Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, OP.. what will you do? Will you send your kids on field trips and hope for the best? Keep them home? Discuss with their teachers the best way to approach the problem? (Be prepared for the teachers to suggest your kids need to learn to listen, and function as part of the group. Especially in grade 4.)

You have opinions, most of which you don't like. So what is your solution?

I'm not sure what you're asking. I asked how others felt about safety issues on field trips and gave my opinion right up front. I stated very clearly in my OP that my kids don't go if DH or I don't go.

You're secure about your decision, you make no judgments about anybody who makes different ones, you know that plenty of people -- namely, the people whose children go on the field trips your children don't go on -- do make different ones, and yet for some reason you want to start a whole thread on DCUM asking for people's opinions about field trips and then telling the respondents that they're wrong. Why?

Anonymous wrote:Well, OP.. what will you do? Will you send your kids on field trips and hope for the best? Keep them home? Discuss with their teachers the best way to approach the problem? (Be prepared for the teachers to suggest your kids need to learn to listen, and function as part of the group. Especially in grade 4.)

You have opinions, most of which you don't like. So what is your solution?

I'm not sure what you're asking. I asked how others felt about safety issues on field trips and gave my opinion right up front. I stated very clearly in my OP that my kids don't go if DH or I don't go.

i'm very safety conscious, but honestly it never occurred to me to not let my kids go on a field trip that I didn't chaperone. maybe the issue is your school - they need to give better instructions to the kids and chaperones to stick together.

Well, OP.. what will you do? Will you send your kids on field trips and hope for the best? Keep them home? Discuss with their teachers the best way to approach the problem? (Be prepared for the teachers to suggest your kids need to learn to listen, and function as part of the group. Especially in grade 4.)

You have opinions, most of which you don't like. So what is your solution?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After reading the multiple responses from OP and considering there is no point to this thread (I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do but give me your opinion so I can refute each one) I'm gonna throw out that this may be a troll ...

I don't think OP is a troll. I think that OP is somebody who believes that OP is correct and that everybody should share OP's belief in OP's correctness. Like the people you might meet at a party, who tell you what they think, and then ask you what you think, and then tell you that you're wrong.

Haha....first off, this isn't a question that has a correct or incorrect answer. I believe everyone has a right to raise their kids as they see fit. I didn't tell one poster that they were wrong in permitting their kids to go on field trips without them. From the responses on this thread, it's most of the other posters that felt like telling me I'm wrong and they are correct. (Thank you to those who didn't and just gave their opinions on the issue and how they perceive it.)

You sound like one of those people that you meet at a party and are so insecure about how you raise your kids that you take immediate insult to any difference about parenting issues. Once I make a parenting decision I don't place any judgement on others if they make a different one and I'm not insecure about the ones I make.

Anonymous wrote:After reading the multiple responses from OP and considering there is no point to this thread (I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do but give me your opinion so I can refute each one) I'm gonna throw out that this may be a troll ...

I don't think OP is a troll. I think that OP is somebody who believes that OP is correct and that everybody should share OP's belief in OP's correctness. Like the people you might meet at a party, who tell you what they think, and then ask you what you think, and then tell you that you're wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most responses have focused on focused on fourth grade field trips. What about first grade field trips? I posted earlier about being stressed out chaperoning my first grader's field trip to walk around DC. Kids were running off ahead of their individual groups, getting too close to water areas around monuments.

This was not just one or two kids, MANY kids behaving like that. I am vigilant, so it stressed me out and my group probably thought I was a mean mom. Other chaperones were very casual. You all are ok with your first grader being in such a situation?

Yes, because I trusted my first-graders to stay with the group.

I had a friend who said once...God watches out for the kids whose parents don't.....

Now I'm a careless parent, because I thought that my children would be ok on their school-sponsored field trip, which the first grade goes on every year, and sure enough, my children were ok? The things I learn on DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most responses have focused on focused on fourth grade field trips. What about first grade field trips? I posted earlier about being stressed out chaperoning my first grader's field trip to walk around DC. Kids were running off ahead of their individual groups, getting too close to water areas around monuments.

