weather, but dont dress it up as a worried about safety thing.

Enigma54 · 23/10/2025 09:37

Seriously? Come on OP, it’s weather! I hope the children are at school now?

TheGoddessAthena · 23/10/2025 09:37

I live in Scotland. We get a lot of storms. Kids go in unless the schools are shut which only happens with a red warning.

Grossthroat · 23/10/2025 09:37

HoskinsChoice · 23/10/2025 07:56

And we wonder why kids are growing up entitled and with zero resilience. Poor kid.

Spot on.

Bludfest · 23/10/2025 09:38

And this is how you raise a generation of dimwits.

polymerclay · 23/10/2025 09:42

Take the day off, I remember being younger and dreading going to school when there was storms, it would be so cold and horrible. My mum would let me have the day off and we would just have a cosy day! I turned out completely fine, one day off will not hurt like everyone is making it out to be🙄

ErlingHaalandsManBun · 23/10/2025 09:42

I live on the west coast of wales and the weather is very often 'hairy' here this time of year. We made sure the kids had good wet weather gear and they always went to school unless the warnings were severe and travel not recommended or school was closed (these two things normally went hand in hand)

We would walk to school in our gear and embrace the weather rather than be wary of it. We would sometimes run a little and we would laugh about it and the kids would squeal in the wind and rain. We tried to make it a fun adventure. My Mum was a real weather worrier and I never wanted to project those anxieties on my kids and make them worry about the weather.

Very extreme weather you need to exercise some caution and heed warnings but on just a normal wet and windy day, embrace it and get them to school.

Tessabelle74 · 23/10/2025 09:43

If it's a proper 100mph wind gusts type of storm then you're right to keep them home, advice would be to only travel if necessary, if it's a normal UK autumn storm with a bit of wind and rain then you need to get them to school

Comtesse · 23/10/2025 09:45

If the school is open, the kids are going in.

Autumvibes · 23/10/2025 09:45

No I would not keep them off. I remember days like this as a child and how fun they were to watch from the classroom window.

MaplePumpkin · 23/10/2025 09:46

I would assume if it was that bad that it’s unsafe to walk on the streets, the school would close. Could you hold your little girls hand to stop her blowing away in the wind?

PistachioTiramisu · 23/10/2025 09:47

Gosh, imagine - we all went to school when it snowed too! No day off for a tiny sprinkling of flakes! Quite ridiculous to keep kids off when it's windy.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 23/10/2025 09:52

If it was really unsafe surely the weather warnings would be higher and the school would shut?

I would have sympathy (a bit but o wouldn’t say keep them off) if you were talking about sending your yr7s off on their own in it before heading to work, so couldn’t drive them, and you were just a bit concerned about it as they still seem so little at yr7 (compared to my yr 12 dd, although she’s not actually any bigger than them she’s just more mature, which is what I really mean).

If you’re talking about primary school kids that you walk to school, it feels a lot like you don’t fancy going out in it yourself! It probably looks worse from inside but also they’ll be safe as they’ll be with you! As others have said, get a taxi on the way in if really worried and walk back.

snowmichael · 23/10/2025 09:59

Thankyourose · 23/10/2025 07:53

Presumably you’re talking about the current storm in the U.K.? Take your kid to school, it’s hardly life threatening!

In some parts of the UK it's forecast to be over 100kph
That is life threatening

Jenkibuble · 23/10/2025 10:01

Bestofbothworlds19 · 23/10/2025 07:52

It’s rotten today where we live. Throwing it down with rain all night and this morning, set to continue all day. Winds are strong too, I can see one of the trees along our road has lost one of its branches (not a small one either) which has snapped into the pavement and is partly in the road. I then worry about anything like that happening close to us when walking to school. Fairly certain my youngest won’t even be able to hold her own in this wind anyway lol. I’m not talking about a typical windy rainy autumn day here, it’s far worse than that where we are. Would you keep your children off or not? (Mine are primary school age but question applies for any age really)

If school is open, send them !

Attendance is important from a young age - it instills in them the ethics for the workplace.

CanINapNow · 23/10/2025 10:13

OP I struggle with anxiety and would highly recommend the book Anxiety Relief by John Crawford xx

QuickPeachPoet · 23/10/2025 10:22

You must have a lot of time on your hands if you can keep them at home on a rainy day.
What sort of example are you setting? That they can sack off work in the future if the sun isn't out?

Figgygal · 23/10/2025 10:24

Don't be so daft
It's winter OP
You've got months of this ahead of you

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