Nothing blows up Facebook more than when school is called off for snow or cold. Not even marriage equality, the Affordable Care Act, or the act of twerking can bring the parents WHO HAVE THINGS TO SAY out of their yoga pants and into rant-mode on social media.
I’m one of those!
I was asking Facebook why school was cancelled because of wind chills when we happen to live in Minnesota. Home to cold wind chills. I was also texting Vikki and Galit and asking which one of them would take my children for the day because I wasn’t very good at impromptu all day parenting(WHAT?), crafts, baking, fort making, or telling my kids to turn off the TV.
They did not text me back.
So my fun plans for the kids included bedroom cleaning, laundry folding, dishwasher unloading, and sock sorting. These kids cannot wait to get back to school tomorrow. I’ve got this all figured out.
But I imagine this decision of cancelling school falls heavy on the hearts and minds of the superintendents – who get all of the tweets, emails, texts and messages as to why their decision was wrong. Because so many will be unhappy. Their decision is always wrong. No matter what their decision is. Know that.
And rightfully Facebook blows up with “What am I going to do about childcare?” and “I don’t have any more sick days.” and “These kids cannot be out in the cold – good call St. Paul!”
And I feel all privileged that I work from home so I can be flexible and not worry about childcare, wear my yoga pants all day, and know that our fridge is full of food.
Because I think about those kids who now maybe missed their best(only) meals of the day because school was called off. And who has the right to decide for them what’s worse – being cold waiting for the bus – or not having breakfast or lunch.
The juggling act of finding childcare, transportation, meals and time is a burden to all parents and I know that school districts don’t take it lightly. And I’d open up our home to many kids if I actually enjoyed kids and doing crafts and such.
But I’d rather have my kids in school on a Thursday – even when the wind chills hit -40….and I say bravo to the schools up north in Bemidji and Duluth who kept their schools running. They’re a hardy bunch. I’m not quite sure what’s happened to us. And a cold day off is different than a snow day off – snow days it’s “Throw the kids outside for four hours to play in the fresh snow!” And cold days are “Kids are climbing all over me, have watched all the shows, have eaten all the food, and having been asking for glitter for four hours!”
I guess I would just rather wrap my kids in 40 layers to get to school than to clean up one more pile of glitter.
(Okay, I would never buy glitter.)
Snow/cold days off of school – love them or hate them?