Dear Crabby, Should Kids Still be Allowed to Have Snow Days?

Dear Crabby,

My husband and I need you to settle an argument between us and our kids. With all the virtual learning going on these days, should they still be given snow days? We say no, but the kids say, yes. What do you say?

Thanks,

Frita Flury

Dear Frita Flury,

Boy did you sure pick a hot-button topic this week. If you don’t follow the Road Commission for Oakland County on social media, you really should. On Monday they posted a meme that said, “Winter is coming. The entire thing. All at once. Three years’ worth in a week.” Pretty funny and sadly, pretty spot-on. Of course, as a man of leisure, I don’t have to mess with this stuff like I used to. And since I don’t have kids in school anymore, I couldn’t tell you which districts are doing in-person learning and which are doing virtual, hybrid, whatever! But what I can tell you is that we’re currently on Day 100,000,000 of this pandemic. Or at least that’s what it feels like.

Dear Crabby sits infront of his laptop
Dear Crabby Gives Advice

Just think, a mere two years ago, we were complaining that kids were getting too many snow days. I seem to remember there was an abundance of cold weather days too. It was getting to the point where kids were out of school more than they were in school. Heck. I even probably said kids today weren’t as tough as we were back then when we still had to walk to school, uphill both ways, in two feet of snow. Parents were going crazy that their kids were home all the time. Who knew we were actually prepping for 2020 and beyond? I think in this new way of doing education, students and teachers aren’t looking at days off like traditional snow days, but rather mental break days before there’s a breakdown. Does that make sense? Think about it. Kids who are doing virtual learning are in front of screens for hours. A snow day gives them a chance to have a break from that. They can go outside and get some fresh air and shovel your driveway. If they grumble, tell them it count is as their P.E. credit for the day. Go sledding and you’ve just had physics class. Or build a fort or igloo and you can cross geometry off their homework list. They have no way of knowing you’re totally making that up. And even if your kids are doing in-person learning, a snow day is beneficial to them as well because you don’t have to get them up at the butt-crack of dawn to drive them there.

So, let them have their snow day or days since the weather folks seem to think more of this white fluffy stuff is headed our way. Make some memories. Love them or hate them, snow days are a rite of passage for Midwestern kids. You know if you were given the chance to have a snow day from work you would totally take it. Don’t be a hater. If you’re looking to get the kids out of the house, send them my way. I’ve got plenty of snow they can move from one spot to another.

Stay warm!
Dear Crabby

About Dear Crabby

Stuck in a rut? Need some biased advice from a crabby old baby-boomer? Read regularly by thousands and loved by some, Dear Crabby answers questions weekly to life's challenges. Send him a note at editor@rochestermedia.com.

Comments

  1. Nancy Pompa Boughner says

    When I was in school, we didn’t have snow days. We had “busses on the main roads only” days, which meant I missed school on those days because we lived in the country, far from a main road. Snow days would have been fairer for students like me.

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