Ever Fibbed About Why You're Taking Your Kid Out of School?

Nope never.
I felt school is too important and not a convenience for daycare. I also knew her teachers worked their buts off working on plans and devoting way more time than expected or required to treat it like there were things that were not important..

She loved being at school and her goal every year was to have perfect attendance.

He Junior year she did it! She was more excited about that than all of her other awards.

Her senior year she missed the most days of all of her years put together, because of her Campus visits for college, but she would email her teachers each day to get the homework assignments.

Nope. Well, maybe when I lie by ommision! lol
We are supposed to leave a message on the attendance line that says the kids name, the teachers name, parents name, and the reason they are not going to be in school. I always leave my name, teachers and childs...but never why he isn't going to be there. I am the mother, I have made the decision not to send him. It's really that simple.
The times that I have pulled him out early (when a soccer star was signing autographs at the book store) I didn't have to specify why he was leaving, so i didn't!
I have to say, I have only pulled my son out of school or let him not go to school about 5 times out of the three years he has been going to school. We are not repeat offenders! lol
L.

I am pretty direct about it and haven't needed to lie yet...but I can easily see myself doing that, sometimes when you are put on the spot it's easier to say something you know they want to hear than to get into personal specifics.

I allow my kids to play hookie a few times a year...just for the fun of it...and I have no problem calling them in and telling them 'we are taking some family time'!

I have very a fond memory of when I lived with my BF and her family for awhile in HS...the mom came one day out of the blue just to pick us up for lunch and a movie...it was unexpected and totally awesome...I am SO doing that for my kids when they get older!

I have never lied to get my daughter out of school, but feel its very intrusive on my role as the parent for a school to give me the 3rd degree about why I want or feel the need to keep my own child home from school. If I feel she is ill enough to spend the day home in bed where I can monitor her..that does not usually mean I am taking her to the doctor. I am not that kind of "run to the Dr alarmist" type. Rest, OJ, chicken soup and Tylenol.

I almost never ever have the option of picking my child up early (or dropping her off late in the morning), since I do home daycare and am "trapped" at my house all day, so this has never ever been an issue for us here. But last year, when my daughter was a Sophomore in high school, she needed a full day off to attend orientation at her new school she is attending this year (and a few out early days...an hour or 2 that I had to close my daycare for..for things relating to this new school). The attendance/office person was so pissy with me and counted them as unexcused things. I was angry but decided not to pursue anything further. It was May of last year and was not going to really affect anything long term or permanently. I gave them a giant piece of my mind, wrote terse letters and had similar phone conversations.

I am the parent and I get to decide. I asked for her to be given any assignments (we knew these dates well ahead of time) and they would not..said that is not their policy unless there is a certain amount of days in a row absent. Its a policy that sets kids up for failure if they are ill, have a death in the family, or other reasonable excuses to be gone from school for one or 2 days.

The school she attends now (a public school still..but an Art school)...no one WANTS to miss school...they WANT to be there (worked very hard to get in there) and its difficult to miss even an hour. Thats the way school should be anyway.

OK... the school administrator in me is pretty annoyed by this question. You pulled your child out of school 30 minutes early (without calling first so the teacher could help her get her stuff together) b/c you were done early with your errands and wanted to get your nails done?? Really?? Come on... this isn't daycare, it's school and the salon would still be open at 3:30. Obviously you knew it was wrong b/c you lied about it and now the secretary will be calling you for a doctor's note.

My son is only 3, so when I pull him from preschool early I call first and tell them the truth. However, when I was working as an AP in an elementary school, it annoyed me beyond belief when parents lied to me about this stuff b/c it is a pain in the a* ! to get parents to admit to it and we have to track this stuff.

States require schools to report on attendance for billing purposes. "Excused" and "Unexcused" absences have to be reported... it's not as minor as people think.

nope but I'm sure I will. Next year will be the first time I'm dealing with the public school system for all 3 big kids (we have homeschooled the past years) and after being so used to the freedom I have a feeling I will pull them out for things the school just won't like, simply because I think the life experience is worth it. Obviously I'm not going to do so at the expense of their education, and I will stick to the guidelines for how many days they can miss a year, but some things just trump what can be learned sitting in a classroom.

Yup, and I am a high school teacher myself. On more than one occasion I would be at my daughter's school an hour to a half hour before dismissal to drop something off and decide to just take her with me. When the secretary asked, I just said we had an appointment.

