Today we went on a state mandated field trio to a watershed. It was chilly—-45 with wind chills of 33. The kids were outside for 2 hours. Parents and kids complained. I’m like unmmm...been talking the kids all week that it’s going to be cold. Emailed all parents to ask them to dress their kids appropriately. Not my fault that you sent your kids out inappropriately dressed.
Field trips in general are the bane of my existence. Add to that things like parents and the weather and they make me want to curl up in the fetal position and cry. I'm sorry you had a rough time. We don't get paid enough for field trips.
Thanks, GG. It's done, hallelujah! On a positive note, the other teachers said the kids were the best behaved they'd ever been and best at participating and they thought I'd organized the groups well....so that made me feel good.
When we came back and the kids complained that they were cold, I was like, "A) Field trips are optional, you could've stayed here; B) I warned you and your parents it was going to be cold so...." Anyway, we all survived.
I had a parent complain that her kid was cold at recess. In December. In Alaska. Wearing shorts. And no coat.
The next day he was kept in at recess because again he was wearing shorts and no coat. Got a complaint because he missed recess.
Miss Agnes, you must have read my mind!!!! I literally looked at the other teachers and said "at least there's no one in shorts." And then thought to myself, "Kids in colder places like Alaska and Maine know how to handle being outside in colder weather." Geez. You can't win for losing.
I was visiting family in FL and my nieces and nephews were telling me the teachers make them put on coats to go out when it hits 60. My mouth literally dropped open. I’m in IL. I don’t get involved in recess attire until the first snow and only then I only get involved if I think it’s because the kid can’t afford a coat, not because they’re stupid.
You'd think kids in Maine would know how to dress, but just today after recess I told my kids that I didn't really have a lot of empathy for how cold they were feeling. As I told them, "You knew it was going to be cold and that it was going to snow and yet you chose to wear hoodies with no boots, hats, gloves, or coats. You live in Maine. You KNOW better! Quit your whining."
SsssyTeach, so they don't dress more warmly? After the trip, we came back and one group decided they wanted to complain. (To be fair it was like two or three of them.) I finally was like, "I warned you it was going to be cold. I emailed your parents that it would be cold. You have phones with weather apps that you could have looked at. At some point, you CHOSE to dress the way you did. You're free to choose but you're not free of the consequences of your choices."
They usually do, but it seems it takes them a couple of times of freezing their butts off to remember, "Oh yeah! I live in Maine. Where it's cold. I should dress for it!"
We were going on a field thrip to a farm. It snowed the night before. We were still going to go and emailed the parents to dress their kids appropriately. A parent called me and asked me how much money it would take for me to cancel the field trip. I told her we were going and to just bundle her son up. She was not happy.
I love everyone's comments! Ima, yeah....the kids, I was somewhat annoyed with but more patient with. They're in middle school so lack common sense and I was just glad the boys showed up on pants and not short (although I did have to keep telling one kid to put his sweatshirt on because I didn't want to see short sleeves). The grown-ups? Shoot.
Emgirl, I guess I should just be glad nobody tired to bribe me. I might have taken it.
Anna, I kinda agree. I always get stressed out and am glad it's done. I'm kinda happy we went.
When kids aren't dressed properly for whatever activity, I just say, "This is how we learn." Experience is the best teacher.
When my son was in 6th grade, he went on a retreat in the mountains in northern New Mexico in February. The child didn't pack PANTS. Let's just say after 4 days in mid-shin deep snow, he learned the importance of pants. He's never forgotten again. Yeah, I caught flak from some helicoptors for not overseeing it, but whatever. Their kids will learn later.
We had a recent field trip to a farm just after the weather turned cold. Most of the students in our tiny, private school came dressed warmly but one came with a note from his grandmother that he was allowed to go without his jacket because he "got warm easily." He wore his jacket the entire day.
Y’all thank you so much for your comments. We have a teacher who coordinated the field trip (we all went different days). She’d gotten an email from the site people that a few parents had complained. They’d offered us a different day but later in November with no guarantees that it’s be any warmer. They offered after parents had committed to come with us. I pointed out to our teacher that I’d talked to parents AND kids about dressing warmly, that parents would have complained if we’d cancelled, and that she’d checked with admin at the time and we’d been told to go as planned, plus there was another field trip the same day that had gone as scheduled. Field trips aren’t mandatory. Kids could’ve been kept home or stayed at school. Now tomorrow I’m going to see if parent who wanted me to hold up everything so she could bring her snowflake a lunch has gone crazy. Zia, I’m going with this is how they learn.
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11-08-2019, 10:04 AM
