{"id":590,"date":"2012-12-10T20:28:16","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T02:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/?p=590"},"modified":"2019-02-18T08:34:54","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T14:34:54","slug":"7-rules-for-chaperoning-a-school-field-trip-with-your-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/7-rules-for-chaperoning-a-school-field-trip-with-your-child\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Rules for chaperoning a school field trip with your child"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It is always interesting watching parents on a field trip. Presumably the reason that you accompany your child is that you would like to enjoy the opportunity to spend time together and experience that adventure together. I went with my son’s 4th<\/sup> grade class to the Shedd Aquarium today and supervised him and three of his friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But yet, when I listened to some of the parents waiting to board the school buses and as they sit among the noisy 4th<\/sup> graders, you would think that this experience is akin to a torture chamber. Seriously. You do not have to volunteer for this duty if you hate it that much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So with that backdrop, here are some tips that you can\nfollow next time you agree to chaperone a trip (and some for parents who do not\naccompany their child):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. SMILE<\/strong>?this\nis supposed to be fun.  You are not an\narmed guard at a correctional facility. \nEnjoy the time with your child and his\/her friends (and if you cannot\nenjoy it, at least pretend for your child’s sake).<\/li>
  2. SPEND\nTIME TOGETHER<\/strong>?Far be it from me to tell anyone not to check email or look\nat their phone but some of the parents on the trip barely engaged with their\nown child, much less any of the other children in the group<\/li>
  3. BUT GIVE\nTHEM THEIR SPACE<\/strong>?Some parents hovered over their children and forced”\ntheir children to sit with them on the bus instead of letting them hang out\nwith their friends.<\/li>
  4. EXPLORE<\/strong>?Kids\nlove looking around.  Field trips do NOT\nneed a lot of rules.  Let the kids enjoy\nthe experience and have some independence as they look around.  They do not need to have a leash around them.<\/li>
  5. RELAX<\/strong>?You\nneed to let yourself enjoy it as well. \nSo yeah, it will be noisy.  But\nyou should have known that.  They are 4th<\/sup>\ngraders.  On a school bus.  On the way to a field trip.  No school. \nThis is not a library.  As long as\nthey are not hurting each other, let it go.<\/li>
  6. ENJOY<\/strong>?You\ntook a day away from everything else you could have been doing at home or at\nwork.  Take the time to enjoy it and\nlearn something for yourself.  Get to\nknow some of your children’s friends. \nGet to know some of the other parents. \nGet to know your child’s teacher. \nYou will learn more from that one day than hearing 50 stories from your\nchild.<\/li>
  7. SMILE<\/strong>?Again!!!<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    If you don’t like these rules, do your child a favor and stay\nhome!! J<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It is always interesting watching parents on a field trip. Presumably the reason that you accompany your child is that you would like to enjoy the opportunity to spend time together and experience that adventure together. I went with my son’s 4th grade class to the Shedd Aquarium today and supervised him and three of his friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[309],"tags":[310,6,312,313,311],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roykessel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}