I find this thread absolutely interesting. As you may have guessed, I am a college student. I'm a junior in a state university going into elementary education in Michigan. This is just to give a little background knowledge of my perspective of the taking-the-kids-out-of-school-for-a-week issue.
While I can understand the desire for a family vacation for a week, even when sacrificing school for it, I do not agree with it. School is far too important for students to miss. I'm not saying that kids shouldn't be taken out for a day if they're sick. They should because you don't want to spread the sickness onto other kids. I'm saying it's wrong to take the kids out for a week for a vacation. There are plenty of options for a family vacation during the summer. If the family cannot afford
DCL during the summer, then there are other cheaper options for cruises (Carnival and Royal Caribbean). My family went on Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruises for a few years because we wanted to have family time together, but we couldn't afford to take a DCL vacation during the summer and I wasn't going to take a week out of school. If cruises are still not an option for you, go to the beach. Go camping. There are other cheaper options that don't involve taking your kids out of school for a week during the school year.
Beyond this, I just wanted to point out one other thing that my title alludes to. Parents are always complaining about their teenagers "not caring" about school or the world. It's always "my kid's such an idiot" or "my kid's too worried about her boyfriend to care about school". Parents of teenagers know what I'm talking about. I'm not saying it's not warranted. Sometimes teenagers just do pretty stupid things. However, in this case, it seems like this woman's daughter actually cares about her schoolwork. She doesn't have her head in the clouds. Even when her teachers tell her it's okay to miss school, she still wants to. Boy, do I wish I saw that kind of maturity in high schoolers today!!! It's amazing! And what are some parents on this board doing? They're saying that the mom ultimately makes the decision and what do kids want today. Instead of crying for joy because they're kid actually cares about school, and trying to make alternative arrangements for the family vacation during a more appropriate time, they're yelling about their kid. As a student, I can't believe that. I have always been told to put my schoolwork before anything. Now, the moment that a kid does, and a parent should be overjoyed because they normally complain about their kid, instead they're angry because they don't know what the kid wants. Huh??? Someone please explain this to me. I blame this on parental inconsistencies. Instead of being overjoyed that their teenager actually cares about school, they're mad because the teenager doesn't want to miss school because of vacation.
Don't get me wrong. I am a huge supporter of family vacations. Even as a college student, during the one week between spring and summer semesters, I still continue to take a cruise vacation with my family. However, does it conflict with my school??? No. We make sure it doesn't. We have fun when it's appropriate. I truly understand why breakingd_awn wants to have a family vacation. However, I believe she needs to reexamine her priorities.