I have also kept her home for no good reason a couple of times. She goes to a charter school and has a slightly different schedule so some days I will have a day off while she still has school. I have been known to keep her with me on those days. Not always but every once in awhile. I used to feel guilty but now I feel like life is too short and I am entitled to grab those mother/daughter moments while I can. It won't be too many more years before she would rather do anything than spend the day with me :)

I tell them the truth, my child, ya know?

My kids deserve a day off or part of a day off now and then, and the school doesn't have to know the reason. I don't lie, I just tell them I'm signing her out, or if I don't send her, I just tell them I'm keeping her home. They don't have to know why, and I don't have to tell them.

I also want to add- good for you, letting her know that it's OK to take some time for yourself every now and then!

Yes I have.

The attendance clerk at our school is not the friendlist person. She does ask why and wants specifics.

She once asked if I was taking daughter to Dr. I said no and she proceeded to ask more questions and I said "I'm mom and I need to pick her up now".

My daughter is "sneaking" out of school this week at 3:50 (25 minutes early) with permission from her cheer coach (last period of the day) because she has to report to her Sr High school before 5pm for cheerleader practice there all week. If she is late to the new cheer practice, they are punished. So Coach just sends her out the side door to meet me. Her drive to the Sr high school can be as much as 30 minutes in traffic and there is no way she can get out of school at 4:15, make it home, get a snack, dress and be at the sr high by 5.

My daughter always hated field day in elementary school. It was always during the last week of school. She just had a tummy ache on those days.

Now if she weren't a straight A honors/AP student and excelling the way she does, I would not do that.

Shame on me.

I did this kind of thing a few times when my girls were young and have regretted it ever since. It is a slippery slope and sends the message that it's okay to do what you want, when you want rather than what you know you are supposed to do. Integrity, truth, character and commitment are very important values sorely lacking in today's world. Teaching kids that it's okay to lie and leave school for convenience sets an awful example. If you had included your daughter in making plans to spend quality time with her (outside regular school hours), she would have gotten the message that school is important, lying is not a good thing to do, and that spending time with her is something special. If you had even simply waited the 30 minutes you wouldn't have had to lie, your integrity would have been intact and the message to your daughter would have been that school comes first AND she is worth a 30 minute wait. Sounds like you need to make spending more time with her more of a priority. I truly don't mean to be harsh, just being honest.

Absolutely! Sometimes I'll get them and take them to lunch with me, or my daughter and I go get nails done, or we leave for a vacation early, or it's just a beautiful day after lots of bad weather and we want to play! I don't do it often and my kids are all doing amazing in school. Plus they are MY kids, not the school's kids. As long as we write a note, it's excused.

So I used to tell the truth until I learned that the school actually loses funds ($$) when a child is absent for non-medical purposes. Yeah, whoever came up with that financial arrangement should be reassigned.

Now, Yes, I lie....say we are going to Dr. or DDS or Ortho or something believable. But I've never been asked to send in a note. What doctor has time for that extra nonsense? They can't even accept a parents word anymore???

LOL!! Aww don't beat yourself up so bad. If you feel this terrible about it, I doubt you'll be doing it again. You seem more upset about the lie, and that's okay, now you know better ;)

To answer your question, yes I have. Once was to go see Nemo on ice... and I flat out told the school beforehand, to make sure they didn't have any tests or quizzes or projects. They still went a 1/2 day, and never got marked as an early pick up.

I have also taken the kids out of school to play hooky when it's just TOO gorgeous to stay inside. I've only done this maybe twice. I always have a big talk with the girls about it and how it's never okay to skip school because it's SO important to get an education... and I know my actions speak louder than my words... but... I couldn't help it. You only live once ;)

I'm also not sending my kids to the last 2 days of school this year, because they fall on the Monday and Tuesday after our wedding. Why the last 2 days are on a M and T are beyond me, I think that's so silly... I told their teachers months ago that they will not be there.

All that being said, I'm 99% of the time a stickler for going to school, staying for the full day, etc. These are REALLY rare occassions when I pull them out for fun stuff :)

no, never. my daughter had perfect attendance every year until her last month of FOURTH grade. I'm lucky that my kids are rarely sick so they just don't miss school. I'm actually shocked that parents let their kids stay home for various reasons and miss school. We have planned all of our vacations when the kids are on school break or summer. I think its a poor example to set and really no reason for it if you take your kids out early for anything other than a true doc appt.

We get personal days occasionally, why shouldn't kids? It's really none of their business why a child is missing school. If it's a medical issue they might need a doc's note to allow them back but otherwise you are the parent and can decide if they take a day off or not.

