Do you allow your kids to take "Personal Days" from school?

[LiLIrishChick63]

i was never allowed to, when i was in school. i was barely allowed to stay home if i was sick! most of the time i would go to the nurse and she'd send me home. she'd always ask "why do you come to school if you're this sick?" and i told her the reason, because my mother never really believed i was "THAT sick" but i had strange parents, to begin with.....

 

[Goofyzgurl]

If she needs a day but for the school board has gone and given kids one a month off every month so I think she's alright with days off.

 

[portia9]

Next year I do plan on letting my kids have a day off a couple of times a year on their own while the others are at school and preschool. I have four kids and I see this as a good time to spend quality one on one time with them. They do get plenty of holidays but everyone is home then. Currently my two younger kids are in preschool on different days and I am loving just having one kid on those days.

 

[DISshopkeeper]

Once they got to HS, I allowed one day a year. DS always took his, DD never took hers, though she agonized whether or not to take it many times.

Truth to be told, she was having too much fun at school to miss a day! LOL!

OTOH, the 3rd grader I babysit is often allowed to stay home from school simply because she's tired. At least 3 days so far this year. I keep telling the Mom that she's setting a really bad precedent here....

 

[OlderMan]

....you know what the saying is.

FWIW, to the earlier poster who assumed that I would "have to take a day off" if I had a sick child, I work from home and set my own schedule.

If one of my DD's is sick, I'm able to work my schedule around any Doctor visits, etc.

 

[Kitty 34]

Yes....when they got to HS.

 

[dizneenut]

Yes, I do.

 

[momto2girls]

Absolutely. School is brutal and kids need days off from time to time. A few personal days a year is perfectly acceptable to me.

 

[NAB]

I find it funny that so many of you say you do it for me time with them.

Still not sure why this me time can't be spend on the weekend.

If kids weren't put in so many things that there weekends are taken away and you wouldn't need personal days..... Or after school are kids chained to a desks at home too or are in extra activities ....cut back.

And if the kids are to tired send them to bed, have curfews. Don't reward them for bad habits.

 

[taylor1293]

Sure! About 3 days every school year. As long as they haven't missed more than a few days for being sick and have good grades, I see no reason not to.

 

[mjantz]

No. However, I have no qualms with taking a day off work & keeping them home if they throw up in the night or are iffy illness-wise as to whether or not they should go to school. More than once I have kept them home only for them to be totally fine all day. So we'll go run errands or something like that. Just Mommy/Kid time (Occasionally Dad gets in on the act but I'm the one with the flexible schedule) & I really like these unplanned days.

Also, our kids get out at noon every Friday so we take advantage of that. They get to veg out a bit on those Friday afternoons & I try & schedule time with each kid as I feel the urge to. Today I decided to take DS out after school tomorrow (DH will be home & can handle DD). He decided what we were going to do & we're going to do it. Next week I'm doing something with DD.

 

[Blueeyes101817]

i dont have kids--but my mom let my brother and i have a few mental health days a year---I was a honor roll student and had no problems

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

Such as ???

We do not allow "things" to be scheduled during school days. Period.

The only things that have come up have been funerals of relatives, and i consider that an appropriate exception to the rule.

There are lots of possibilities. Maybe your child is having a complete meltdown. Maybe you want to go on vacation. Maybe they are exhausted. Maybe they are completely stressed out. etc. etc. Unfortunately, our emotions and our well-being don't know when weekends are. Did anyone ever think that the reason certain kids get sick so often is because their immune systems are weak from being stressed or tired? Taking time to see these signs before they result in sickness is well worth it. Personal days are one way to do this.

I said no too!!

They get enough days off during the year.

My husband I don't take days off either. It is called life.

Their job is to go to school not stay home because believe me they would just sit and play video games or TV. And what is that teaching them.

Being sick or dentist or funerals I don't count as personal days.

You don't take days off? Ever? Life isn't supposed to be all about work. In fact, this is the only society that puts work ahead of health, family, etc. You would do horribly in France where they get 56 vacation days a year.

