Anonymous wrote:I’m from New England and would have no problem having my kid walk to school on snowy sidewalks. These are icy sidewalks and much more dangerous. I’m not going to let my elementary school kids walk to school in the street, where in our neighborhood at least, it is clear.

They should not reopen until people can shovel their sidewalks. It’s a solid brick of ice right now, and it’s clear people won’t be able to do that until it warms up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Just drove by seven locks es and the student drop off lot is still untouched. Can other people report what they're seeing at their local schools here? Yesterday it mentioned only 30 percent of schools were done. Like WHAT?!

Maybe it's time for community to come to the rescue. If one parent of every enrolled child at a school showed up with their ice pick and snow shovel, the parking lots and sidewalks of all schools could be completed in a few hours. Yes, some families have 2 kids enrolled at a school and an infant at home so only 1 parent for 2 students could show up. And yes, there are single parent households with kids in both ES and MS so they shouldn't have to shovel 2x. And I'm sure there are families with multiple children and one parent who has to go to work and cannot help.

My point is, maybe the parents who want kids back in school need to take control. Volunteers could get this done quickly. Many hands makes light work.

“The parents who want kids back in school” — shouldn’t that be all parents?

Some of us are more patient than others. Some of us aren’t foaming at the mouth waiting for school to reopen, no.

Describing wanting your kid to go to school as “foaming at the mouth” is … a choice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just drove by seven locks es and the student drop off lot is still untouched. Can other people report what they're seeing at their local schools here? Yesterday it mentioned only 30 percent of schools were done. Like WHAT?!

Maybe it's time for community to come to the rescue. If one parent of every enrolled child at a school showed up with their ice pick and snow shovel, the parking lots and sidewalks of all schools could be completed in a few hours. Yes, some families have 2 kids enrolled at a school and an infant at home so only 1 parent for 2 students could show up. And yes, there are single parent households with kids in both ES and MS so they shouldn't have to shovel 2x. And I'm sure there are families with multiple children and one parent who has to go to work and cannot help.

My point is, maybe the parents who want kids back in school need to take control. Volunteers could get this done quickly. Many hands makes light work.

“The parents who want kids back in school” — shouldn’t that be all parents?

Some of us are more patient than others. Some of us aren’t foaming at the mouth waiting for school to reopen, no.

Describing wanting your kid to go to school as “foaming at the mouth” is … a choice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just drove by seven locks es and the student drop off lot is still untouched. Can other people report what they're seeing at their local schools here? Yesterday it mentioned only 30 percent of schools were done. Like WHAT?!

Maybe it's time for community to come to the rescue. If one parent of every enrolled child at a school showed up with their ice pick and snow shovel, the parking lots and sidewalks of all schools could be completed in a few hours. Yes, some families have 2 kids enrolled at a school and an infant at home so only 1 parent for 2 students could show up. And yes, there are single parent households with kids in both ES and MS so they shouldn't have to shovel 2x. And I'm sure there are families with multiple children and one parent who has to go to work and cannot help.

My point is, maybe the parents who want kids back in school need to take control. Volunteers could get this done quickly. Many hands makes light work.

“The parents who want kids back in school” — shouldn’t that be all parents?

Some of us are more patient than others. Some of us aren’t foaming at the mouth waiting for school to reopen, no.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just drove by seven locks es and the student drop off lot is still untouched. Can other people report what they're seeing at their local schools here? Yesterday it mentioned only 30 percent of schools were done. Like WHAT?!

Maybe it's time for community to come to the rescue. If one parent of every enrolled child at a school showed up with their ice pick and snow shovel, the parking lots and sidewalks of all schools could be completed in a few hours. Yes, some families have 2 kids enrolled at a school and an infant at home so only 1 parent for 2 students could show up. And yes, there are single parent households with kids in both ES and MS so they shouldn't have to shovel 2x. And I'm sure there are families with multiple children and one parent who has to go to work and cannot help.

My point is, maybe the parents who want kids back in school need to take control. Volunteers could get this done quickly. Many hands makes light work.

“The parents who want kids back in school” — shouldn’t that be all parents?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just drove by seven locks es and the student drop off lot is still untouched. Can other people report what they're seeing at their local schools here? Yesterday it mentioned only 30 percent of schools were done. Like WHAT?!

Maybe it's time for community to come to the rescue. If one parent of every enrolled child at a school showed up with their ice pick and snow shovel, the parking lots and sidewalks of all schools could be completed in a few hours. Yes, some families have 2 kids enrolled at a school and an infant at home so only 1 parent for 2 students could show up. And yes, there are single parent households with kids in both ES and MS so they shouldn't have to shovel 2x. And I'm sure there are families with multiple children and one parent who has to go to work and cannot help.

My point is, maybe the parents who want kids back in school need to take control. Volunteers could get this done quickly. Many hands makes light work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just drove by seven locks es and the student drop off lot is still untouched. Can other people report what they're seeing at their local schools here? Yesterday it mentioned only 30 percent of schools were done. Like WHAT?!

