Should kids be able to skip the last day — or the entire last week — of school?
“I let them decide if they want to go to school on those last days,” Patricia Horton, a mother in Florida, tells TODAY.com
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WATCH HEREHorton, whose children are 7 and 12, threw out the question in a TikTok video.
“Do you make your kid go to school, the last day of school? Do you make your kid go to school the last week of school?” Horton said in the video. “I don’t make my kids go to school the last couple days of school. I don’t see the point. Most of the teachers would rather you keep your kids home anyway, at least around here.”
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SIGN UP Horton recalled cleaning classrooms as a child during the last weeks of school.
“I have cleaned a lot of desks — that is what we did the last week of school when I was a kid,” Horton said in the TikTok video. “We cleaned desks and we cleaned classrooms and I was a ‘professional’ at cleaning desks. So, why? What was the point of sending me to school on the last few days of school?”
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Horton added, “I’m not doing that with my kids. Stay home, baby. It’s summer time.”
Copious parents argued against Horton’s opinion on TikTok.
- “I don’t make them. They BEG to go. It’s always fun.”
- “My kids would be so disappointed if they missed the last few days. Splash pad, movies, Field Day, auctions. All on the last days. That’s the fun stuff they’ve waited all year for.”
- “Why shouldn’t your kid help clean the mess they helped make?”
Teachers were for and against Horton’s point.
- “I’m a teacher and I hate when kids miss the last day of school. We, as a class, have been a family for several months and kids and teachers would like to say goodbye. Especially for kids who move away.”
- “I plan the fun stuff for the last few days. If kids stay home, they miss out.”
- “As a middle school teacher, thank you!”
- “My boys stayed home the whole last week. I’m a teacher. I know that they don’t want the kids there this week.”
- “From a former teacher, you are correct. Those ‘fun’ days are just us babysitting. We are done teaching at that point! Start that summer break early! (Please).”
- “I don’t care either way as a teacher, but I do like to know ahead of time so I can make sure they take their items home.”
- “Mine stay home the last two days. They are just sitting around. As a teacher, we just sat and watched all three ‘Madagascar’ movies.”
Horton tells TODAY.com that her children’s school year ended on May 28, however they both skipped the final half-week, which is their choice.
“They had their final exams during the first two weeks of May and their grades were entered last week,” she says, adding that “Awards Days,” “Fun Days” and “Teacher Appreciation Week” has concluded.
According to Horton, she gives the “hardworking” and “sweet” teachers notice about her children’s absences.
“They always say, ‘It’s been great teaching your kid and I hope you have a great summer,’” she says. “It’s never: ‘Oh no, you’re not going to come?’ They totally understand.”
Horton says she sympathizes with teachers in the late spring.
“I don’t want our teachers to feel like they are babysitting at that point,” she says.
On the last days of school, Horton’s children will play in their pool at home and be with their grandparents, a privilege she says isn’t afforded to everyone. Over the summer, says Horton, her children play with their classmates.
“If my kids want to go to school, they are absolutely welcome to go,” says Horton. “If they want to stay home, I’m not going to make them go to school to sit there and maybe watch a movie.”
This story originally appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
