Originally Posted By davewasbaloo "Dedication begins at home and sense of duty in school. When parents start taking their kids off school to go to..say..WDW, it sends the wrong message to children who then think it's OK to slack off. If I was a parent, my kid would never ever get those "perks"." Dude, these are two different things. My mom used to pull me out of school to go to Disneyland. She also taught me how to think outside the box. However, I have been working since the age of 13. At college, I worked 6 jobs at once and ran a voluntary agency. When I graduated, I had a job lined up before I left, and have always striven to be the hardest worker/highest achiever in an organisation - even in our current company of 42,000 employees, I want to be the best!!!! Taking kids out of school to go on vacation does not equate to a lackluster attitude. I will take my kids out of school to go on vacation. I am saving money for when they are older for either College, a wedding, a down payment on a house. But I expect them to get good grades, work as soon as they can, and where I might help them with a car, I expect them to pay for as much as they can and it's maintenance to teach values. Although I could probably buy them most of whatthey want on a Christmas list, I won't. This is so they can learn the value of saving, and that we can't always have what we want. I've worked in motor garages, tended bar, spun disks, bounced doors, delivered newspapers, flipped burgers, stocked shelves, wiped butts (homecare support), cleaned toilets, entertained at children's parties, answered phones all before I got my degree. None of them were beneath me - each job was was a means for an end and taught me what I didn't want to do. And even as a professional, I have carried out a lot of tasks I would rather not - such is life. I fully intend to have my children follow suit, and pay rent when they have a job (though unbeknownst to them, that will go in their trust funds too). And I will also be taking them out of school to go on vacation. Why should I have to pay 3 x as much money and fight crowds, because a state system that does not focus on the needs of my kids as an individual tell me to? No way jose.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN There may be exceptions but I am positive there have got to be kids getting the wrong message when mom and dad feel it's OK to skip school to go to freaking WDW. If it was TDR..then SKIP ALL YOU WANT since it's worth it.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I know we have beaten this horse before...but for brevity's sake I will say I have taken my kids out of the last week of school to go to WDW - both have always been straight A honor roll students and athletes as well. School is the first priority, but as a parent let me state again that the last few weeks of school -- very very little learning goes on. Everyone seems in wind down mode, all state and national testing long over..many times the kids have subs for their classes etc. If my kids had trouble with school, were falling behind, needed tutoring etc., it would come before saving a few bucks or beating the crowds - yes, absolutely. The few breaks my kids got by getting WDW vacations ( also had 2 euro vacations in there - and their teachers were usually thrilled with that - and they got homework and assignments to report on) - never impacted their educations. Now my college age daughter who is an NCAA student- athlete -- let me tell you how they have to travel and many weeks leave school on Wednesday PM and return on Saturday or Sunday -- missing Thursday and Friday classes and having to make up. Do homework for hours on planes or buses -- etc....and they are 'paid' to do so. Far more abuse of education that parents would/should ever do....but when on scholarship - you have no choice.
Originally Posted By Labuda re posts 34 & 35 - thanks, guys. It's a little bit late since she's since left the company, BUT that explains a lot about the manager I had for a wahile back in the early '00s. She'd just come from a manufacturing environment to the offce environment we were in - I get, after reading what you two posted, why the lady treated her team like children - that's apprarently what she may have been used to from the employees she'd been managing for the first 5 or so years she was at the company.
Originally Posted By danyoung >I am positive there have got to be kids getting the wrong message when mom and dad feel it's OK to skip school to go to freaking WDW. < Kids will only get the wrong message if their parents give them the wrong one (or allow them to get the wrong one). We did a few vacations during school time. But it was always made clear that we needed to be totally caught up on our work, sometimes even doing assignments while on vacation (which frankly sucked!), and not to fall behind once we got back in school. It was with some pride that my brothers and I could accomplish this, and credit to our parents who knew we could do it.