Maybe it's time for community to come to the rescue. If one parent of every enrolled child at a school showed up with their ice pick and snow shovel, the parking lots and sidewalks of all schools could be completed in a few hours. Yes, some families have 2 kids enrolled at a school and an infant at home so only 1 parent for 2 students could show up. And yes, there are single parent households with kids in both ES and MS so they shouldn't have to shovel 2x. And I'm sure there are families with multiple children and one parent who has to go to work and cannot help.

My point is, maybe the parents who want kids back in school need to take control. Volunteers could get this done quickly. Many hands makes light work.

Anonymous wrote:Just drove by seven locks es and the student drop off lot is still untouched. Can other people report what they're seeing at their local schools here? Yesterday it mentioned only 30 percent of schools were done. Like WHAT?!

Anonymous wrote:I went for a drive around my neighborhood and one street, in particular, is worse today than it was 2 days ago when I last checked. Apparently, several people dug their cars out from the sides of this 2 lane road with yellow lines that only had one lane cleared down the middle. They shoveled the snow onto the area that was plowed. It melted in yesterday's sun and has refrozen into solid ice and is impassable.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you all helicopter parents who are freaking about their children’s education right now? You have no regard for your own children’s or others safety. Let the kids enjoy some snow days. Its part of childhood..

My kid loves the snow, we are outdoorsy, but even we have had enough. We’ve made snow ice cream, played outside, been sledding, read books, played games, done all the things…… but it’s freezing outside.
We’re done.

Agreed. My kids have been outside with friends all week (or they have had friends over or gone to their houses), they've read, played video games, done crafty things, we've baked goodies and made hot chocolate, we've had movie nights (and some days). But at this point everyone is going stir crazy.

There is nothing stopping parents from incorporating ELA, math, science, social studies, and world languages into these activities.

I always did it with my kids because we were poor. Actually poor, not DCUM low six figures “poor”.

We did math (ratios) and chemistry while baking. Social studies, world languages, and ELA while watching classic films. Physics while shoveling or playing in the snow.

What’s more, most of their friends’ families also did this. Kids kept learning and they didn’t get bored. We interspersed this with indoor games and just talking to each other. My kids loved hearing about my childhood or their babyhood and I loved hearing whatever they thought about the world or daydreamed for the future.

During the big shutdown in 2009, virtual learning was not an option. We researched American Samoa and spent three days “vacationing” there in our basement in Silver Spring.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you all helicopter parents who are freaking about their children’s education right now? You have no regard for your own children’s or others safety. Let the kids enjoy some snow days. Its part of childhood..

My kid loves the snow, we are outdoorsy, but even we have had enough. We’ve made snow ice cream, played outside, been sledding, read books, played games, done all the things…… but it’s freezing outside.
We’re done.

Agreed. My kids have been outside with friends all week (or they have had friends over or gone to their houses), they've read, played video games, done crafty things, we've baked goodies and made hot chocolate, we've had movie nights (and some days). But at this point everyone is going stir crazy.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Thisshouldbeeasy wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you all helicopter parents who are freaking about their children’s education right now? You have no regard for your own children’s or others safety. Let the kids enjoy some snow days. Its part of childhood..

+1 this will be a time our kids reflect on in adult hood and reminisce about. Some of my favorite memories were the extended snow days and I don't even remember the make up days.

That’s great. Snow days are fun. I had plenty as a kid.

School is important. I remembered what I learned in school AND what I did outside of school.

I feel sorry for the people who claim they forgot everything they learned.

Really?

You remember you learned Algebra in January 1996 or you remember you had fun in the snow in Jan 1996?

Smh

Yep.

I remember in 3rd grade, we did a really fun project about Colonial America where we made a colonial village and then did presentations about the different people in the town (blacksmith, cobbler, etc).

In 2nd grade, we did an assembly line project where we made little cars.

In 5th grade, I did my first research paper. My topic was Incan architecture. We were learning about the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incan civilizations.

I also remember sledding down the big hill near my house with my sister and my friends during snow days. I remember roasting marshmallows in the fire.

This was all around the mid-90s in the NYC suburbs.

You guys sound overly anxious about kids missing a week of school. Trust me, they are not going to become dumber or anything. In fact, they are probably learning life skills. Free play, interacting with friends, shoveling snow, figuring out how to use this time without screens, cooking meals..maybe learning new skills. way more useful than writing research papers. I feel sorry for your kids..

I feel sorry that you don’t see the value in writing research papers.

There is value in school AND playing with friends.

How do you not see that?

There is value in both. However, under the circumstances if you can’t have one you should appreciate the other. This situation is beyond your control. Learn to be flexible and adjust your expectations. Not a big deal if your kid doesn’t write a paper for a week. Have some perspective.