This was not just one or two kids, MANY kids behaving like that. I am vigilant, so it stressed me out and my group probably thought I was a mean mom. Other chaperones were very casual. You all are ok with your first grader being in such a situation?

Yes, because I trusted my first-graders to stay with the group.

I had a friend who said once...God watches out for the kids whose parents don't.....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most responses have focused on focused on fourth grade field trips. What about first grade field trips? I posted earlier about being stressed out chaperoning my first grader's field trip to walk around DC. Kids were running off ahead of their individual groups, getting too close to water areas around monuments.

This was not just one or two kids, MANY kids behaving like that. I am vigilant, so it stressed me out and my group probably thought I was a mean mom. Other chaperones were very casual. You all are ok with your first grader being in such a situation?

Yes, because I trusted my first-graders to stay with the group.

There's got to be followers to make the world go round!

After reading the multiple responses from OP and considering there is no point to this thread (I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do but give me your opinion so I can refute each one) I'm gonna throw out that this may be a troll ...

Anonymous wrote:Most responses have focused on focused on fourth grade field trips. What about first grade field trips? I posted earlier about being stressed out chaperoning my first grader's field trip to walk around DC. Kids were running off ahead of their individual groups, getting too close to water areas around monuments.

This was not just one or two kids, MANY kids behaving like that. I am vigilant, so it stressed me out and my group probably thought I was a mean mom. Other chaperones were very casual. You all are ok with your first grader being in such a situation?

Yes, because I trusted my first-graders to stay with the group.

Most responses have focused on focused on fourth grade field trips. What about first grade field trips? I posted earlier about being stressed out chaperoning my first grader's field trip to walk around DC. Kids were running off ahead of their individual groups, getting too close to water areas around monuments.

This was not just one or two kids, MANY kids behaving like that. I am vigilant, so it stressed me out and my group probably thought I was a mean mom. Other chaperones were very casual. You all are ok with your first grader being in such a situation?

Agreed. It is not normal for a fourth-grade girl to have trouble with field trips.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is your 4th grader inattentive in other situations? She seriously sounds like my 4th grader who has ADHD. As we walked around Disneyland this summer, we had to keep a keen eye on her, otherwise she gets distracted and left behind. My 2nd grader never has this problem. She wants to hold my hand all day long.

I posted before. I do let my kids go on field trips without one of the parents, but I make sure to arrange with the teacher beforehand. Can your child be assigned to the group with the teacher, or is one of the parents attending the field trip someone you trust? You might be able to make this work if you try.

She's not inattentive in most situations nor does she have ADHD. We went to theme parks this year and she stayed with us (no in-depth info to read; just fun). She has a very high IQ and long attention span when ingesting information she is interested in which I do believe contributes to this issue. She is not rude or self-centered per pp's assessment. She's actually a pretty soft soul.

OP, you have a fourth grader who either cannot or does not want to keep up with the group during field trips. I'm sure that she's a lovely child, but that's a problem.

Anonymous wrote:Is your 4th grader inattentive in other situations? She seriously sounds like my 4th grader who has ADHD. As we walked around Disneyland this summer, we had to keep a keen eye on her, otherwise she gets distracted and left behind. My 2nd grader never has this problem. She wants to hold my hand all day long.

I posted before. I do let my kids go on field trips without one of the parents, but I make sure to arrange with the teacher beforehand. Can your child be assigned to the group with the teacher, or is one of the parents attending the field trip someone you trust? You might be able to make this work if you try.

She's not inattentive in most situations nor does she have ADHD. We went to theme parks this year and she stayed with us (no in-depth info to read; just fun). She has a very high IQ and long attention span when ingesting information she is interested in which I do believe contributes to this issue. She is not rude or self-centered per pp's assessment. She's actually a pretty soft soul.