Why do so many parents let their kids just stay home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody "lets" their kids stay home. You sound like you don't know what kids are like.

Oh, I assure you as a teacher, we know exactly how your kids are.

[Anonymous]

My students often don’t come because they wake up late. Instead of coming in late, they don’t come to school. Parents verify this info. They live within walking distance so transportation isn’t as issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools no longer do anything about taedies and absences and the kids know it

Schools are actually doing “things” about tardies and absences. We have protocols that the Virginia code requires us to do. But when we do do those things, parents then complain that we are “hassling” them for attendance that they don’t care about, thus not doing anything to help improve their child’s attendance. And THAT is what the kids know. “My parent(s) don’t care about my attendance so why should I.”

Stop blaming the schools for poor attendance. This isn’t a school issue, it’s a parenting issue. Ohhh wait… parents don’t understand they are the problem and lovveeeee to blame public schools. (Just look at all of these discussion boards). This is a vicious cycle that will never end because parents “these days” think public school is a joke, love to talk about how much they love teachers during teacher appreciation week, but actually love to talk shit about teachers and think they are better than teachers.

Government school can be a joke. I love my children’s high school because most of their teachers have been competent and some have been excellent. The building is in good repair, the environmental is safe and activities/sports are robust.

It is silly to hassle parents about attendance if the kid is pulling good grades. FCPS was happy to keep buildings closed for months on end and were deaf to pleas and complaints about the effect on children and families.

Some children thrived during that time and there’s no need to be alarmed about attendance now that kids and parents have embraced the reality that kids can do well without being in the building constantly.

Props to the teachers who evolved to the next level and made this possible.

+1 Also true for many workers who realized they can do just as good of a job if not better, while working from home, saving significant amounts of commuting costs and time, and actually seeing their family during meals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools no longer do anything about taedies and absences and the kids know it

Schools are actually doing “things” about tardies and absences. We have protocols that the Virginia code requires us to do. But when we do do those things, parents then complain that we are “hassling” them for attendance that they don’t care about, thus not doing anything to help improve their child’s attendance. And THAT is what the kids know. “My parent(s) don’t care about my attendance so why should I.”

Stop blaming the schools for poor attendance. This isn’t a school issue, it’s a parenting issue. Ohhh wait… parents don’t understand they are the problem and lovveeeee to blame public schools. (Just look at all of these discussion boards). This is a vicious cycle that will never end because parents “these days” think public school is a joke, love to talk about how much they love teachers during teacher appreciation week, but actually love to talk shit about teachers and think they are better than teachers.

Or maybe because school is a joke, esp. at the elementary level. Kids have to suffer endless boredom, no homework assignments, and no challenge or the tiniest level of attention given to them if they are already doing well on a meaningless multiple choice. Add to this the frequent teacher ignorance and ego on display when they are called out for being incorrect. For kids who can learn efficiently, why would they strive to attend a place that is not really about learning but following arbitrary rules and procedures?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools no longer do anything about taedies and absences and the kids know it

Schools are actually doing “things” about tardies and absences. We have protocols that the Virginia code requires us to do. But when we do do those things, parents then complain that we are “hassling” them for attendance that they don’t care about, thus not doing anything to help improve their child’s attendance. And THAT is what the kids know. “My parent(s) don’t care about my attendance so why should I.”

Stop blaming the schools for poor attendance. This isn’t a school issue, it’s a parenting issue. Ohhh wait… parents don’t understand they are the problem and lovveeeee to blame public schools. (Just look at all of these discussion boards). This is a vicious cycle that will never end because parents “these days” think public school is a joke, love to talk about how much they love teachers during teacher appreciation week, but actually love to talk shit about teachers and think they are better than teachers.

Government school can be a joke. I love my children’s high school because most of their teachers have been competent and some have been excellent. The building is in good repair, the environmental is safe and activities/sports are robust.

It is silly to hassle parents about attendance if the kid is pulling good grades. FCPS was happy to keep buildings closed for months on end and were deaf to pleas and complaints about the effect on children and families.

