I have not gone on a school trip with my daughter's class this year, until today. I was able to bring my younger son, as long as we met the class at Dynamic Earth. I asked if I could bring him. I figured there would probably be some liabilities if we took the bus, so I suggested meeting them at the site. The teacher graciously said yes, and invited my son to participate in the class activities as well.
None of the other guardians brought their younger children. They all have family at home, or nearby, who can watch them. I did not want to pay for a babysitter, plus I wanted to bring my son to see the dinosaur exhibit. I had offered to pay for him, but we were covered. He was very well behaved, and was doing a better job at sharing and listening to me than his older sister!
This is going to be the last year of worrying what to do with him if I want to help out on field trips. He will be starting school in September, and I will be able to volunteer to help out his class when they do their multiple trips out of the classroom. This year, my daughter's class has mainly been doing trips to the municipal library, and I have tried to be there at the same time, but just to say hi. My son is two years younger, and it would not work for him to do the class activity. The teacher had said as much at the beginning of the school year. So, I run in, say hi, and continue on with our own library visit.
Last year, many of the parents would bring the younger siblings along on the field trips. Most of the kids were in strollers, but I was not the lone parent who brought a preschooler along. For the most part, my son was well behaved. At the beginning of the school year, he was in a stroller too. Towards the end of the school year, he would choose to walk, and was a little more challenging to control. If the field trips were on Thursdays, I did not have to worry because he was in daycare. Otherwise, I would have had to paid for babysitting to not have him with us.
An issue did occur in May, however. We were walking from the school to the Dairy Queen. My daughter had become clingy, and I was carrying my son. My daughter walked in front of me, while I was carrying my son, and I tripped. I walk around this area frequently on my own with the children as we live nearby. I am aware of the surroundings, take great care, but it is a little scary because we have to cross a busy highway. We were on the sidewalk when it happened, close to our destination, but I completely lost my balance, with a child in my arms.
Of course, I tried to fall on the "free" side, and lift him away from the ground. I almost succeeded. I scraped my wrist, tore a pants pocket, and bruised my hip and shoulder. Unfortunately, my son's forehead hit a tiny rock on the sidewalk. Blood was streaming down his face. He was crying. The teacher was tending to us. The ladies from the insurance company came running out. But, the students were calm.
I felt like a complete idiot, and was shaking from the adrenaline. In the end, we cleaned him up, and he stopped crying after two minutes. We stuck a bandaid on the cut, and it healed with almost no scar. At the Dairy Queen, he was in good spirits, and because he was wearing red and brown, no one else realized he'd hurt himself.
The class had another trip to the pharmacy a couple weeks later, and I chose not to participate. We could have walked from home, and met them there, but I felt I had already created too much drama on the last trip. I am never sure how the teacher feels about having non school kids along, or if there are legal issues.
As a teacher, I would not have an issue, but I know it would mean the parent is only watching their child, plus the younger sibling. If a teacher does not want younger kids attending, she should specify at the beginning of the school year, or specify an acceptable age rage. I will no longer have to worry about this. We will not have any issues when I volunteer in my son's class because he is the younger sibling.
Like I said, he was well behaved today. He listened to my instructions, and we were able to avoid any incidents between him and his sister. She was having a harder time listening to me, and she was close to causing a scene. I watched my son, and sometimes her, but let the teacher deal with most of her discipline. The parents were all good at speaking to any of the children who were not listening. However, the students were polite, happy, and well behaved. There was not much management needed to keep them in control. It was a successful field trip.
By the way, the dinosaur exhibit at Dynamic Earth is small, but fun for the younger kids. For school groups, it is good because they have planned activities. I am not sure if you need a whole day, but a morning or an afternoon would make a good visit, and change things up a bit. The animatronic dinosaurs are loud, so be warned if your child is sensitive to sound. We did not have to pay, so I am not sure if it would be worth a regular admission. Many families around here have Science North memberships, so check it out.
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