Should I volunteer for D.C. field trip?

[TerryJ2]

Or should I stick myself in the eye with a pencil?
Hmmm ...
I love D.C. Love the museums. The monuments. Think it's a great trip for the kids' social studies/civics class.
Then again, will my temperament be able to handle it? Will difficult child be mortified?
I've got until Oct. to decide ...

P.S. If they go to the Spy Museum, I'm in for sure! LOVE that place!

 

[InsaneCdn]

I'm assuming they need X number of parents to go. You're not going because he's a difficult child. You're going because they need a parent volunteer.

Find out how difficult child feels - but I'd be guessing that its a good chance to share in the edges of his world...

 

[orcaauntie]

I agree with InsaneCdn- see how difficult child feels. I will say that when my Mom volunteered to be a chaperone for my group, on our trip to the Boston Aquarium I loved it. We tie-dyed our D.A.R.E shirts (we were the only ones with cool shirts on the trip!) and it was a lot of fun! It's something I still remember to this day

 

[DDD]

Lordy, what a question, lol. Some people have the temperament to do it and some don't. That type of activity is the one I always avoided for fear some kid would "get away from me". on the other hand if it just a day trip it might not be so bad if your difficult child is for it. Since you have a month to decide I'd keep my ears open to see which Moms are signing up. Alot of trip results are based on which group of Moms and/or Dad's are supervising. DDD

 

[donedonedone]

Can I expedite a passport application and go?
Cause I REALLY WANT TO GO TO WASHINGTON Difficult Child!!!!!

sigh, my attempt at hilarity.
no really I want to go!

 

[gcvmom]

If like Insane says to just be a volunteer and necessarily because of concerns about difficult child, perhaps you can ask that they be sure to assign you to any group of kids other than the one difficult child is in. That way he doesn't feel like you're there to spy on him.

 

[KTMom91]

Miss KT was always worse when I went along.

 

[TerryJ2]

lol! Don't know about a passport ...

I just asked difficult child. He said, "It's up to you."
"You won't be embarrassed."
"It's up to you."

I will talk to the teacher and see how rowdy it was last yr. I met him yesterday, and he said they're going in Nov. because one yr they went in Jan and the weather was icy, snowy and horrid.
I also want to know if it's a bus, or if parents are driving. I'm good at driving on ice and snow ... but I'm guessing it's a bus.

 

[susiestar]

It is such a personal choice. Does difficult child behave better if you are there or if you are not? I never had a big trip like that (our school board here won't allow them) but if difficult child is likely to act out because you are there, then use the time to take a few days to visit Difficult Child by yourself and go to the various places. If he is more likely to handle things well because you are there and know how to keep him on task or whatever, then go with him IF you are of a temperament to handle it and you are not so terribly frazzled by everything else.

Please, whatever your choice, remember ALL the other things you do and the responsibilities you already shoulder. If this would give you a couple of quiet days, consider not going on the trip. Or go on your own for a couple of days and go see all that you want to see. make SURE you have the trip schedule so you don't end up at a museum with difficult child's school though!

As for car vs bus, it may be that they have plenty of bus room and want you all to ride on the bus with the kids. Or it may be that space is tight and they want you to drive. Even if they want you on the bus, if you want to drive instead it shouldn't be a big deal.

 

[InsaneCdn]

"It's up to you."

Kidspeak. I think the translation is something like... Would kind of like it if you would come, as long as you're not joined at the hip or obviously there to nag HIM. Second translation... sure, if you can chill out like the other parents.

 

[DammitJanet]

That is one of the school trips our 4-6 graders take down here. Its a 3 day 2 night trip for them. Of course, we are a 7 hour approximate bus trip from there so that is almost half a day each way.

Jamie had a wonderful time on the trip and his roomie was his principal...lol. Worked out perfectly too because Jamie was the hyper kid who needed to be watched like that but he also had a great relationship with the principal so he didnt think of it as a bad thing. Some kids would have but we were also distantly related to the guy so it made sense.

If you want to go, you should go. I know other parents went.

 

[ksm]

I wish we lived closer to Washington Difficult Child. We live in the central part of USA and our middle school is pushing a trip (4 days, 3 nights) thru a tavevl agency named Worldstrides. Anyway, they want $1700 per child. Now it does include flights, but it is 4 kids to a room and fast food meals. How many families can afford to send a child. The brochure said they had "Fund Raisers" but when I read it, they suggested the child send out a letter of email asking for "sponsors" for the trip. I hated to disappoint my daughter but we just had to say no. She took it better than I thought she would - but she didn't see anything wrong with asking people for money for her to have a trip.

