Jesus Christ. My parents’ rule was that I could only miss school if I had thrown up or had a fever. There were lots of days when I was distinctly ill and had to go anyway, never mind taking “fun” days off.
I think I mind.
In the first year of my first full-time job, I took no ‘sick days’ off. Another trainee laughed at me and took days off whenever he felt like it.
At the end of the year, I got a glowing report and the assignment I wanted. He was let go.
Ha – you don’t know how much kids that age can do, and how much fun they can have with this. Especially when it’s parent-approved to frustrate authority figures.
Q: where were your Monday?
A: we were out of town.
Q: but where did you go?
A: out of town.
Q: but where exactly?
A: I don’t know. Daddy drove us, so I didn’t pay attention to where we went.
Q: but where in general?
A: Michigan.
Q: but what town? you must know the town.
A: it wasn’t in town, it was out in the country.
Q: where in the country?
A: North.
Q: North of what?
A: North of here.
Q: but where north?
A: north out of town.
Q: but where out of town?
… and repeat until teacher is worn out.
Well, I had to make that rule with my oldest daughter, because she was always “sick”. Honestly, she probably asked seven or eight times a semester to stay home from school. I’m sure there are times I forced her to go to school when she really was sick, because with her, you never could tell. My youngest is a whole 'nother story, though. There have been times when she’s had a fever and argued with me because she thought she should go to school!
I’m not saying you were ever faking being sick. I’m just saying I can understand how parents can arrive at this rule. It would also be an issue if I worked outside the home and was counting on her being in school while I went to work. Another issue would be if she had other siblings in school, who would start with “but she got to take a fun day! Why don’t I get to stay home because I feel like it once in a while?” etc. etc. But the fact is, my other two kids are 16 (and in community college) and almost 21.
At any rate, as I said before, it’s a matter of parental comfort. What any individual parent is comfortable with. We are comfortable with her missing an occasional day of school to do something fun with the family.
Thanks! Because of my pain issues (which have gotten way worse over the past year), I don’t think I’ll be able to snow tube for the entire two-hour session. But when I have to take a break, there’s an observation deck where I can sit and watch mudgirl and her father snow tubing. Then we can all have lunch afterwards at one of the cafes, and go play some mini-golf.
I don’t mind scheduled vacation time, but since kids’ school is their “work,” for the sake of argument, there are certain days they get off, like a company holiday.
Calling in sick if you’re sick is one thing. People get sick, I get it. But it means a scramble for other people in the department to cover your work. As a supervisor I do see this, and while I can work around someone’s vacation time, since I knew about it in advance, someone calling in sick for a “mental health day” causes a bit of a hardship on the rest of the department. In the case of school children, it can teach them they can blow off responsiblity to go have fun.
I’m not saying norinew is a bad parent; she and her husband have an unusual schedule and this is the only time they can go have fun before scheduled major surgery, etc. I can understand her decision, even if I don’t agree with it 100% (I know that will keep her up nights 
).
My mother was a school teacher. When we were little and she was a SAHM, she’d occassionally take us out for a day for some “special” event. It might’ve been so minimal as a movie on TV she wanted us to see (before the advent of VCRs, not that she can program one even now). We were smart, we got mostly good grades, and she knew that the special time together was more important than missing one day of school that we could easily catch up.
Have fun. Make memories.
StG
I may never sleep again! 
Better than that, this time we’ll have photographs! Hubby is a part-time, semi-pro photographer (meaning he actually gets paid to photograph events; he only does it so he can support his “camera habit”, though). Last year, he took his camera, but forgot to take a backup battery pack. Guess what? Yup. Dead batteries. No photos. He won’t make that mistake again!
Weighing in late, here. I have two kids, both of whom make good grades and (side note at bottom) don’t play sick to lay out of school. I have, on occasion, let them have free days due to various reasons. It is not often and they know full well the implications (having extra school work to catch up on, etc). Depending on the teacher (whether they are hardcore and will make a fuss or not) I have written notes stating “**LitKid ** was out due to circumstances we would rather not discuss” and “**LitKid ** took a mental health day.” My kids, being my kids, value honesty and have been known to tell the teacher, “no, I wasn’t sick, Mom let me stay home because the neighbor’s dog barked all night and we didn’t get much sleep.” Most of the time, a simple “please excuse **LitKid ** for being absent and allow him/her to make up any work missed” is enough.
If either of my kids ever had an attendance problem or were of the mentality that they expected free days, this would stop. I would say they probably get 1 or 2 per year. Most often, it is a case of one of them is legitimately under the weather, so the other one gets a free pass so we all get to sleep in.
**Side note as promised – my daughter had a series of unquestionably shitty teachers in grade school. The worst was her Kindergarten teacher. At one point, she was so miserable in school that she told me she had the Bubonic Plague in an attempt to get out of going. As a teenager, she has excellent teachers and enjoys school – when she has to miss class for legitimate reasons (doctor appointments, illness, what have you) she actually complains.
My kids tend to miss maybe 3 days a school year due to a fun activity or trip out of town. I never send in a note. It’s an unexcused absence…they aren’t allowed to make up the work any way and I get a nasty letter in the mail from the school board reminding me that more than 9 unexcused days missed may mean I have to go to the board or court or some other nonsense.
I usually shrug, throw the letter away and not worry about it until our next trip.
This year it was Disney World.
A day here and there is no big deal to me and not worth explaning since I know they won’t reach the 9 day mark regardless.
Have a great time!
Luckily for us, our Disney trip was excused because it was so my daughter could march with the band in the parade on Main Street. The elementary school where my son goes is the feeder (and literally right next door to the high school) and the principal okayed the absence. We will be going to Disney again next spring (unless something unusual happens) and it will be excused too.