My friend gives her kids about 1 one on one day each trimester. They plan a day of something special and if they are up on their work and doing well they do their thing.

I didn't lie when I took them out of school. I just didn't send them. When I took them back to school, they wanted to know why they were out and I said they were sick. They were sick of school and so was I.

This was a very country school. They closed the school for the first two days of deer hunting season and called it "teacher prep" days. But the "teacher prep" was the biggest lie/joke inside the district. So I kept my kids out for the rest of the week.

What did we do? My wife and I took them on a field trip "mouse hunting". We drove down to Disney World and had a blast. My kids still remember it and we had loads of fun.

BTW, My kids were all in the top of their classes. We represented the school in the county spelling bees for 5 or six years in a row. When word got around about what we did, the principal had a cow. I asked him where my kids stood in their classes. I asked him if the school took kids out of class for field trips or had them miss school for basketbal games. (Some schools live for the foot ballteams. This school lived for the basketball team.) He huffed and puffed and blew his composure, but I lived in a house of bricks. He threatened to report me if I ever did it again and that was the end of it.

Keep smiling. Good luck to you and yours.

3 yrs ago I let the kids miss school to go to the zoo with me on my birthday!! They were in PreK and 1st grade at the time. I don't know if it was an actual fib or just a big stretch, but the excuse note that I sent them with the following Monday said "DD was absent on Friday due to a family situation."

I resent the fact parents today are made to feel guilty if they take kids out. Growing up, my dad told us he would punish us for sneaking around to skip school, but if we felt we needed a day "off," and we weren't missing vital exams, he would allow it. We never took undue advantage of this, but it was nice to know we didn't have to lie about it. It's all about the federal funds schools get that has caused this nazi-like attitude toward attendance. When I took my girls out for reasons other than dr's appts., I just said "personal" and left it at that. Once I was chastised because I asked for my girls early when a major snow storm was beginning. I was from the South living in the North. I had to demand they release my girls! We learned the next day that their school bus turned over in the storm. I considered my gut-feelings were from God!!!

Yep! Its the end of the year anyway! Don't feel bad.

My mom used to keep me home one day every Christmas season to make cookies. It remains a treasured memory. I don't recall if she lied about it, she probably just called me in sick.

I have, also, but not recently. I'm pulling my kids out of school this Friday to go to my parents house so we can beat the holiday traffic & I'm not lying about that one!!

.

i think that's a really good question. my kids did spend some time in public school so i had that situation with deal with, and it still rankles that the schools felt they had the right to grill me about what i decided to do with my kids. yes, i get that teachers have lessons prepared, and that the school feels it can't educate kids who aren't there, but when the rubber meets the road, the kids do not belong to the school. the school can mete out its bureaucratic disciplinary measures if it feels it must, but parents have the right to keep kids out if the PARENTS deem the reason is sufficient.
it really bugs me that the schools have become so draconian in this that parents feel put on the spot and knee-jerk lie even when they know it's not okay.
and i don't think lying is okay. i think it sends kids a bad message. yeah, if i had jews hidden in my basement and the nazis were knocking, or if my kids were starving and i had no other recourse yada yada yada, but in 99% of the cases where people do 'little white lies' it's a violation of their good character and i wish they wouldn't.
so i do get why you did it in this case, but i wish you wouldn't.
i went and yoinked my two nieces out of school a few weeks ago to take them to english tea. we had a blast. but i was bummed that my brother sent a note saying they had a dentist appointment. i think tea with their amazing aunt is a way better reason to miss an afternoon of school than a dentist appointment.
and having educated kids for years without set times, attendance records, rigid class times or homework, i do not agree with those who say that kids who miss a day of school here and there will suffer for it. i applaud the parents who play hookie with their kids from time to time, but i say, do it openly and proudly!
khairete
S.

A couple weeks ago I told the school my 17 year old was sick. She had really just left a day early for a concert. That concert was a once in a lifetime chance for her (Someone died in the band and this is the last tour they are doing that they are aware of) and I did not feel bad at all. I personally feel that she is MY granddaughter and MY responsibility. I allowed her too, and she was caught up on everything. It is NONE of their business I think.

I actually posted about this back in Oct. I actually didn't lie but as bad as it sounds I wish I would have. My daughter was performing at the rodeo and I took her and her three younger brothers out an hour and a half early and they tried to give my kids in school suspension because of it. My kids don't have excessive absences by any means.I think sometimes life experiences are more important than school.

I've lied to the school, and I've also just said no and offered no other reason when asked if I was taking him out for a doctor appointment.

