Why would a parent do this?

[Ripeberry]

For the last 7 schooldays my DD1's best friend has not been going to school as his mum says that he is not well and has a fever.
But on the dot of 4pm everyday he has been playing outside until well past 8pm!
Today, her two secondary school DCs and two primary school DCs have been home and AGAIN as soon as 4pm comes round they are all out there.
Ok maybe by 4pm she has had enough of them, but they don't look ill to me.
She has lots of friends who could take the "well" kids to school, and the older ones catch the bus anyway.
AIBU in thinking "Why are you messing around with your kids education?", if other people just wanted one day off we have to jump through hoops to get it.
Did manage to speak to DD1's friend last week and he just said "We can't be bothered with school".
When i was younger my Mum would make me stay in bed ALL day if i was unwell.

Then why doesnt she just offer help then justabout? knock on the door as singywife suggested and show concern instead of coming and posting in AIBU saying why would a parent do this

If you post in AIBU then you need to be prepared to be told YABU, this is my opinion, i also think she is judging this woman because she chain smokes (or why else would she feel the need to mention it) Just because your opinion differs from mine doesnt mean you are right and i am wrong, we just have different opinions, therefore i will agree to disagree with you justabout. I think the op would have been better posting this in Parenting if she just wanted advice on what to do about the situation.

Maybe the children are having problems with bullying & she is keeping them off school until it's being sorted? Maybe she is having problems and can't get them to school? Maybe the children are suffering from school phobia? Maybe they have had a tummy bug with D&V & therefore can't send the children in (as most schools have rules about 48 hours iirc) but are actually quite well apart from that.

TBH unless you think the children are at risk (in which case why haven't you reported it to SS?) then it's none of your business. Yes she will get into trouble eventually if she keeps them off school without a valid reason & doesn't remove them from the register....but I'm sure she knows this & has her reasons for keeping them off. She has a right to do what she thinks is best for her children.

My mum had an absolute zero tolerance on days off school for sickness. Just feeling poorly, with no provable symptoms, was never good enough.

I did get one day off school, when I was 10, for a tummy ache. She was pretty determined I was going to school, in my uniform ready to go but, after puking all over her, the floor, and my sister she relented and let me stay home. Had an emergency op to remove my appendix 6 hours later !

if they are indoors all day until 4pm there is no reason to suggest she is not educating them at home

Thanks for all your replies, i have been over yesterday to see if she was OK and her eldest answered the door and just said "Mum's not well so we could not go to school"
But today they have all managed to get to school and DD1's friend is now playing in our garden.
The only reason i was mentioning the chain smoking is that they always seem to be coming down with EVERYTHING, which basically proves the point that the enviroment is unhealthy.
The poor little lad hardly has time to recover from each illness