Preschool field trip on metro

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is a 2 year old going on a field trip while in daycare? It does not make any sense. Parents put their kids in care so that they can work. What would be the point of of taking off time from work to go on a trip? 2 year olds do not need field trips I a daycare group.

Why are so many posters on here baffled about this? Kids are in daycare to develop and to have fun. Field Trips advance both goals.

Do you think/want your kids to just be warehoused all day?

I agree that there are other ways to get kids out and advance their development and get that some people can't get their heads around taking kids out of preschool and onto public transit which seems scary and foreign to some parents on here (trust me the kids are fine with it) but field trips are fun and preschool is a fun age.

My kids are years out of preschool now but DW and I both fondly recall these field trips.

People are baffled because many on this site believe daycares are nothing more than sterile institutions where kids are, yes, warehoused while indifferent parents pursue their careers. That daycares could have enriching, educational activities and that parents would be willing to take time away from work for a special activity are impossible to fathom.

Exactly. Our daycare did walks around the block or to parks or the library. A couple field trips for the 4s and 5s. That was plenty!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually I’m wondering what are the safety issues on metro. Last I heard, no daycare ever lost a kid on the train and no kid from a daycare field trip was ever hurt. So not really her why Metro raises some special concern.

I read a post on here a long time ago about the doors closing between a mom and her little kid and the train just taking off, and I'm sure the mom had a lower ratio than this daycare will. I think the risks outweigh the rewards with this particular outing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually I’m wondering what are the safety issues on metro. Last I heard, no daycare ever lost a kid on the train and no kid from a daycare field trip was ever hurt. So not really her why Metro raises some special concern.

+1 I took my kid to preschool daily on the metro without incident. OP sounds cloistered.

Depends where you live. In Arlington my kid rides Metro 1-2x a year. It’s loud and dark and he freezes and won’t move quickly when it’s time to get on / off the train. He’s almost 4 and he knows all about how to behave in a parking garage. I would not want to be trying to reason with a scared 3 yr old in a crowded public space and out of 16 kids in his class, if my kid doesn’t freak out at least one of them will. That’s the nature of 3yr olds.

Does you child have special needs? This is not normal behavior.

[Anonymous]

Who cares about the parents and kids? I am really feeling for the heavily pregnant daycare employee who has to deal with this field trip. I had to pee like every 20 minutes my last trimester and my feet were so swollen-the last place I would want to be was in bathroomless metro stations and on a field trip in 90 degree weather trying to keep hold of many small children at once.

[Anonymous]

Our day care did this - it was a cluster! They took the bus on a hot day to the Smithsonian. There is NO reason 3 YOs in daycare need to go to the American Indian Museum - none. The same way 2 YOs do not need to go to Cox Farms on a school bus.

There are many ways children can get enrichment - but these trips were silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually I’m wondering what are the safety issues on metro. Last I heard, no daycare ever lost a kid on the train and no kid from a daycare field trip was ever hurt. So not really her why Metro raises some special concern.

+1 I took my kid to preschool daily on the metro without incident. OP sounds cloistered.

Depends where you live. In Arlington my kid rides Metro 1-2x a year. It’s loud and dark and he freezes and won’t move quickly when it’s time to get on / off the train. He’s almost 4 and he knows all about how to behave in a parking garage. I would not want to be trying to reason with a scared 3 yr old in a crowded public space and out of 16 kids in his class, if my kid doesn’t freak out at least one of them will. That’s the nature of 3yr olds.

Does you child have special needs? This is not normal behavior.

It is perfectly normal behavior for a 3 yo. Jesus Christ people. You can disagree about taking daycare kids on the metro without being so unpleasant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually I’m wondering what are the safety issues on metro. Last I heard, no daycare ever lost a kid on the train and no kid from a daycare field trip was ever hurt. So not really her why Metro raises some special concern.

I read a post on here a long time ago about the doors closing between a mom and her little kid and the train just taking off, and I'm sure the mom had a lower ratio than this daycare will. I think the risks outweigh the rewards with this particular outing.

Have been posting here way too long because I remember that one as well. Didn't the other people on the train just ignore the kid even though he obviously was alone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares about the parents and kids? I am really feeling for the heavily pregnant daycare employee who has to deal with this field trip. I had to pee like every 20 minutes my last trimester and my feet were so swollen-the last place I would want to be was in bathroomless metro stations and on a field trip in 90 degree weather trying to keep hold of many small children at once.

Really, the hypothetical pregnant daycare employee means you think the house shouldn't do this? Even assuming such an employee exists in the class that has the field trip, you could easily have that person switch with someone in another class for that day if the field was too taxing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who cares about the parents and kids? I am really feeling for the heavily pregnant daycare employee who has to deal with this field trip. I had to pee like every 20 minutes my last trimester and my feet were so swollen-the last place I would want to be was in bathroomless metro stations and on a field trip in 90 degree weather trying to keep hold of many small children at once.

Really, the hypothetical pregnant daycare employee means you think the house shouldn't do this? Even assuming such an employee exists in the class that has the field trip, you could easily have that person switch with someone in another class for that day if the field was too taxing.

Sounds like they need all hands on deck to get down to a reasonable 1:2 ratio. I would call in sick for sure if that was me-not worth the stress for whatever crappy pay she is getting.

[Anonymous]

some weird vibe here like "Hipster city parents and their adventurous, well-behaved children vs old lame fat suburbanites and their sad unadventurous children".

personally for toddlers and 3 year olds, this kind of trip is not worth the stress. For 4-5 year olds, I could see a carefully planned outing with a lot of parent volunteers as worthwhile. As pp mentioned, the PITA factor alone of dealing with a class of recently potty trained kids with no available bathroom would make it a non started for me.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't care if others want to send their kids but mine would not be going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who cares about the parents and kids? I am really feeling for the heavily pregnant daycare employee who has to deal with this field trip. I had to pee like every 20 minutes my last trimester and my feet were so swollen-the last place I would want to be was in bathroomless metro stations and on a field trip in 90 degree weather trying to keep hold of many small children at once.

Really, the hypothetical pregnant daycare employee means you think the house shouldn't do this? Even assuming such an employee exists in the class that has the field trip, you could easily have that person switch with someone in another class for that day if the field was too taxing.

Sounds like they need all hands on deck to get down to a reasonable 1:2 ratio. I would call in sick for sure if that was me-not worth the stress for whatever crappy pay she is getting.

All hands on deck? What do you think they do with all the other classes not going on the field trip? They are still staffed and they still have to have appropriate staffing. The pregnant staffer could very easily swap with someone to stay back with one of the other classes.

Your making up a problem where none exists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't care if others want to send their kids but mine would not be going.

Good luck with that. My kid (and his friends) was talking about the trip nonstop for the weeks before and after the trip. He would have been heartbroken if he weren't allowed to go. If you were actually faced with the decision, I bet you would relent.

[Anonymous]

Wow, my 3 now 4 year old takes field trips all the time. I’m tagging along on one, via Metro, next week. To be honest, I’m more worried when they take the school’s bus on field trips than Metro. It’s fine, people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, my 3 now 4 year old takes field trips all the time. I’m tagging along on one, via Metro, next week. To be honest, I’m more worried when they take the school’s bus on field trips than Metro. It’s fine, people.

+1. as someone posted upthread, metro has had very few fatalities ever on its existence. I’d be more worried about having the kids in a car or a bus. My kids have always enjoyed riding metro, and if I see a kid having a problem on metro it’s usually because the kid is hungry and the parent didn’t have a snack available.