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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes, you take off work for field trips.

Are you aware that pre-schools close for snow in the winter? Mine used to follow FCPS's closure schedule. You will be staying home with your child if you don't put him/her into a snow day camp.[/quote]

I'm aware. The Pre-k may be canceled, but daycare may be open. Last year we did have to take 3 days off during the blizzard because the roads weren't plowed.

Now I can see the teacher probably thinks I'm some sort of bitch for looking surprised about missing work for a field trip. It's my first kid. So shoot me. I work in the medical field, which is 24/7, 365. I'm working Christmas this year. You can call me a bad parent or whatever you want. I am just used to work interfering with everything. I didn't know parents took off for reasons other than illness.[/quote]

The short answer is yes, especially as your DD gets older you'll have to take time off of work for field trips (if you want to chaperone) or certain things that happen during the school day.

The longer answer is that what you're describing isn't a field trip and there's little to no redeeming value for your DD to attend.  I have experience with 2 different preschools.  One of them did what I'd consider to be a field trip.  A few parents volunteered to drive, the kids went together as a group and were able to experience something together, as a class, outside of their normal environment.  I did volunteer for a few of those field trips and took time off work.

The other preschool had fieldtrips like what you described, which were basically worthless.  There was no group interaction at all.  The parents just all took our DCs to the pumpkin patch at the same time and the teachers happened to be there too.  After arriving, I barely saw the other classmates or parents.   It was a complete waste of everyone's time.

I WOH FT and have a nanny, so both of these were a half day preschools, not full day like OP described.  [/quote]

Another WOH FT mom chiming in that preschool -private, half day, not through the school system - had "field trips" like this as well.  The annoying part was that it really was just an organized outing to a pumpkin patch.  The teachers were there to say HI to the kids, but didn't interact with them.  Fine - just not what I expected from something billed as a field trip.  School was cancelled that day - no one went before or after.  In three years at that school, we went once.  The first year my husband had surgery that day and none of us could go, so I didn't realize what would happen when I took the day off the second year so my kids could go.  While I enjoyed taking my own kids to the pumpkin patch on a weekday, we weren't at all upset when we were out of town the week of the third year's "field trip."  NO ONE noticed we didn't show up, and we didn't tell the kids what they missed.  The year my husband had surgery, I fed them ice cream for breakfast (the only time this has ever happened) and not only did they never once think about the "field trip" they missed, they couldn't stop talking about "ice cream for breakfast" when they got back to school (as school was cancelled that day for the field trip) and their friends wanted to eat ice cream for breakfast too.

Now that they're in public Kindergarten, they have an upcoming field trip to the same place.  I've signed up to be a chaperone (not sure if I'm "in" yet).  There will be a bus, involved teachers, there's a formal lesson plan (life cycle of apples and pumpkins) and even the kids whose parents can't come will attend.  This sounds much better to me.

BUT - OP - if you can't make this happen, likely no one will notice you weren't there and your kid won't know what they missed.  You will need to find alternate child care for the day, though.[/quote]

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