Do You Make Your Kids Go To The Last Week Of School? This Mom Doesn't Get The Point
“Most of the teachers would rather you keep your kids home anyway.”
Across the country, schoolchildren are fully in “end of year” mode. They’re coming home from school wet from field day water games with backpacks stuffed to the gills with papers, books, and art projects that have been accumulating in their desks for nine months. And it’s basically understood that after that last big test or assessment, the final week or so of school is basically just there for fun and the obligation of 180-day academic years. So one mom on TikTok wants to know: are we bothering sending our kids on the last day of school?
“Do you make your kid go to school on the last day of school? Do you make your kid go to school the last week of school?” asks TikTok creator Patricia Horton (@mrshorton87). “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,” she continues. “My parents? They made us go to school every single day ... all the way to the very last day of school, every year. I have cleaned a lot of desks. That is what we did the last week of school when I was a kid.”
“So why?” she concludes. “What was the point of sending me to school on the last few days of school? ... If we were missing school it’s because we had a doctor's appointment or we were sick. ... But I mean, I’m not doing that with my kids. Stay home, baby. It’s summertime.”
I mean... I kind of want to start with “my parents made us go every day unless we were sick” and... yeah? That’s literally how it works. Sure, a lot of us are a little more lenient when our kid needs a mental health day than our parents were (mine are allowed one or two a year, depending on individual circumstances). But in general, “my parents made me go to school every day” is the norm. So... maybe not the flex Horton thinks it is?
Anyway.
Another element of this is the fact that the last week of school is fun. You get to hang out with your friends, and watch movies, and play 7-Up (at least I did back in the day: I hope the children are still playing 7-Up). And sure, maybe you spend some of that time cleaning desks, but you’ve also spent the whole year mucking them up. Why shouldn’t you have to help clean it before summer break?
Commenters had some thoughts as well. While some teachers did agree that they like when kids just sort of skip the end to allow them to get cleaned up and head out to summer break early, most comments were negative. Indeed, there were more comments than likes on this post as of press time, which is never a great sign for the content creator in question.
“I’m a teacher, and I hate when kids miss the last few days of school,” says one. “We as a class have been a family for several months. Kids and teachers would like to say good bye. Especially for kids who move away. We would rather school end earlier but definitely would like to say goodbye. The fun week gives them something to end school on a good note.”
“My kids would be SO disappointed if they missed the last few days,” says another. “Splash pad, movies, field day, auctions… all on the last days. That’s the fun stuff they’ve waited all year for.”
“The school loses money for absences even on the last days of school,” points out another. “And the teachers deserve to have their students say goodbye.”
Look, are these the most intellectually rigorous days of school? Of course not. Will there be any huge, ripple effect down the line if you let them skip? Probably not. But on the other hand why? It’s not like they have other kids to play with if they stay home, and they’re missing out on the fun of lazy school days. Just send them.
