Yesterday it was Valentines Day, and I had a lecture in the afternoon. Yesterday was Friday and to me it was a normal working day, it wasn't the half term holidays in my area and as far as I am aware there wasn't any schools on training days. So, how come when I walked into McDonalds to grab a cheeseburger for lunch I saw so many school aged children?
There must be a few people out there that pass children that are clearly school aged in the street at random times in the day and thought "Wait, why are they not in school?". I seem to be doing it more and more often since I went into the career of childcare. Back when I was a child if I has a day off school because I was sick, then it was a case of staying in bed, watching the Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo and Scooby Doo on Cartoon Network, eating soup and getting better for the next day. I wouldn't be taken to McDonalds for lunch, or being treated to new clothes. So why everyday I walk up the high street during the week do I always see at least ten school aged children with parnts or grandparents?
Seriously, does your child's education not matter to you? I see it all the time and frankly it annoys me. Now I know that there are children out there that do attend special schools and every school timetable is different, but the children I am on about are the ones that look like any average school child. I've even seen them dressed in full school uniform before as if they've just come out of school, or were on the way to school and happened to forget to actually attend.
As a training teacher, I can not understand how parents can keep their children off school claiming they are ill and then somehow find themselves at McDonalds or at the children's play area. Am I just being old fashioned in that if you were well enough to eat at McDonalds or play out, then you are well enough to go to school? Do we have a generation of parents who just don't know when to say "no"?
I know that parents love their children, but there should be a limit to what you let them get away with. And to those parents out there that seriously think "oh, its just one day, what harm can it do?" then I say right now that you have no idea. At GCSE level, if a student misses one day of school then it can lead to a whole grade's difference in their overall GCSE results. Can you honestly say that you would rather your child have a D in maths instead of a C because they claimed to have an Ear Ache and you wanted to treat them to McDonalds?
Now I understand having young children out of school at certain times as some childcare settings only provide half days and youo might have to go shopping around your work shifts. Thats perfectly fine, I'm talking about when you see parents with a child which looks around the age of nine or ten years old and they are having a laugh and having time together. I'm sorry, but isn't that what weekends are for? Teachers and childcare practitioners do not work their arses off to give your child a good education and provide the best possible care they can for them, just for you to take your child away and sit in McDonalds thoring a 'sicky'.
I feel very strong against this issue that I have observed. I think that parents who knowingly take their children out of school on mandatory school days should face the consequences. Truant officers are never seen in shopping areas or on high streets anymore. But if they were I bet that most schools would be seeing more and more 100% attendance in their classrooms. Its one of those delicate issues, I would sometimes like to challenge those parents whose child is with them and not in school and ask why, but unforuntely we are living in the society of "I know whats best for my child and not you". Well in this case, I strongly believe that all children that are physically able to attend school should do so and being treated to McDonalds and happily skipping around Tesco is not accpetable when you're meant to be sick.
Ok, I'll leave this rant here. I'm just fed up of seeing parents allowing children to truant from school and then actively letting them do what the hell they like in public.
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