You fucking bitches LIED to me about where my kid went!!!

The BBQ Pit
1

Listen to THIS shit!

I work at a child care center as one of the school-age teachers. Well, my two kids are students at this center. My nine year old went on a field trip today with about 38 other kids and six teachers. I asked my director (person in charge of the fucking center) where the kids were going exactly. I knew the place was named “Indian Pipe” but had no idea what they would be doing. She said, “Oh, it’s some sort of technology school in the mountains. I think the field trip is going to be kind of lame.” No biggie.

THE AIR QUALITY IN THE DC METRO AREA WAS CODE FUCKING RED TODAY!!! In otherwords, limit outdoor activity. Right? Right. Can someone PLEASE explain to me why they had 39 kids and six teachers in the FUCKING WOODS hiking for 5 + hours!!!

No indoor shelter. No sunscreen. I was told to check my son’s head for FUCKING TICKS! What.The.Fuck.

And the hair product that I sprayed on my son’s hair this morning so he would “look extra nice” was apparently something that some large flying bug liked and the teachers had a hard time keeping the big thing with wings away from him. The teachers and kids alike were PISSED.

Now, I have never been some mom that thinks her kids are fragile or delicate…but I wanted to kick my director’s ass today!

You goddamn BITCH.

2

Wait, let me get this straight…
a. You work at the same center that your kids attend
b. The Director incharge of the center either did not know what was going on or blatantly lied to you, a worker in said center
c. Six teachers took your child and 38 others outside on a trip when it was obviously not a good idea
d. They did not send anything home (permission slip?) to the parents to let them know that they were taking a nature trip or how to prepare their children for hours of hiking
e. They did not bring sunscreen or bug spray
Is that legal?, what if some child was hurt/had an asthma attack/developed a nasty sunburn. En Loco Parentis?!, Child Endangerment?!, Neglegence?!

Sounds like you deserve some straight answers from your boss and the other teachers

3

A. Yes
B. I was too enraged to approach my director, so I called my husband to cool off. He and I had a meeting with the assistant director because the director had already gone home for the day. If she lied, fuck her. If she just didn’t know, fuck her! Both scenarios are inexusable.
C. The teachers are great are were under the same impression as me: they thought they were going to a TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL! They.Were.Pissed.
D. All of us parents signed permission slips…that have the words TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL on them! It failed to mention the shcools FULL title: OUTDOOR technology school. (wtf?!)
E. Not one single kid had sunscreen or bugspray.

I’M SO FUCKING PISSSSSSED. I apologize for using so many curse words in this thread. It’s out of character for me. I’m just so upset. I was shaking today! I actually got a fucking hive on my hand I got so upset. I have NEVER had that happen. I really wanted to shake the shit out of my director’s dumb ass.

I’ll be addressing her tomorrow.

4

The permission slip should have had a detailed description of the place, what would be involved on the trip, and a list of what the kids neede to bring. At the very least. What would they have done if one of those kids had problems with the heat, or the air quality triggered an asthma attack?

How thoughtless/stupid/careless can people be?

Who the heck set this thing up, that none of the teachers actually knew what it was? (see question above)

5

I’d be seriously fuming too! Two of my nephews have sun issues, seems to come with some types of anemia, they start crisping right up after 10 minutes of unprotected exposure. 5 hours might well have landed one of them in intensive care! That’s how we found out about the eldest’s allergies to begin with.

Having signed numerous permission slips myself, I agree this is way outta line. I usually laugh at the excessive detail provided on the forms my son brings home, who really doesn’t understand the concept of ‘The City Zoo’ right? I guess now I understand why they’re so descriptive.

Really incredibly poor planning on the school’s part, and they should count themselves lucky if no one was hurt.

6

There are also many medications which cause sensitivity to sunlight. And what if a child was allergic to one of the nearby plants? What if someone had been allergic to bee stings? Parents need to be told when their kids are going to be going on a hike!

I hope you, and other parents, rip the director several new ones.

