Not ditching school for a week or two, but just a day you get that call they weren’t at school. We’ve all done it, the school expects it to happen, so it’s a weird balance.
Not ditching school for a week or two, but just a day you get that call they weren’t at school. We’ve all done it, the school expects it to happen, so it’s a weird balance.
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Kids aren’t in school yet, but when my parents caught me my dad made me ride the bus for a week even though I drove to school. Thought it would embarrass me.
The first day the bus broke down and I was late to school. They got the phone call again that day that I had missed one or more classes. Didn’t believe me when I told them what happened until they called the school. Jokes on you, dad.
Not a parent, but it’s important to approach them as an equal first. Understand why they ditched.
Most adolescents will understand and expect their action to come with consequences. So if they ditched anyways, it’s likely they had a good reason.
It’s easy to dismiss children as stupid and completely irresponsible, but it’s very important to see them and treat them like tiny adults.
After talking to them as an equal, then you can judge them as a parent. Personally, I would give them a warning not to do this again.
1 day is 5 school days loss of anything fun, that would be the loss of anything that needed a controller or Internet connection
My kids only wagged it once (that I know of)
Lesson 1 was a nice meaty consequence
Lesson 2 (although not said directly) if you wag it, don’t get caught, as if you do, I have to punish you
Knowing how I grew up (I was famous for sneaking off) and knowing most of the kids around them, they were always going to do things like this, so I made it clear “get caught, get punished” on top of the speeches you have to give about school and attendance
They weren’t being bullied or had genuine reasons for skipping out, both were doing well academically and coasting a touch, otherwise I’d have handled it much differently, they were just dicking about with their friends
I also taught my kids early about Newton’s 3rd law (every action has an equal……)
So they knew when they got caught doing something, they would always face a consequence
The invention of the Internet made this a piece of piss for me as he who controls the wife, controls their universe
My youngest became a teacher, so it seems to have worked
We’ve all done it?
meh, get good grades and don’t do anything dumb while skipping, and I didn’t care
I don’t think I was ever truant. Not every kid gets to go to school so they should take it seriously. My kids are only 7 and 5 so, so far, they don’t really have a choice, but they will lose privileges if they are truant.
My kids aren’t old enough that it’s a concern yet. They’re in elementary school still.
When it does become an issue probably sit down with them and talk about why they did it. Are they stressed? Was there something specific they wanted to do outside school that day? Friends talked them into it? Bullying?
As long as it’s not a chronic thing and they’re still getting good grades I wouldn’t be too upset but we’d probably talk about just letting me know ahead of time next time because I wouldn’t mind covering for them skipping school occasionally.
My first question would be “why” because in a healthy education environment, kids are hungry for learning. It is their natural state.
My son in his teenage years was arguing with his mother because she thought that he was too sick to go to school and he did not want to miss out or fall behind.
It sure wasn’t like that for me in school.
Context is really important. Is the kid doing well academically? Are they following through on other commitments? (Work, sports, etc.). If so, I am not coming down hard on my kid. We all need a day every now and then. Is there something going on? A break up, bullying, my kid or a friend having a crisis? Not a problem, lets work with it. Lets address underlying issues vs a bunch of unrelated consequences that only teach your kid to hide things from you.
My son had a really bad break up a couple years ago. He needed a day or two away to get himself together. He got it with no push back from me.
I am raising kids not to obey me, but to learn how to manage their own needs and commitments.