niccig
02-12-2010, 01:05 AM
DS's class had a field trip today and parents drive. I've room parent and organize the drivers, and assign kids to the cars. Never had a problem until today. One parent let me know late last night she was having car trouble, so I reassigned the kids. One child's booster seat wasn't left with him at school, so rearranged the kids again, so I could use my spare bigger seat. Then one mother says at drop off that she can't drive after all, thankfully another parent volunteers. I rearrange the kids in the cars AGAIN, and I don't get to go grab coffee and breakfast before we leave.
We get to the Valentine's Dance that was hosted by a classmate, and we're having a great time. The mother that told me last minute she couldn't attend, turns up towards the end of the dance. Turns out she was tired and instead of driving like she said she would, she went home to have a nap as she stayed up late last night. Guess what, I could name 3 other parents who are tired and would have loved to have had a nap - I'm one of them as I haven't been sleeping and DS has had nightmares. Two parents have young babies that are not sleeping through the night, and they all drove. OH, she didn't want to waste the entire day with the field trip, well the other 6 parents who drove didn't get to do anything, and half of them work and took the day off, and those that don't work, have things to do as well. If you didn't want to lose the day, then don't sign up in the first place, you knew it would be a 3 hour field trip.
I understand if you're sick or if you have car trouble, but if you say you'll drive on a field trip, you need to not flake on us so you can have a nap and inconvenience another parent who steps in to take your place. The parent who took her place, changed an appointment so the kids could still go on the field trip.
ETA. I know this person, she doesn't have an underlying medical condition like chronic fatigue or anything. She has pulled out of previous field trips, but we had an extra parent coming with that drove instead, so it wasn't a problem. From now on, I won't assign her as a driver if I can help it.
We get to the Valentine's Dance that was hosted by a classmate, and we're having a great time. The mother that told me last minute she couldn't attend, turns up towards the end of the dance. Turns out she was tired and instead of driving like she said she would, she went home to have a nap as she stayed up late last night. Guess what, I could name 3 other parents who are tired and would have loved to have had a nap - I'm one of them as I haven't been sleeping and DS has had nightmares. Two parents have young babies that are not sleeping through the night, and they all drove. OH, she didn't want to waste the entire day with the field trip, well the other 6 parents who drove didn't get to do anything, and half of them work and took the day off, and those that don't work, have things to do as well. If you didn't want to lose the day, then don't sign up in the first place, you knew it would be a 3 hour field trip.
I understand if you're sick or if you have car trouble, but if you say you'll drive on a field trip, you need to not flake on us so you can have a nap and inconvenience another parent who steps in to take your place. The parent who took her place, changed an appointment so the kids could still go on the field trip.
ETA. I know this person, she doesn't have an underlying medical condition like chronic fatigue or anything. She has pulled out of previous field trips, but we had an extra parent coming with that drove instead, so it wasn't a problem. From now on, I won't assign her as a driver if I can help it.