At my daughter’s school, the fifth graders are allowed to leave the school for lunch once a week. When I first heard this, I freaked out. The thought of a group of 100 10-11 year old kids being out on the streets of New York City is almost too much for this helicopter mom to take. Seriously, do you remember when you are allowed to leave school for lunch? I was 16 and that’s because I had a car and could leave campus.
I should know better than to be so freaked out. The principal and her administration are probably the most vigilant team (for better or worse) that you would want running a New York City public school. The principal who may not be the warmest and fuzziest with parents is the complete opposite when it comes to the kids. She knows every child’s name, wishes them a happy birthday and even dresses up as Thing 1 to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday.
You as the parent may think you are helping your child with certain things but she has other opinions. She regularly puts up a comment on her welcome board about how it’s the kids responsibility to carry their backpacks, not the parents.
When it comes to middle schools, we, parents might not be ready but she knows that at some middle schools, kids get to leave campus for lunch. Before the fateful day, she had a parent meeting to explain class policies and exactly how the lunch break would be enacted.
LUNCH BREAK POLICY
They explained to the children that going out to lunch is a privilege and that each child is earning the privilege to leave the school building. There are a few things that may prevent this from being a possibility such as incomplete class work, missing homework, and/or inappropriate behavior in school. They are only allowed to go certain shops. And the most important thing we all parents want to hear is that there will be school administration at certain shops to keep an eye on the school plus there will be parent volunteers to ensure they have lunch in a safe and supportive way.
While all these policies and administration/parental supervision in place, I should feel better but I don’t. I guess once a helicopter mom, always a helicopter mom.
What do you think about grade school kids having lunch outside of school?
We weren’t even allowed to in high school which I hated especially when we could leave campus senior year but had to be there for lunch. As long as it’s well supervised I don’t see a problem with it.
I would be super nervous about it.Knowing that there are parent volunteers and people from the school at the shops they are allowed to go to would make me feel a bit better but I would rather just know that my kid was at school.
This freaks me out, I did not even leave school until I had a car in 12th grade