I think this stinks....

DD is in 3rd grade and this coming Tuesday is her recorder concert. Here is the thing, it is at 10am. Which is a non issue for me because I work for myself and DH works nights so he will be home too. However, so many parents work and there is NO night time show. I just think it is terrible for the parents that can not attend and the kids too. This is 2010 on Long Island, how can the school do this?

Message edited 9/1/2011 3:11:49 PM.

Re: I think this stinks....

I agree. The end of the year is so busy and how could they expect the parents to take off work so many days. As it is, I am sure it is tough with vacations, days off, and summer. I babysit and work for DH from home so I am pretty lucky that way but I feel for the people that can't.

Re: I think this stinks....

I agree that it is very hard for parents. I'm a working parent, a teacher, and I take days off all the time for my kids' school events. They will only be little once and soon they won't even want to see my face at school so I have to be there while I'm welcome!

I know that for the districts that I work and live in, the reason for not doing everything at night is because there need to be chaperones, and chaperones need to be paid. The districts would rather not pay chaperones if they can avoid it. I made $68 (after taxes) to chaperone my grade's spring concert (it was mandatory, not voluntary) for 35 minutes.

Re: I think this stinks....

My school did this too and I took a half day. It is hard for some parents though that are not close to the school. I think there is so much going on at night at the schools though that they are unable to schedule it at that time.

Re: I think this stinks....

It does stink.

Before Rob was laid off, I managed to take half days and personal days to get to the events that they had.. but last year I let Rob do everything alone since he was the Stay at Home Parent.

I never regretted that more than when I got Noah's 'year in review' kindergarten video. There were pictures of Rob all over the place.. and I realized that outside of the 'Mother's Day Tea', I hadn't made it to a single field trip or event.

But - I think it might actually be the reason I work so hard to give them as much of me as possible when I'm not working.

Re: I think this stinks....

I can only imagine how this will be for us next year, I have had to take off 3 times for Kindergarten orientation, sign up, etc, and they are not even in school yet.

I guess it is hard to have everything scheduled at night since the teachers would like to be home with their kids too and not at work at night. I do try and save some time so that I can attend these last minute things.

Re: I think this stinks....

It does stink, as a working mom, I feel guilty on missing most of the day events. It is painful to hear your kids tell you that I was the only parent missing from their class party or such :(

I have to pick and choose what I go to, if its a concert or something, I will do my best to go, if its just a holiday party, I usually skip it but my kids are all okay with it now. As long as I skip all three, they don't feel slighted if I pick one of out the three - lol.