Some parents love nothing more than being involved in their child’s school tour, but for other parents, it can be a nightmare experience.
School tours, which come with many excited children, might not be your cup of tea. You may not like the idea of listening to screaming kids or taking on the responsibility of them.
However, when your kid brings the note home about nominating a parent you may find it hard to say no to your child, which is totally understandable.
This is the age when they want you on board to do things with them. But if it really isn’t something you want to do or perhaps you are just too busy, then you will need to try and avoid it.
And this isn’t the place for guilt-tripping parents either as honestly, many parents hate these things and that doesn’t mean it is bad parenting.
Not everyone is Mary Poppins after all, and if you aren’t keen on doing it then read on for our tips to get out of it!
Blame work.
It isn’t nice, but you can blame work for your lack of interest in supervising the school tour. In some cases, parents honestly can’t get the time off anyway, so your excuse isn’t too far from the truth!
Also, you may not want to use up a holiday day to spend the day with a load of kids either, and you shouldn’t feel guilty about that. A holiday should be used for relaxation or special occasions anyway, if that’s what you’d rather do with your time.
Don’t fill the form out until it is too late.
Devious, I know, but it is a good way to ensure that you are not going to be involved as you are too late with the school tour form. Tell your child you are trying to arrange things before filling out the form and soon it will be too late, so job done! Better still, get the dog to eat it and you’ll be fine!
Tell your child you can’t as there are his/her siblings to care for too.
This is true and for some, getting the rest of the clan cared for is a lot of effort and work. It can cost money to arrange a childminder, too.
Pivotally, you are going to arrange for your own youngsters to be cared for while you take part in endless headcounts and recite “wheels on the bus” for however long it takes to get to the chosen destination. Why would anyone want to do that? If you do, great, but if not, that’s ok, too!
Depending on where the school tour is, fake fear of animals/dirt/fun rides!
If the kids are heading to the Zoo or an animal park, you may not want to be there as your fear of monkeys is real. Some places have mad rides and again, this may not be your cup of tea, so plead with your child and ensure they know your fear is quite real.
Remember it is ok to put yourself first and if chaperoning a load of kids during a school tour is your idea of hell, then you are doing them a favour anyway! Let the parents who love this stuff go.