Once when my son was in elementary school I went to pick him up at lunch. The principal asked me why I was taking him and I said it was for a fun day. The principal tried to tell me I couldn't take my son home. I ended up telling the principal that as the parent I can do whatever I want, and that my son was leaving right then with me. I walked to the classroom, got my son, and we went to the park to play.

From that day on I have picked my son up whenever I wanted (which is rare). Sometimes I just say it's a personal family thing, or offer no reason at all. But I don't feel bad about lying to the school at all.

Oh gosh. My mom did this all the time when I was in school, and does it to my younger sisters still. Once she pulled me out of school early saying it was a family emergency, and drove me an hour to my aunt's house. There I was going crazy with worry over what this emergency could be (All my mom told me was that my aunt needed me)... I get there and my aunt (Who was in her mid 40s at the time) was playing a video game and couldn't get past a certain spot! Lmao!

One my other aunt's has a fun rule. Her daughter gets 1 day off every quarter (4 per school year). If her daughter is sick, then that 1 day gets used by staying home sick. If her daughter doesn't get sick, then her aunt will let her take off school and they will spend the day doing fun things like going to the zoo.

Really... Lying to the school about why you are taking your child out of class... Not a big deal. :)

I haven't read all the responses, just a few to get a general idea. I'm not sure if you know, but schools are under pressure from the NCLB laws that require schools to improve attendance. I'm not sure if it is by state, how the law is implemented, but I do know that in my state, due to these laws, every minute of school counts. The school is required to keep records of time out of school, and why. So, you may thank the politicians for being "grilled" for taking your child out.

I'm a teacher and I know there are times that parent just needs to take their child out. I don't mind personally, I just feel sorry for the child. They are missing out on time with their classmates, and sometimes some of their favorite activities. I have had kids cry because they are going to miss something fun.

Teachers usually know when you are lying. Kids come in and, more often than not, let me & the other students know what they did when they were gone. Kids love to share, and often do so without any encouragement. It just ends up making you look bad, and puts a crack in the trust you have built with the teacher & school. Just tell the truth...you will look better in the school's eyes, and your child's.

.I think that schools are going way overboard with attendance policies these days... thankfully I have a few years before I will have to worry about all that... but I had to deal with it when I was a child and the district decided to "crack down" on attendance.

My mom was not allowed to take me out of school for "family reasons" unless there was a death or something... but a school counselor once pulled me out of class to take me to lunch and somehow that was "ok"- despite the fact that she didn't get parental permission first... she thought I was "maybe" being physically abused and used that lunch to "evaluate" me (I wasn't - but I DID have depression...) nevertheless... It was pretty wrong that a person I barely know could take me out of school... and my own mom couldn't.

I also had to go to the doctor for menstrual cramps to get a note to be allowed to come home due to cramps. In our district, they wouldn't allow students to bring their own ibuprofen (or any other OTC medicines) to school with them to take... and for me the ibuprofen I took before school usually only lasted about 4 hours... the school nurse couldn't "administer" any more to me. So, I had to have special permissions and was basically forced to go home- even though with meds I could have stayed in school... go figure!

My mom also had to get drs notes EVERY year to let me come home for migraine headaches, or to bring my asthma inhaler to school. Basically, on the first day of school I had to bring a stack of excuses so that I could function the rest of the school year. My mom never even tried taking me out for "personal reasons" because she had to sit there and "explain herself" in detail to the school secretary every time.

Although I understand that some people take advantage of these policies... why can't parents be given a little more leeway to decide things for their own children?

-M.

On rare occasions, I would get my kids out of school early for things and opportunities that I deemed "important." They were both very responsible, good students so it wasn't that they were going to miss something that the teacher would have to work with them on. And because they worked so hard, i didn't want them to get an unexcused absence and get their grades docked. In the business world (and even teachers) get an opportunity to take a personal day off. We never had them miss days of school because of vacation. Funny story -- when the new professional baseball park opened, my husband took my son to the opening afternoon game. He already had an orthodontist appt, that day so we just did not take him back to school that day. The next day, i found out that about 60 kids had been signed out by their parents to attend the game for all types of reasons including one who wrote, "baseball fever". Many teachers also took comp time to attend the game. The rest of the school kids got to watch the game on TV and do baseball themed activities. It is one of the coolest lifetime memories that my son has of attending the opening day game of the ballpark with his dad. And how many times do you get to do something like that?
If I had kids that were not responsible, that skipped school or that were not accountable for their school work, I would not be inclined to "lie" to protect them or for my convenience.

