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[deleted] t1_jbuebxo wrote

People on my town facebook page are going to lose their mind if they have a snow day. No matter how much snow we get, there's a bunch of dudes and a few ladies railing against how we are making kids soft now.

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bleepbloopbluupp t1_jburlxa wrote

Ah yes the people who misremember their childhoods

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[deleted] t1_jbuuqj2 wrote

I know. I am way older than most of them so I always try to pop in and pretend I'm just being nice and sweet!

"Oh, I grew up in the 1970s and this definitely would have been a snow day! We'd just watch TV all day and eat cereal!"

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OPRAH_IS_MY_BUDDHA t1_jbvm9pb wrote

Suburbanite loser trumpers on Facebook would of course be screeching about snow days lol

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murph3699 t1_jbvzmyp wrote

In North Andover, in the early 90s, we ALWAYS had school. Even when the rest of the Merrimack Valley cancelled school we had to go in. We rarely had delayed openings too

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atigges t1_jburqrb wrote

Which is funny since the kids have zero say or work in the equation of actually opening and running the school for the day. They aren't driving the busses in snow, they aren't clearing the roads, they aren't making sure enough employees show up to serve a hot lunch or stock and clean bathrooms. It's always the adults who claim to be tough that blame kids for their own issues. KiDs WaNt TrOpHiEs FoR pArTiCiPaTiNg!! Uh, no, Jim Bob wanted an excuse to write off on his taxes a donation from his local business so he gave a "donation" in his business's name to buy them so his son and all his son's friends would get trophies sitting in their homes with the rights to have his business's name on the plaque twice as big as the team's name.

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[deleted] t1_jbuuhcp wrote

The thing that is the number most dangerous thing for kids in walking to school. Do I care if my kid gets in a fender bender on the way to school - sure, but it probably wont kill him.

BUT - the kids who have to walk on the shoulder of a road while plows are trying to clear the snow? There's only a mound of snow that is impossible to walk on and the road.

Walking in the road makes it so plows can't do their jobs - and are so much more likely to hit a kid when there's a pack of them that are walking to school.

In Boston-- some kids have a TWO mile walk. Two miles! It's not about just how far it is, but about miles of road that thousands of cars have to drive on that can't get cleared properly because there's literally pedestrian in the road because there's no other place to walk.

There's a million reason to just have a fucking snow day. Now I know the types of parents that went on and on about "uphill both ways". They were just jerk faces.

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amphetaminesfailure t1_jbv5zwx wrote

Sometime in the last few years, forget when, we had a deep freeze the night after a snowfall.

So school was canceled for a second day. The "uphill both way" parents were hollering about how the streets are all plowed the sidewalks are all shoveled.

They were completely ignoring that the deep freeze turned the streets and sidewalks into a skating rink. It was cold enough overnight that even the treated roads were a sheet of ice.

I could barely walk down my front steps and get to my driveway, busted my ass, went back inside and called out of work.

Yet these dumbasses wanted busses on the streets and kids on the sidewalk walking to school? Not to mention we know there's always assholes who don't shovel their sidewalk. So you want kids having to either get soaking wet walking through 8 inches of snow, or walk out into the street while cars and busses are slipping and sliding on the road? No. Fuck that attitude.

What I don't get about the way these people think is.....don't we want BETTER for our kids? Don't we want their lives to be EASIER than our generation and previous ones?

What exactly are we trying to make our kids to "tough" for? I mean don't get me wrong I understand wanting to raise kids to be strong and independent....but why does that have to involve putting their lives at a UNNECESSARY risk?

The only answer I've ever gotten is "Well when they're an adult and have a job they....."

I'm an adult with a job. I called out. I'll use sick time if I still have it, or I'll take the points. My job is non-essential. I'm not risking my life for a corporation's profits. Teach kids that. Maybe when the next generation gets into management they'll be more understanding.

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amphetaminesfailure t1_jbv4fup wrote

I think it was last year or the year before, my city closed the schools when the temperature was predicted to be like 5 degree with a -20 wind chill.

People were up in arms with things like, "It's winter, that's too be expected! Wear a coat!"

I commented that those temperatures are absolutely not normal for southcoast Mass, they were FAR below normal. Not every kid has a proper winter coat for those temps, let alone proper gloves, hat, thermal underwear, wool socks, etc. And considering not every parent can drive their kid to school, it would be way too dangerous in those temps for kids to be walking or waiting 30 minutes for the bus.

I just got told off and had people say other parts of the country have winter temps like that every day......

Yeah, and those kids are fucking prepared for it, unlike kids in fucking New Bedford.

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[deleted] t1_jbv6tr8 wrote

I know. And it's really about protecting the most vulnerable, too.

We live in a kind rich town. Rich folks are driving their kids to school.

But Worcester? You have vulnerable families and new immigrants and poor and struggling families. Kids with addicts for parents.

Yeah, we know they dont care about people that fucked up -- but maybe they should care about the kids.

I taught school in Fitchburg. Parents would call once they came to or sobered up and ask if their kids went to school. We just have to do right by those kids.

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amphetaminesfailure t1_jbv8axc wrote

> And it's really about protecting the most vulnerable, too.

Absolutely.

What gets me the most in my city's FB page, is I'll look at these parents complaining about kids being soft these days, and 99% of the time they look like they're a poor/working class person (not to be too judgemental).

I mean I'm blue collar myself, but also college educated, and making a very good income for my area.

Too many of the least well off people support views that are the antithesis to their well-being.

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ZaphodG t1_jbwrsom wrote

A couple of points:

Those working class parents rely on the schools as daycare. It’s not like they can telecommute.

The schools are heated and I believe every student in New Bedford gets a free lunch. An awful lot of the working poor in triple decker tenement buildings aren’t running their heat and their kitchens aren’t stocked with food for their kids.

The schools need to be open whenever possible even if attendance is optional.

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surfunky t1_jbvpyyj wrote

Fuck Facebook. Can’t wait til that cesspool dies. (No offense to you, just hate how it’s become a ghastly soup of townie malcontent)

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gloryday23 t1_jbuyjt8 wrote

Not to defend them, but in the town I'm in we've had two "snow days" this year, one based on the forecast of heavy rain the day before that never happened, and one for snow the day before that we never got. To some degree I do get it.

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[deleted] t1_jbv0kmo wrote

What town cancels for rain?!

Now we've had 2 storms -- that we were on the absolute cusp from either 7 inches or just rain because the line of freezing was right there.

My town got like 6 inches. The town we share a school with got rain. So while we were shoveling out snow, everyone in the other town was sure (and I bet still is) there was zero reason to cancel.

But cancelling for rain seems crazy.

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