I don't think she would have wanted me to go with her. Plus it cost $2000 for adults. I told her all four of us could have a week long cruise for less that 3,700! A lot less! KSM

 

[LittleDudesMom]

I agree with the others who said, "ask difficult child".

Both my kid always wanted me to go - and I did - but I did engage bonehead to go with difficult child the last two years of middle school. It was the only way to ensure bonehead spent time with him - and difficult child loved that HIS dad went (as opposed to most of the other chaps were moms).

Sharon

 

[TerryJ2]

$1700--holy cow! Glad it's just a day trip for us. (albeit a 15-hr day trip.)

Kidspeak. I think the translation is something like... Would kind of like it if you would come, as long as you're not joined at the hip or obviously there to nag HIM. Second translation... sure, if you can chill out like the other parents.

Yep. I think you're right.

 

[DammitJanet]

They were going to take the kids here one time to Disney world but it would have cost us 500 a piece per kid and at that time both Jamie and Cory were in the age group to go. I simply didnt have a thousand to lay out. I couldnt say yes to one and no to the other. Then they wanted to do the fundraising deal. I still said no. Cory's tech wanted to go so bad she said she would help him raise the funds. I was astounded. It turned out to be a traumatic event. I still didnt have the money to send Jamie and even after they swore that Cory was going, the day before they were to go they canceled his trip. I really could have killed them. Oh but his tech went!

 

[crazymama30]

My difficult child is always worse if I am there. I don't think you could pay me enough to go with him. That being said?i have always been a little jealous of parents who could go on field trips with their kids. I went on several with easy child and that ujst made me miss doing with difficult child. I tried it once and it was so bad I never went on another with him again.

 

[seriously]

I wouldn't go although I would be sorely tempted. At 14 I think it's time he stepped out in the world alone (so to speak) and explored without a parent along in the background. But you are the best judge of what's up with your kiddo. Remember that a full daytrip like that is going to be very stressful physically on both of you.

 

[HaoZi]

This is the first year it will even be feasible for me to attend any of Kiddo's trips, and a few of them sound pretty cool. Sometimes she does do worse if I'm around (like scouts and such), and other times she's perfectly capable of doing very poorly even when I'm not there. She's doing better so far this year, it's her last year of elementary and she's been begging me for years to be a room parent, attend trips, etc. This year if the school will let me and I get enough advice notice to ask off from work, I'm going.

 

[svengandhi]

My kids' elementary school had a trip to Boston. I went with oldest boy because he wanted me to. He had a great time and the kids were mostly well-behaved. The PARENTS, however, were awful. My son, who with ADHD inattentive and mild Asperger's usually notices nothing, commented on the mother (an elected official in our town!) who kept going up and down the steps at Fenway Park with multiple beers! If MY kid noticed it... Then there were the dads who had to be rounded up out of the bar near Fenway by the allegedly "connected" dads in the group - who were the best behaved, the most gentlemanly and the politest of the men! The trip was 2 days and one overnight. My D did not go because she was in private school.

We moved difficult child and the 2 younger boys to a different elementary school in town. Their 5th grade trip was to D.C. This school used staff for the trip and did not take parents at all. They called in subs as needed. The principal wanted H or I to travel down separately and stay in a room in the hotel - just in case. difficult child's teacher, a 6'7" angel of a man, said no and that he would be responsible for difficult child. He believed that difficult child would rise to the occasion. difficult child was perfect - one of the best kids on the trip. PC15 went on the same trip two years later and also had a great time.

After the recession hit, the school switched to a day trip into the city. Youngest boy wanted to go on his own so I didn't buy a ticket. They saw Wicked and the wax museum, NBC tour, etc. When I dropped him at the train station to meet his class (his school went with our former school, which dropped the trip to Boston), he decided he wanted me to go after all but it was too late. I told him I would be 15 minutes away at my office and he could call if there was a problem, I didn't hear from him and he had a blast. He did insist that I go as a chaperone the next year when Drama Club went in to see a show. He told the teacher it was my birthday so I got selected for a free ticket (it really was my birthday!).

In your situation, I would go if your son doesn't act up more when you're around (difficult child often did), if he seems genuinely enthusiastic about you going and if you have the time and the money. I would not ask for a group of kids other than him because most parents who go do have their own kids and I think the other kids would notice if your son's own mom didn't seem to want him in her group. I would stay home rather than not have my child in my group.

Hope the trip is fun - Difficult Child is great. I still have to get youngest boy there.

 

[TerryJ2]

Janet, that's so frustrating!

Thanks everyone. I'm just as confused as ever. I am leaning away from going, just because it's a lot to pack into one day ... for me. And I am doing the decorations for the 8th gr dance, so maybe that's enough ...