To me it is none of their business if you choose to take them out of school early. You are the parent. If they are missing a lot of days that's one thing. But at least at our school if you are there till 10am you are counted there for the day. You should not need a note from a dr even if it was a drs apt!

yes i have. i like to think i am capable of making the decision. But the school may not approve it so I have felt the need to use something on the apporved list just to simplify things for my girl.

When I was growing up a doctor's note was not required. If your parent called to excuse your absence it was excused. I did grow up in Michigan so I do not know if it is just different in Texas.

Three years ago we were out of town during Spring Break. The flight we were supposed to return on Sunday was cancelled and we had to fly back Monday morning. I called the school from the airport and explained the situation. I was rather surprised when I received my daughters' report cards to see that the absence was marked as unexcused.

Even if our situation was not unavoidable, I believe a parent's call should be an excusable absence.

I just did this a few weeks ago because I was stuck in a tough spot. I had to pull my 3rd grader out of school 30 minutes early. Reason? I had to get my middle schooler to an after school doctor's appointment across town, and there was no other way logistically for me to do this. My DH was unavailable, I do not have any relatives in town that could help me out with child care. It was too last minute to impose on any neighbors or friends, plus I knew this appt would keep us well into the dinner hour. My middle schooler has already missed more days than she should this year due to illness and injury, so I really needed to make her appt for after school. This was not a routine check up, she is having difficulty walking after a re-injury. I did write "doctor's appt" on the sign out sheet, but I didn't say it was her "sister's doctor's appt" I did feel a little guilty, but honestly, this was the best I could do. I asked my 3rd grader when we were in the car what she was missing, and she said, they were just reading. Not having instruction or testing time, just free reading, so I was at least glad knowing she is a great reader and could certainly continue that on at home easily.

I know someone who pulled out her kids for a sibling birthday party and other times for a whole day "just for fun" I know she made up some more official reason for the office. That is not something I would do. We did, however, pull the kids out last year a half day before spring break, as it made hundreds of dollars difference to us in airfare. What did they miss? Absolutely nothing important, a movie and a classroom party. So I did not feel that bad. I was honest about the reason I picked them up early and no one said a word about it. I actually feel like in elementary school, the end of year special events pretty much is all that they do the last 3 weeks anyway. DH may disagree, but I would not be opposed to taking them out any time after Memorial Day for an early summer vacation some year. It's ridiculous for them to go until June 14. Too many teacher "professional days" in my opinion.

Nope. I even wrote down I was pulling him out because "we missed him", last friday. My son is at the top of his class and we are very dilligent about completeing make-up work. He hadn't seen his dad for more than 20 minutes for about 2 weeks just because our scheduale was so crazy. My hubby had a day off and wanted to see all of his kids. I also once called my daughter in and told them she needed a "mental health day". Sometimes it just has to be done and if they were to give me a hard time about it I would have to think twice about bringing them back. Oh and just so no one gets the wrong idea it isn't like I do this all the time but a couple times a year doesn't hurt.

I wouldn't feel bad at all for telling the school that. However, I have a different situation that upsets me. My daughter got sick at school and we picked her up around 1:00. I didn't send a note the next day because we had signed her out. The next report card I noticed that she had an unexcused absence and I know that had to be the same day. I've always heard that the child is not counted as absent if they are in school at 10:00 am. That would be great but my school district counts them as absent (excused) even if they are taken out the last 30 minutes of a day and bring a dr. note the next day!!! As a teacher, is this correct?

One day my son said he didn't feel good, and I kept him home anyways. He didn't have a fever, he sooooo could've made it to school but I took the day off and wanted really bad to spend my day with him, so I kept him home. I think he was just a bit tired, so he didn't 'feel good' . Like I said, he could've made it just fine at school. But ever since I went back to work full time I've missed out on so much time with him; so it was a mommy&son day for us!
hhahaha
I didn't then and still dont' feel bad about it now. We played hookie, oh well, it is what it is, and I don't for a minute regret it. ;)

No because there is no reason to pull my kids out early we will have our quality time outside of their education time.You let a lie slip out bet you won't do that again teacher.

She's not old enough now but I know me and know it will probably happen on occasion that I take her out of school or something. Probably won't happen more than once or twice a school year. I won't tell them why, if it's a doctor I'll give them the note. I agree with moms below I'm mom and I'm picking her up. I don't get why it would be an unexcused absence if it was the last 30 minutes, that's so silly.
I agree with gamma g, we have personal days so should they. As long as she keeps her grades good we will have special paint our nails or go walk in the park days.