Bring back snow days!
Back in my day, those days felt like Christmas morning.
I’ll be 42 in a couple months and I can still vividly remember how it felt to race out to the living room on school mornings, turn on the TV, and watch the ticker scroll at the bottom of the screen to see if my school was closed for the day. They were in alphabetical order and my school started with an S so it took a long time. And then of course, if you happened to walk away and miss it, you had to sit through it all again.
We’d watch the schools around us start to close, our hopes getting higher and higher. And then there it would be:
SPRINGFIELD LOCAL SCHOOLS - CLOSED
My brother and I would erupt in screams. It felt like Christmas morning. The entire day stretched out before us. And it didn’t matter how cold it was. We’d bundle up in our snow clothes and meet our neighbor friends to sled down the hill, or make snowmen, or have snowball fights. Coming back in to eat and warm up before we went back outside.
At the risk of sounding like the crabby millennial I’m certainly turning into… I miss those days for my kids.
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My oldest son started kindergarten in 2019 which means that the final months of his first year of school were interrupted by Covid. The kids left school in March 2020 for their spring break, and didn’t go back until late 2021.
In 2020 they eventually started virtual school once it was determined that they weren’t going back anytime soon. And it was with that virtual school, seeing how well it could work, that we came to rely on them more and more.
Now, I understand that this wasn’t an option when I was a kid - we didn’t have the technology to even attempt this. And maybe if we had it, maybe we would’ve lost out on snow days, too. But these days, we don’t have snow days. We just have “flexible instruction days (FID).”
Can’t a kid just have a snow day?
I logically understand that if we have too many snow days we have to make the days up at the end of the year. But will one day here and there hurt them? Or, will it bring back that absolute joy that so many of us got to experience as kids. Because these are just KIDS. And there isn’t quite anything like that unexpected experience of a day off of school that you didn’t know was coming.
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Last week my kids had an FID due to snowy and icy weather. And this week they have two FID’s (Tuesday and Wednesday) followed by a two hour delay (Thursday) because of the bitterly cold temperatures.
They sit at their desk in their separate rooms, log into their school provided chromebooks at the right time, and spend 30-45 minutes in one class, take a break, join another class for 30-45 minutes, take another break, and join a final class for an hour. All told they’re in “school” for about 2 hours each of these days. So really, is it even worth it? Can we just let them enjoy the days off instead?
Kids these days (yes, I realize how old it sounds) have SO much on their plates. We’re overloading them with activities, we’re testing them around the clock, and the lack of these days off are just one more example of giving kids “jobs” early in life. I want snow days back for my kids.
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I have no doubt I’m missing some nuance about why schools do this instead of snow days, but from the parent perspective, I wish we would stop.
Crabby millennial rant over. Thanks for enduring.
A few more things…
🖍️ I find so much joy in coloring, especially color by numbers where I don’t have to think at all about how things will turn out. This book is my newest purchase. And yes, I got the large print edition because, aging eyes.
👚 I just got the softest sweatshirt/shirt thingy that I’ve ever owned. It’s by Spanx and it’s the AirEssentials Half Zip. I’m not kidding when I tell you that everyone I came in contact with the first day I wore it, I made them feel it. It is that good. If I could justify the price of multiple, I’d buy all the colors.
📖 If you’re a reader, we recently shared some big news over on Reading Through Life about our plans for 2025 - including a return to the podcast. And, we’re having a 40% off sale on paid subscriptions until the end of the month. Making it just $3/month or $32.40/year to support us. Click here for more.
That coloring book looks so fun! Thanks, Sarah!
Our school superintendent told me that in districts with poverty, a snow day doesn’t mean the same to those kids or their parents. Many parents can’t afford to take the day off. Kids who depend of free breakfast and lunch don’t get fed and they are left at home alone all day because they don’t have other options. I too love snow days but I understand why they aren’t the best option for all.