Taking kids out of school for a private day out with mommy

alinjer28

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 3:04 am

Now that we have a nice long stretch of school with no Yom Tov in between, I thought it would be nice to spend some quality time with my kids, individually. We've scheduled a day with mommy and the kids are each trying to plan what they want to do on their day. My seven year old suggested that we go to a hotel until the next day! LOL

Why am I posting? well, I want to share this idea, which I think can be really amazing and memorable!!! and also, if any of you have ideas of things we can do, or places we could visit that would be especially memorable and bonding, I would love to hear some ideas!!!

Marion

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 4:54 am

I don't have quite enough flexibility to do that, but I have started taking full mornings/afternoons off when I have a medical appointment with any single child. So when DS#1 had to see the neurologist last month we went to the zoo for an hour afterwards. And tomorrow DS#2 has an EEG in town and we're scheduled to meet up with Grandma for "dessert" afterwards. I steal the moments where I can.

Ruchel

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 7:45 am

When I was a kid my dad (who was the stay at home parent) would do that. Take me out to the restaurant, o sometimes I skipped the whole day. The other kids were very jealous so you may want to not advertise it!

bubby

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 9:05 am

I used to call it a "mental health day." Of course, at the end of it, MY mental health was in question! LOL

It's a great idea. I was going to suggest the American Girl place or Build-a Bear, but you need to get on a plane for those outings! Wink

Have fun, wherever you go.

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 9:20 am

We take two types of days off, one is mental health which is kinda rare, I need to do that more.
The other type is homeschool days - days when they can stay home but we learn - we dont usually do what they are doing in school, but just pick a few subjects and teach them something different and interesting, or teach them from a different perspective.

I think we as a family need to do some more fun activities, thanks for the reminder!

emama

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 9:33 am

A wonderful idea. When my son was 4 and in full day nursery school/day care, I would sometimes pick him up at lunch time for a "date." We'd go for pizza, and then I'd return him for naptime, and go back to work. It was our private time together. He's all grown now, but fondly remembers those special times.

cbw

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 9:45 am

one year, we as a family were going through hard times due to the illness of someone very close to us. I felt that all of us needed a mental health day. it was also a year with a double adar. so one sunday morning, I packed us all up and we went to great wolff lodge for the night and we came home monday afternoon. I have to say it was one of the nicest trips we ever took, because it was unexpected since it was not a vacation day. my husband was so glad I convinced him to take off work. we all had a blast and came back ready to go to school and better able to deal with the stress together. three full years later, my kids are still talking about that surprise trip and begging to do it again.

in the years since, I've been doing one on one days or afternoons and the kids love it. you don't have to do anything fancy. sometimes we go to lunch and shopping for something that the child needs. sometimes its even a drs appt with ice cream after. they are happy just to be alone with you, when you both really belong somewhere else. I think the thrill of "stolen time" makes it that much more fun. so whatever it is you choose to do, I'm sure it will be great.

Mrs Bissli

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 9:48 am

Are you talking about taking the children out when they actually have school, as opposed to medical appointments or out-of-town simchas? How do you explain the absence note? I would be really loathe to take the children out during the school term--it's too disruptive especially missing their lessons and catching up with homework, and don't most school have policies against that? (Not to mention the school won't give you a refund for the day the kid doesn't attend, so why waste tuition?...)

Sherri

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 10:05 am

My mother used to do with each of us, maybe once a year, and we loved it! Usually it was an afternoon off, not even the whole day, and we went for lunch, ran some errands... I have fantastic memories of those days.

cbw

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 10:15 am

if your child is struggling in school and you feel that pulling her/him out will be disruptive, then dont. but if my kid is doing ok, hasn't really had any sick days, then why not pull them out for an afternoon? (once a year, not all the time) a mental health day can really give them renewed energy to go back to their studies. as far as absence notes, I just wrote they had an appointment, which they did, with me.

bubby

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 10:17 am

Mrs Bissli wrote:

Gosh, you're so....English!!! LOL

(I can say that, because I am too!) So you don't have an excuse? Just say my child needed to be absent for personal reasons (let them think conjunctivitis, lice, or Dutch Elm Disease, who cares what they think?) Be spontaneous! Enjoy life & your kids, they grow up very fast & you grow old even faster! Wink

amother

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 10:22 am

While its a wonderful idea my kids are so upset about missing a day of school, that they go to school no matter how sick they may be. I am sometimes called to come and get them because they cannot sit through the day! They hate missing school! That said, I once decided to take them to Washington for 2 days, from Motzei Shabbos through Monday night. When I woke my daughter to tell her, she did not believe me that I would purposely make her absent to do that. Well we went and had a wonderful time. We are thinking of doing it again during the upcoming Presidents weekend. While many kids go out and have a "shopping day" my kids hate shopping, they hate eating out, so we manage to have our together time the rest of the time. They don't love school but hate being absent and having to make up the work.
Amother because we get in trouble if we take our kids anywhere....without school permission and of course never allowed to go anywhere on school time, not even a doctor's appointment!

yo'ma

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 10:43 am

I let each of my kids, separately, take one day off during the school year, so they can have mommy time. I don't doanything specific with them because after all, they are playing hooky. This past year, I didn't let them because they missed a lot of days because we weren't here for pesach.

I also allow them one day in the summer, but then we do what they want.

Ruchel

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 11:18 am

emama wrote:

BH they allowed it. DD's daycare wanted a full day or nothing. They were the "modern methods" type and thought a 20 month old would resent "being different" Rolling Eyes

Still when we said "full day" they said "it will be long for a little baby like that", after THEY prevented any other option!
I still think the director was upset that we would be paying next to nothing (it was public, and we didn't work).