7

That is inexcusable!!! Heck, when my daughter came home from day care yesterday, her hair looked like sunscreen had been applied to her head. I ask my wife if she was outside and they did note it on her daily info sheet (which is good). Best not try and keep any info like that from us.

However, I can top your story. I was about 12 years old and going to a day camp in the D.C. area, for the third or so summer. Every so often, we would go “rapid swimming” in the Potomac River. In rapid swimming, we would put on a bathing suit, a life jacket, and shoes and go “down” the rapids in a seated position (like in a kayak but without the boat).

The day before we were to go, we were given permission slips for our parents to sign. I told my mother I didn’t want to go on the trip (since I really didn’t enjoy it the time before) and to not give me permission. She said “Ok, you don’t have permission to go” and didn’t sign the form. At camp the next day, I told the counselors that I didn’t have permission to go so I would have to stay at camp with a group not going. They came back about 20 minutes later and said they called my mother and she gave me permission to go. I thought that was odd since I told her I didn’t want to go but who was I to question my mother.

We went swimming. Soon after we started, the U.S. Park Police pulled us all from the river. See, swimming in the river is illegal and signs are posted everywhere. We got marched to a substation and the took down info on all of us (some kids were freaked big time). The bus came and took us back to camp.

That night, I told my parents what happened and my mom said “I was out all day. They never called me.” (cell phones were very new and only the really really rich had them). I can’t remember if I went back to camp that summer but that was the last summer I went there.

8

What the hell is an outdoor technology school? OUTDOOR?!?

If I were you I’d go to that director and make the term IRATE appear mild in comparison to how you feel.

9

That’s incredible! My son went to a week of “outdoor school” when he was in the fifth grade, in the hills outside Los Angeles, but we KNEW what they would be doing! We had an extensive list of what to bring/what not to bring. Heck, when I was a Girl Scout leader, we were DEATH on smelly hair stuff – and in certain places, even the use of fragrant shampoo was banned! There are REASONS for this stuff!

I had a girl in my Girl Scout troop who was a SEVERE asthmatic. Her mom really wanted her to participate in stuff if she could, so we bent over BACKWARDS to make it possible for her. But we had FULL INFORMATION. We had EMERGENCY CONTACTS. We made sure we ALWAYS had a power source so she could use her breathing machine. I would carry her (ten years old) piggyback half the time to save her breathing! (The poor kid died two years later from an asthma attack while at her dad’s – she was such a sweet girl, fifteen years later I still feel awful about it.)

But we KNEW what was going on! And EVERYTHING we were doing was with her mother’s FULL knowledge and permission!

Rip that director a BIG new one. And if you have a friend who’s a lawyer, see if they’ll write her a letter – and copy the owner of the facility! – that’ll scare the living shit out of her. Sounds like she’s just committed a SERIOUS act of child endangerment to me!

10

Yeah, I’d contact her boss as well. That’s seriously fucked up.

Where the hell were these woods? What if someone got sun poisoning, or something? Jesus Christ!

11

I have to disagree with most of you. I don’t see what the big freakin’ deal is. Talk about overprotective!

<sarcasm>GOD FORBID kids spend a day walking in the woods and appreciating nature and getting some excercise instead of being stuck inside getting fat or playing with computers! How horrible!</sarcasm>

First of all, I live in the D.C. area. I just went for a walk outside and it’s beautiful out (yes, hot, but it’s summer!) There were dozens and dozens of people outside, walking around, enjoying the weather. And the air quality is only bad in the city. Out in the woods, the air is fine! This code red shit is way overblown anyway. It’s the elderly and infirm that should limit their activity, not little healthy kids in the woods. Besides, you said the place was in the mountains…uh, exactly where are mountains in the D.C. area? Any mountains are going to be at least 20 miles west…(I should know, I have lived in Northern Virginia my entire life.)

