Do you send your kids to school on their birthdays?

[charliecat]

My dds have the same birthday and this year I am planning on keeping them off so they can enjoy their birthday.
The alternative is sending them, them not having 5 mins to open their pressies let alone play with them and then with a heavy heart sending them off crying. Not for me.
If they got up at 5am and had chance to play I wouldnt mind but we barely have time for anything in the morning as it is so it would be chaotic...anyway...how much trouble am I going to get in for this? Do I lie and say they both had tummy bugs or what? What do you do?

Aloha, my kids like home and school. And in school they have loads of other kids to lay with, things to do that I can't organise at home....like a football match or putting on a play, or being in a choir.

We do loads of fun things at home, but the school can do things for them that I can't. they kids love both.

am being honest when i say - i can't believe people care what teachers say in the staff room about you or your kids. that doesn't bother me.

and sorry hmb but most kids must have more than a days gap in their education - my daughter has to go to audiology regularly and misses a whole afternoon, never mind doctors appointments and dentist and such becuase obviously patient charter is ap ile of crap and they dictate to you when you can have an appointment.

any road up - that being said - i wouldnt keep the kids off on their birthday becuase i highly value their education - no stop it custy stop it - you cant get aaway with this....ok its becuase i'd rather not have them round my feet for any length of time. mine go in when they are ill - if its that bad i will get a phone call at work.

charliecat - i think on a more serious note - its more about you than your kids. when kids go to school on their birthday its special, you get to take in treats and hand them out with teachers permission and get happy birthday sung. if your kids dont like school then maybe you could speak to teacher about making it a bit special with the happy birthdays and ask what treats are allowed etc. i thnk your kids will miss out on a nice school day.

my kids get cake, ballons and pressies after school - they have the whole day to wait in anticipation. and lets face it its the anticipation that makes it worth it.

so in summery - what teachers think - pah! gap in edumication happens to most. but your kids will be missing out and getting the wrong message from you. and i think its more to do with you missing them than them.

but whatever you do - have a ball

Horrible sport, horrible teachers, horrible lessons, horrible choir, horrible playground, horrible getting out in the morning, horrible coming home on the horrible bus...
Ah, the bliss of home and peace and books and telly!
No comparison!

Oh for sure kids do miss days for all sorts of perfectly reasonable things. But to take a kids out just because you want to, sends a very strong message to the child about how much you value the education the kids get.

And you are also right in that it is up to you if you are worried about what the teachers will think of you if you do take them out. That is totaly up to you. Free world and all that. But it is worth knowing that the staff will think you don't give a stuff, before you make the decision. Informed choice and all that!

We go into work and bust a gut to do our best by the kids. Human nature is such that we will get a bit miffed if someone takes their kids out to open presents! Now while I am enough of a professional to never take against the child I will think that the parent is a bit of a muppet. And they can do what they want, but I can think what I want too!

Aloha that is so sad.

Have a virtual hug.

i agree with you. becuase you are very very nice.

mwa, mwa!

Be nice to me today I'm got a dreadful hangover! And at my age I should know better!

I honestly do hope my kids like it more than I did. I really did hate every minute. Dh says he enjoyed school and I honestly can't understand it. I know he's telling the truth though!
I always felt sad to have my birthday at school.
Everyone tells me schools have changed a lot and I really do hope that is true for my kids sake. Oh and I tell ds how much he will like going to exciting big school and feel such a big fat liar!
I cannot be the only person on the planet who loathed school!

aloha, I'm sure you are not.

FWIW I was badly bullied at primary school (the bitch who did it is now a head mistress LOL!) But I loved secondary with a passion.

Rest assured things have changed beyond recognition. I had the shock of my life when I went back into school after 20 years gap. everything had changed....and mostly for the better.

wow I can't believe this thread is still going - unbelievable!

If it is only birthdays that you compromise on and they are there evry other day because you don't have term time holidays and they don't need to go out of school for regular appointments then i think it says to the child that birthdays in your family are VERY special to you.
I am talking primary age children, not secondary.
I think the ones who stay off for the slightest sniffle, are regularly late, who don't bother with their homework etc are the ones who would be suffering.
It's one day were talking here and the gap in the education thing is ott i reckon.
my kids know how much i value eduction, and it's a lot.
each to their own i say. Whose child is it anyway?
martianbishop, is it o.k to take kids out of lessons to help dig up the school garden would you say? and do you think they learn nothing from trips out with parents?

poor you aloha - I too absolutely hated school until we moved overseas and I (very luckily) got the chance to start over in a totally different environment and found I loved it - sadly for me, it was only for my last year of school.

I can't remember what job you do aloha - did you go on to enjoy university/further education?

No I don't think it is right for them to be taken out of lessons to dig the garden unless this is part of a structured lesson. So for example, if the are learning about, say the structure of the soil or ecosystems, then a short period in the garden would be helpful, particularly for the kinesthetic (doing) learners. If you child was simply taken out to dig the garden I would complain.

MB, I feel that if schools DO have Martianbishops in them this can only be for the good!
I have to say, I find it very hard looking around schools to decide the right place for ds because I think I'm a bit phobic about them. I get the heeby-jeebies in the playground and always feel very ill at ease.
As I say, I DO try very hard not to let my feelings leak out when talking about school with the children. I am VERY pro education btw and wouldn't consider taking the children out of school just for birthdays.

I read about someone whose mother used to do thinigs like transforming the child's normal breakfast chair into a sparkly throne on their birthday (with paper and glitter etc) and giving them a Princess Breakfast or some such and thought that was rather magical. Maybe an idea for CC if she decides against taking them out?
also sneaking a mini-gift and card into the lunchbox and having a special birthday tea when they get home?
I can totally understand CC's view of school but suspect the best course of action is to try and suppress the hideous memories for the sake of the children.

An do they learn on a trip with their parents....sometimes yes, in most cases no.

Most kids who miss lessons to go on holidays that I have worked with spend two weeks sunning on the beach, with zero educational imput. And most . if mot all the parent who take them out, can' afford a holiday in the school breaks, but would rather save money/get a posher holiday but taking them out of school. Tho to be honest the holiday issue is a while tread on its own and PARP myself!

thouble if I've seen too many kids miss external exams because their parents have taken them out of school....parp myself too!

out of interest ding dong, why not for birthdays if they are going on a daytrip for a birthday treat?
It's the same to me

and my dh is in the RAF so I know all about probelms getting leave (GGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRR)

at the idea. And I am quite soft about these things really. Every year that DS was at nursery I took a day off work (holiday) on his birthday and took him out of nursery (although still paying obviously) and had the day with him. This year as it happens his birthday falls on a training day so he will not be at school anyway. But from then he will have his birthdays at school. And I have never taken a day off ever with a hangover.

i aggree secondary school is different