Some children thrived during that time and there’s no need to be alarmed about attendance now that kids and parents have embraced the reality that kids can do well without being in the building constantly.

Props to the teachers who evolved to the next level and made this possible.

+1 Also true for many workers who realized they can do just as good of a job if not better, while working from home, saving significant amounts of commuting costs and time, and actually seeing their family during meals.

Maybe it's grad school and college filtering down to high school and elementary school. In law school, there were always the people who picked up the syllabus on the first day of class and then showed up for the final exam. I did it third year when I was working full time and it worked out great

[Anonymous]

Imagine if we had year round school. Kids could actually have time to recover from illnesses. People could take vacations and not miss school.

Instead we get this long hot summer that is just too long for kids. Too hot to travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid has missed 30 days of school so far and still has straight A’s. Goes to show you how inefficient the school day really is.

What level classes is your kid taking?

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine is a child psychiatrist and she recently told me that one of the main issues she works with kids on is anxiety that has developed because parents indulged / accommodated their kids' early fears (e.g., kept them home when they were nervous about school -- e.g., they had an embarrassing incident in class and didn't want to go back for a few days). This same type of incident occurred with her kid and she acknowledged how hard it was to talk him through it and encourage him to return to school rather than let him stay home. She thinks that part of the reasoning of this phenomenon is that so many parents have anxiety themselves and pass along their behaviors / lack of coping mechanisms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if we had year round school. Kids could actually have time to recover from illnesses. People could take vacations and not miss school.

Instead we get this long hot summer that is just too long for kids. Too hot to travel.

No.

Nice long summer away from having to ask permission to go to the bathroom, forced association with people you may not even like and being told what to do constantly.

Read what you want, paint all day of you feel like it, kick a soccer ball in the yard with your friends, stay up late talking to dad sometimes.

School can be great but NO to the constant mental load of year school.

Just NO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if we had year round school. Kids could actually have time to recover from illnesses. People could take vacations and not miss school.

Instead we get this long hot summer that is just too long for kids. Too hot to travel.

No.

Nice long summer away from having to ask permission to go to the bathroom, forced association with people you may not even like and being told what to do constantly.

Read what you want, paint all day of you feel like it, kick a soccer ball in the yard with your friends, stay up late talking to dad sometimes.

School can be great but NO to the constant mental load of year school.

Just NO.

+1, not everyone wants year round school and since the majority of districts DO NOT do it, it’ll never happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if we had year round school. Kids could actually have time to recover from illnesses. People could take vacations and not miss school.

Instead we get this long hot summer that is just too long for kids. Too hot to travel.

I had this in my former state and really miss it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once schools showed society that (1) the school systems didn't see any value in physical attendance or schools being open and (2) parents saw how little information was being taught in one day or class----> family's attitudes about attendance really changed. Why not go to Disney when its cheaper or extend that overseas trip by a few days?

This is the answer. Attendance nationwide took a dive after COVID.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if we had year round school. Kids could actually have time to recover from illnesses. People could take vacations and not miss school.

Instead we get this long hot summer that is just too long for kids. Too hot to travel.

No.

Nice long summer away from having to ask permission to go to the bathroom, forced association with people you may not even like and being told what to do constantly.

Read what you want, paint all day of you feel like it, kick a soccer ball in the yard with your friends, stay up late talking to dad sometimes.

School can be great but NO to the constant mental load of year school.

Just NO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if we had year round school. Kids could actually have time to recover from illnesses. People could take vacations and not miss school.

Instead we get this long hot summer that is just too long for kids. Too hot to travel.

No.

Nice long summer away from having to ask permission to go to the bathroom, forced association with people you may not even like and being told what to do constantly.

Read what you want, paint all day of you feel like it, kick a soccer ball in the yard with your friends, stay up late talking to dad sometimes.

School can be great but NO to the constant mental load of year school.

Just NO.

You do know that "year round school" receives the same amount of breaks, they are just distributed throughout the year instead of just in the summer? So kids actually have more frequent breaks with year-round school, it's just not all in the blazing hot mosquito laden summer.

[Anonymous]

You’d have to pay teachers and other staff more then. Many rely on the income from summer jobs.