And another thing. When I was growing up, we never wore sunscreen when we played outside. We never wore bug spray. We managed to survive. I’m only 27, but when I was a kid, hardly anyone used suncreen or bugspray on a daily basis. <sarcasm>WOW I can hardly believe I survived! My parents were horrible people letting me play in the woods without bug spray! They must have been child abusers!</sarcasm>

Yeah right. Geesh. I turned out just fine, as did all my friends. Having a winged insect buzz around your head is no big deal. PUHLEEZE. Not life threatening…just maybe a little annoying! (hey, and a good educational experience for a kid to learn about insect life, as in identifying what type of bug it is, etc. Or to learn about the forest life, the birds, the plants, the environment, the importance of excercise, etc.) What is it with parents today, slathering on the sunscreen and bugspray? We all survived just fine before sunscreen and bugspray. Let a kid be a kid…they’re in the woods, which are usually shady, so how the heck are they going to get a sunburn in the woods anyway?

Wow. I would think it was wonderful if my kid’s daycare center took them on a hike in the woods. It’s so much better then them being cooped up in some little daycare classroom all day. Growing up, kids are going to get a sunburn. They’re going to get a tick, or bitten by mosquitoes. They’re going to get poison ivy. They might even get a skinned knee. But they’re going to have FUN doing it!

12

Maybe it’s just the principle of the thing? You know, not taking another person’s child on a trip without full disclosure?

13

Lots of people never wore sunscreen as kids, and lots of people have skin cancer. “Kids are going to get a sunburn” is a poor attitude to have. Even one or two bad sunburns as a child can greatly increase your risk for skin cancer. Put sunscreen on your kids, and wear sunscreen yourself. It’s not being overprotective, it’s just being smart. Whatsit Jr. spends a lot of time in the Great Outdoors, and yet has managed never to get a sunburn, because I’m vigilant about making him wear a hat and sunscreen.

I think the OP was more upset about not being informed about the nature of the trip than anything else. Had she been told that the trip would involve a 5+ hour outdoor hike, she could have made sure her son had sunscreen, bug spray if necessary (Lyme disease is nothing to laugh at), or could stay home if he had some sort of asthma-type condition. She also could have maybe sent a water bottle or two with him, considering that he would be hiking outdoors in the hot sun all day with no shelter.

Going on a hike, per se, wouldn’t bother me much. Not being informed of what my child was doing would bother me a lot.

14

Here’s the website for the “technical school” (weird term for a nature preserve, even if it is meant to be educational). http://www.indianpipe.org/the_School/the_school.html

Here’s their daycamp page, which clearly states kids need to bring outdoor gear, water bottles, sunscreen, and bug repellent: http://www.indianpipe.org/Current_Programs/current_programs.html

I wonder why the stupid administrators failed to take advantage of this information. Contrary to some people’s impressions, spending a day outdoors without proper equipment, especially sunblock and water bottles, is downright dangerous. And for a child with asthma, a code red air quality day isn’t a joke - they’re not supposed to be outside at all, never mind hiking in the sun!

15

Um, when my dad was growing up, he and his sisters are majorly allergic to bees. If they had gotten stung, you bet my grandparents would be pissed.

When they were told to check for ticks? birdgirl, a friend of mine has been struggling with Lyme Disease for years. I’m so SURE she would agree that being bit by ticks is nothing serious.

A little walk in the woods is one thing. A FIVE HOUR HIKE in the sweltering heat is asking for trouble, you dumb bitch!

16

Well, birdgirl, she was told to check her kid’s head for ticks. I don’t know about there, but I know in Wisconsin (where I’m from originally and go on vacation), deer ticks can carry Lyme disease. Around here in Illinois, we’re having problems with West Nile virus being carried by mosquitoes. That means I wear mosquito repellent around here, and repellent with DEET when I go in the outdoors in Wisconsin - like on my camping trip next month.

You mentioned that healthy little kids won’t be affected by an ozone alert - what about unhealthy ones, like kids with allergies to various outdoor things, or asthma? We had an orange-level alert yesterday, and with my current bronchitis (but an otherwise healthy 30-something woman), I was feeling lightheaded, very tired and weak by the time I finished walking five blocks.

