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My 9 year old daughter came home with a permission slip for me to sign for a field trip to the mts of N.C. Commercial bus picks them up BEFORE 6 a.m. and returns home at least as late as 7:30 p.m. That is about 7 hours on the road for the day. Don't know yet if bus has restroom as principal has not returned my call.
I am not an overly protective parent but both DH and I are inclined to not let her go. Our rule of thumb is that we would not let the kids do something at school we would not do as a family. Never would we put our kids thru such a long time in the car for such a trip. We would stop and spend the night.
Chaperons will be there but they have to drive their own cars.
I just see a lot of waiting around for others and not being able to really enjoy Grandfather Mountain in such a big group. They recently went to the state fair and it sounds like it was a miserable trip for everyone. No rides, No extra fun fair food and just petting a goat or chicken.
It all sounds like a good idea that maybe should have stayed as a good idea and then worked on a bit more.
For example, I would have thought that the adults should be on the bus with the kids not driving in separate cars.
I agree that a 6am start to 7pm finish on a bus is just bizarre. Maybe it is one of those super coaches that rock stars get that have a bar, Jacuzzi and a large screen TV that you can watch while lying on the sofa. I could do 12hrs in a bus like that.
I think she said 7 hours total, so assume 3.5 hours each way with a good chunk of time being spent at the destination. Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with it and even though the additional chaperones are driving, I imagine there will be teachers and adults on the bus to supervise.
Hey, crappy field trips are all part of the educational experience. If my kid wanted to go and their friends were going, I'd let them.
I remember a few of these trips. Specifically a 6 hour round trip bus ride to San Francisco in 6th grade. I guess I'm not sure what, specifically, the concern is. And I'm not sure I agree with the rule about not letting them do something you wouldn't do as a family. Probably 3 times in my life I went on bus trips to Disneyland where we rode 5 hours, stayed at Disneyland all night, then rode 5 hours back home. I wouldn't do that as a family, but people do it in buses all the time. It's apples to oranges.
ETA re the state fair field trip: field trips are supposed to be educational. No, they don't get to ride the rides.
In my family 3.5 hours on the road means we're just getting started so I don't see that as a problem. I think my longest bus trip as a 9 year old on a school bus was probably 4 hours. No john in the back. You just held it until the rest stop.
If your daughter wants to go, I would let her. Grandfather Mtn is not too far from where my parents lived, and they took my kids there. They loved it. There are some animals, a museum, and a mile high bridge to cross. Hopefully the teachers make sure the kids dress properly, as it can get very cold in the mountains there.
All our longer bus trips were in buses with bathrooms on board.
I went on two distant field trips when I was a kid. One was to Washington DC and the other was to Niagra Falls. LOVED BOTH!
My children went on field trips all over the country that involved riding on a bus for days and days. The boy scouts would sometimes stop and camp for the night but often they drove through and the boys slept on the bus. So 7 hours total doesn't seem like a big deal to me at all.
If there is no bathroom on the bus, I guarantee you they will be stopping for potty breaks.
I see no reason to keep your daughter from a field trip she wants to attend.
My (then) 6th grader took a trip to Six Flags as an end of the year trip- left the parking lot at 6:30, got to the park at 10, spent eight hours at the park and got home by 9:30. She had a blast, and would have been very sad if we had made her stay home due to the long bus ride. If your daughter wants to go, I would definitely let her.
Other than enduring a long bus ride, why else would they not go? What do they have to gain vs lose? An outing to an interesting place with classmates sounds like there is a lot of potential benefits that to me, would outweight the possible negative of a long bus ride. Assuming that would even be a negative - it might not be for everyone. By not letting her go, will she be left out of class discussions/projects regarding the trip? Potential bonding with classmates over things that happen on the trip? Being the one that is not a part of things might be worse than enduring a bus ride.
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