I was just reading a piece from Today's website that I thought raised an interesting question, on whether it's okay to let your children miss school for events, fun stuff or just a day off. Here is the link if you'd like to read it:
http://www.today.com/moms/parents-split-over-whether-its-ok-let-kids-miss-school-1B8186531
When I was growing up, we had to have at least a fever or vomiting before our parents would let us stay home sick, just feeling crappy wasn't a good enough excuse. There were a couple of exceptions when I was in high school when my parents let me miss for a fun reason (and probably only happened because I was the youngest!). We did a day trip when my oldest sister was visiting from out of town and another time we went for the day with my dad to NYC when he had a meeting. I don't think two days in my entire high school career did any harm ;) I would do the same under very special circumstances, I have let my boys stay home for one day if the grandparents are visiting so that they can have some one on one time with them. I've also taken my youngest and one of the twins out of school for a week to go visit my parents, my mom's health is too fragile to travel. I wouldn't take my high schooler out just because with his issues makes it's impossible for him to get caught back up, and I honestly don't think he would want to miss a day either. I also wouldn't take any of them out for trivial matters like a haircut, and try to schedule all their doctor/dentists appointments for after school if possible. While my dh was allowed to take "mental health days" in high school, that's not a practice I plan on adopting.
The one part of the article that really has me shaking my head (for lack of a better word) is the mom who will let her daughter be absent for just about any reason, and that her daughter gets A+ for all subjects except ones that have a participation grade. JMHO, but I think you are setting your child up for very bad habits as an adult. When she gets a full time job, will she be calling out sick once a week, because she just doesn't want to put in the effort to get up and go to work? When she gets to college, will she just sleep through her morning class because she doesn't want to go? If so, she's going to have a huge wake up call. I consider school to be my children's "job", they have to show up, do their work and get paid with an education. Fun opportunities need to occur after school hours, just like in the real world.
What do you think?