I also don't think that school is a child's "job" and I think it's kind of harsh to look at that way. Kids are kids not mini-adults. Sure school teaches about work ethic but it also teaches a lot of other things too. As well, I think children learn a great deal outside of the classroom, as I've stated earlier.

 

[KariC]

I never had a "mental health day" as a student or as an employee. Kind of a foreign concept, I guess....

Really, if the future can be predicted by the past...my kids will miss enough "legitimate" days by catching every cold, strep, etc. that goes around. Add to the days that we pull them for family needs (be that vacation or b/c I have a migraine and can't drive, etc.)....they need to be in school the rest of the days. And, today my DD who is 5 went to the dentist. She was irritated that she had to miss 1st recess and lunch with her friends (i'm chopped liver, apparently). She wanted to go right back, but her face was so numb that I ran an errand just to stall for time. i didn't want the drool to run right out onto her work. she kept saying, "cab i gob to skoob nob?"

 

[mjantz]

Did anyone ever think that the reason certain kids get sick so often is because their immune systems are weak from being stressed or tired? Taking time to see these signs before they result in sickness is well worth it. Personal days are one way to do this.

I also don't think that school is a child's "job" and I think it's kind of harsh to look at that way. Kids are kids not mini-adults. Sure school teaches about work ethic but it also teaches a lot of other things too. As well, I think children learn a great deal outside of the classroom, as I've stated earlier.

First, if I felt my child was terribly stressed or tired, I'd cut out extra-curricular activities before I kept them home from school. They each have their methods of destressing & I try & make sure each can have time for their de-stresser every day, even if its just 20 minutes or so. I've found a little RadioDisney in the car on the drive home can be a good wind-downer for everyone involved.

And, school is my kids job. And yes, kids can learn a great deal outside of school but if I felt that it was more beneficial for my child to be out of school rather than in it (considering they were healthy & all that) I'd be looking at the academics at my kids school very closely. My kids honestly cannot miss much school without it affecting their grades. The workload backup is also an issue. They are at a very academically challenging school & I've learned from experience (DS missed a week a few years ago due to illness) that the work piles up quickly when you're out.
And once again, these things that kids learn outside the classroom, can they not be learned after school, on weekends or during the school breaks? We took our kids to see King Tut over the summer in Philly & the BodyWorlds exhibit last year. Very educational & very easy to fit into our schedule without taking days off during the school year.

 

[NAB]

I do go on vacations and the kids are off all summer.

Like I said kids are home at night and so are we. You make it sound like we don't spend time with them. Guess what they dont always want to spend time with us, they want be with their friends after school.

Taking off a day from school is not going to solve a problem. If they are out and doing nothing. I would find out why the kids is having a melt down not say okay honey stay home tomorrow, play your games go back to school tomorrow everything is better now. If they are tired there is a reason too.

And for people that say there grades are good that is great but I for one am not going to teach my kids it is ok to stay home because they are doing fine.

 

[LisaNJ25]

yep, I just dont do it more than 1 day a month.

 

[ASFCurly]

I don't have any kids yet, but my parents always said, as long as you are doing good in school and have little to no missed days that year, one or two (but no more) mental health days a year was ok. But only under those conditions. Which means my brother and sister occasionally took one, but I don't think I ever did, I get sick much more often then them, plus have allergies and get migraines. I agree with that myself.

 

[babytrees]

We allow one mental health a day a semester...as long as your doing okay in school. I think we've actually only used one a year since instituting the policy. I am of the mindset that I would rather let them know they can take a day if school is getting to them...instead of having to fake being sick (I would wait until my mom was at work and than call her.) I often take it with them...if life is getting to them...it's getting to me too.

As my oldest said this week "it's no fun to take a mental health day when your day is going to be easy anyway" She also said "it's no fun taking my mental health without you mom"

 

[rie'smom]

Yes, I do. In fact, she's missing November 16th because we leave for WDW.
Once a year, I might suggest a shopping trip to New Orleans. If she was having a hard time, then I absolutely would give her a break.