Buzzing insects aren’t distressing to kids? I know that having bees land on me always made me panicky when I was little, and when I went to camp we were always told to not use anything very scented.

How about emergency contact information for a field trip day? Anaphlactic shock treatments for kids allergic to bee stings? (My sister’s ex-boyfriend was allergic, so he had to bring a kit when we went camping, just in case, or it could be fatal.)

The point is - and I don’t even have a kid - don’t lie to people about where their kids are being taken. You never know what might come up.

17

As MsWhatsit said, it’s a combination of them not telling the parents where they were going and what they are doing with not properly protecting the kids.

As far as what they were doing, it is irrelevant if it was to the library, a hike in the woods, or to the gun range. They aren’t allowed (and I believe legally too) to take the kids someplace without fully informing the parents of what they will be doing.

As for overproteciton…
50 years ago, cars didn’t have seatbelts and we survived so we don’t need to wear seatbelts today.
30 years ago, child safety seats didn’t exist and we survived so I won’t be needing those today.
20 years ago, people didn’t wear sunscreen all of the time and society survived - hench, go get a sunburn, we did and we survived (albeit with a bit of skin cancer - and FYI, skin cancer is the number 1 cancer in men in the US - cite )
10 years ago, Lyme disease didn’t exist in the D.C. area so no need to worry about deer ticks today (I know of two people that got Lyme in the D.C. area - one in Olney and one in D.C.)
5 years ago, West Nile virus didn’t exist in the D.C. area so no need to worry about mosquitos today.

birdgirl, I hope your attitude changes when you have kids (should you choose to).

18

Yes, it’s the complete lack of accurate information that I saw as the complaint in the OP and that I certainly was responding to. Parents can take whatever precautions they think their kids may need if they know where they’re going. I don’t think Deva would have put that smelly stuff on her kid’s hair that attracted bugs all day had she known he was going for a hike in the woods.

And not having any water available for a five-hour hike is potentially VERY dangerous. I’ve seen the effects of dozens of kids dropping from heat exhaustion from lack of adequate water (at a Girl Scout event held on a closed Air Force flight line – i.e. acres of cement – where there was NO water available for several hours; fortunately, we’d brought a large ice-filled cooler so that our girls could suck on the ice until the water supply was refreshed, so that our group was one of the few that had no casualties.) Okay, there’s some shade in the woods, but nevertheless, I wouldn’t go on a five-hour hike without water, and if someone took one of my kids out that way, I’d be calling the cops.

And I’m not an overprotective mother. I’ve seen the results of lack of adequate preparation firsthand. I’ve also let my kids do all kinds of things AS LONG AS I WAS TOLD ABOUT IT FIRST. Put my kids in what I consider a potentially dangerous situation without adequate information – well, where do you think my username comes from?

Birdgirl, you don’t have any kids, right? Trust me, if you did, and if people took your kids out to do stuff that you consider dangerous, you wouldn’t be accusing us of being overprotective. You’d be in there waiting in line to rip the director’s heart out.

19

I just asked my mother about this, who is a teacher’s aid. She says this is grounds for firing the person in charge of this, and some major lawsuits against the school.

You cannot take kids out ANYWHERE without specific permission, birdgirl.

20

No kidding. While it’s not exactly the same, my brother breaks out into giant hives when he gets around certain animals - mostly horses - and his throat closes up - we’ve had a few close calls. Any day care center or school or camp we went to was expressly made aware of this information and if he went on outdoor field trips, the teachers were reminded of this, whether he was near animals or not, just in case - and if the teachers in this case couldn’t even be bothered to tell kids to bring sunscreen, I doubt they were checking every child’s file for allergies and precautions. The parents need to be aware of where their children are, too. I don’t think the OP is asking too much here.

(By the way, AerynSun, LOVE the name!:). I’m a huge Farscape addict myself…still hoping for the movie to wrap everything up.).

Ava