Dear Crabby, Will These Snow Days Ever End?

Dear Crabby,

Mother Nature seems to be enjoying toying with the lives of Michiganders lately. And I won’t deny it’s been cold and snowy, but do you think these snow days are getting out of control? And will schools ever be able to make them up?

Thanks,
Elsa Erin Dale

Dear Elsa Erin Dale,

I saw a funny picture on Facebook that read, “It’s like Mother Nature is mad and keeps storming out, then coming back yelling, ‘And another thing!’” And that’s certainly the way it has felt these last few weeks.

Back when I was a kid, having school called off was practically unheard of. It didn’t matter if we had two feet of the white stuff, our mothers layered us in every scarf, hat, mitten, socks, etc. that was available and gave us a little shove out the door. With all those layers on that’s the only way we could get enough momentum to move! Of course, living in the city, our schools weren’t very far away. Nowadays with private and charter schools and even schools of choice, students are often travelling further to get to their classrooms. And I know if I was a bus driver, there are certain backroads I wouldn’t want to go down. All this isn’t to say we never had a snow day, but we certainly made the most of it when we did. We’d head to our favorite hill with whatever we could sled on – flattened cardboard boxes, inner tubes, and rickety plastic sleds long past their prime. If you weren’t into sledding, you could find a pond for either ice skating or hockey. There was this one kid in our neighborhood and boy could he skate fast. Sometimes, all the kids would chase after him just to see if they could catch him (no one ever did). The problem with the recent weather we’ve had is it’s been too cold to do any of that, which has made all these snow days all the more maddening.

Dear Crabby sits infront of his laptop

Dear Crabby Gives Advice

From what I’ve been hearing, you’d be hard pressed to find a school that has been in session for a full week since Christmas break ended. All those poor parents who were ready for their kids to spend their days annoying someone else have now been held hostage by the weather for 15 or more days! Even the kids are getting bored and restless. Under Michigan regulations, schools only get six snow days per year. So now the problem becomes how do the schools make up for lost time? One way is schools cutting short some of the other scheduled breaks like mid-winter and spring break. Or, the folks up in Lansing can pass some legislation to forgive any snow days that occurred during Governor Whitmer’s state of emergency. Personally, I think they should treat this winter as a special case and give everyone a pass. Otherwise it’s gonna cause further headaches for parents and teachers alike to extend the school year into summer. As for Mother Nature? It’s really time for her to let it go and move on. Give some of the other states a chance to experience winter.

Hope that answers your question. Stay warm and good luck!
Dear Crabby

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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.

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