Things I Can't Say

Tips and Tales from an Introverted Mom

Hating Snow Days Doesn’t Mean You Hate Your Kids

Snow days are usually a novelty around these parts. It’s not common for us to have them in coastal Carolina. When we do have them, we make the most of them, putting socks on our hands so we can make snowballs(why would we own gloves?) and glorying in that beautiful white stuff that we rarely see.

How we sled ride in the South, with no hills anywhere nearby.

How we sled ride in the South, with no hills anywhere nearby.

But, this winter? I’m so over snow days. The first few were okay: we slept in, played in the snow, enjoyed days without homework, and relaxed. At this point, though: OHMYGOSH, can’t the kids ever go to school? (Yes, we’re off again today).

Moms around facebook complain about yet another snow day, another day of being stuck inside the house with the kids. And then the judgey moms show up and comment that’s so terrible, don’t you love your children and want them home with you?

Here’s the thing, y’all: just because you hate snow days doesn’t mean you hate your kids. Here’s why snow days suck, even when you love your kids more than life itself:

  • Snow days throw our routines all off. Bedtime routines, the kids being in school(so parents can be at work or do their work from home or clean or do whatever is usually on your daily schedule). My kids(and I) do best with a routine.
  • I’m a work-at-home mom. Usually, I do my best to get the majority of my work done while they’re at school. Not only because it’s easier to do distraction-free, but so when they’re home, I can spend that time with them. It’s definitely more challenging when they’re home all day.
  • I want my money’s worth. My youngest’s preschool does not make up bad weather days. Yet, monthly tuition is the same regardless. I completely understand why the school doesn’t go on a per diem rate, but I hated paying February’s tuition when my youngest had barely been in school at all in January.
  • Make up days ruin holidays. For my two older boys, the days are made up. What were supposed to be long weekends aren’t anymore and our Spring Break dwindles down, too. We travel with our kids on breaks(see, I do like spending time with them!) and the make up days are messing with that.
  • The school calendar gets confusing. My boys are on a 6 day rotating schedule that I find it hard to remember anyway but when you throw in these days off, it’s thrown out of whack. Thursday was supposed to be the 100th day of school. Do we celebrate on Valentine’s Day now? And do we send in the 100 Day Celebration stuff along with the Valentine’s Day stuff and have our kids be on a day-long sugar high?
  • My boys need time apart from each other. Not necessarily from me, but from each other. They do play well together but after days of not being able to escape each other, they’ll be at each other’s throats.
  • I don’t like fighting my boys for the xbox. On a snow day, why would they stop their obsessive Skylanders playing just so their mom could can do her daily exercise? If they were at school, they wouldn’t even know I take it over to zumba. And they don’t need to be in the room, asking why there is so much butt-shaking going on, scaring their little eyes forever.
  • I can’t read or watch reruns of How I Met Your Mother in peace if they are home all day long. Oh wait, this one is totally selfish. But it still doesn’t mean I hate my kids.
  • My New Year’s resolution to lose weight gets completely sabotaged when they are home from school unexpectedly. It’s cold out and they’re bored, so we bake. A lot.

Are you have a lot of snow days this year? Are you about to lose your mind, too?

This post was originally published on 2/11/2014.

Comments

  1. Yesterday was day 13? 14? 15? for us.  My son went one day last week and two days the week before.  Not only am I over it, my kid is, too.  I seriously doubt they have learned much during those random days they have managed to go.  Sure I love my kids, but we do best (all of us) when we have some sort of routine and we haven’t managed an entire week of school since well before Christmas.  Ugh. 

    • When the kids do manage to go to school for a day or two, the teachers have to get them back into the routine and refresh their memories on what they had been doing. Plus, we have all these assessments they have to squeeze in. It’s just a mess!

  2. LOL.  I am with you.  Having them home unexpectedly throws a monkey wrench into my whole day.  I work at home & have my routines and I hate when they are disrupted.  Plus, I would much have them out of school earlier in June so we can go to the beach instead of wasting the day with snow.  Ick.

    • My husband and I both work from home and it’s craziness when the kids are here. Moreso for my husband who is on the phone a lot for his job.

  4. I do love a snow day. But that being said, we have only had a few this year, so we aren’t dealing with a lot of the things you mention. I also like routine and think my boys do better with one, so I would definitely be feeling like it was enough if we got to the point where you are now. Also, messing up vacations and breaks with make up days is no fun at all. 

    • A few, I’m fine with. Our first couple, I was excited to get to sleep in and have my boys experience snow. But by this point- they just need to go back to their normal routine!

  5. 100 million times YES!!! We were JUST having this conversation over the weekend with our best girlfriends. NO ONE genuinely likes a snow day. The end. Seriously, though, having our children go to school is the preferred way things are done. I am so with you on this.-Ashley

    • I don’t mind one or two. But it’s ridiculous at this point! They need to go to school (and stay there).

    • Usually, we only get days off for hurricanes here, too. Calm hurricane season this year and yet we are getting hit with more snow than this area has seen in years!
      I actually saw people on facebook talking about feeling bad for kids whose moms who complain about the days off b/c those kids aren’t loved. Um, no, not at all. We just need our routine back!

  7. I hear you! We’re currently down to a long weekend for Easter/spring break and they’ve pushed back graduation. Normally that doesn’t affect me, but of course I have one graduating this year!

  8. I hear you! When the school closings started pouring in today I was so happy to see my district was open, It doesn’t look like that will be the case for the rest of the week. I hate snow days due to the lack of routine, paying for preschool, and being stuck indoors.  I’m tired of being told told that I don’t love my kids since I hate snow days. Funny how the loudest moms live in sunny states where they don’t have to deal with them. 

    • I never thought about that- it usually is the ones who don’t actually have to deal with the unexpected days off who are being judgey! We are off again tomorrow and the rest of the week isn’t looking good, either.

  9. I don’t hate snow days because I don’t want to be with my kids. It’s hated because it really throws our routines off. I thrive on routine, and when I have to rush to reorganize my whole day, that’s when I start getting irritated!

    • Routine is really best for my kids and for me. A break from it every once in a while is okay, but this has been excessive!

  10. I had to explain to my students yesterday that if we had to be out today, they would have to make it up either on a Saturday, during Spring Break, or during the summer. Or, we would add more minutes to our already extended school day (starting February 18th). One way or another, we will have to make up for this. Their once hopeful faces (hopeful for another snow day) dropped. Snow days are not good. Not good for anyone. I’m sitting here at home and we’re stuck in the house. Our routine is messed up. We can only watch TV or play games, and my autistic son isn’t going to play games, realistically. So it’s pretty dang boring. Snow days = boredom. So yeah, I’m sick of the snow days. Please, Lord, let the warm days come.

    • I really hope our Spring Break isn’t totally gone after this week. School is already canceled for tomorrow and the rest of the week isn’t looking promising. There’s only so much the kids can do at home. Plus, I know it throws off their teachers who are trying to get in all of the curriculum and assessments.

  11. Since my kids aren’t old enough for school yet, our days aren’t too disrupted by snow. We like it when it snows enough for my husband to stay home from work. So far, he’s done that 3 days this winter — which is unheard of for us in Georgia.

    • We usually don’t have any or maybe one or two a year here in NC(more likely to get them for hurricanes). But this winter, we’re into double digits for days off, so it’s thrown everything off.

  12. Nope … doesn’t mean you hate your kids because you hate snow days.  You just have a busy life and look forward to the kids being gone so you can get things done.

  13. I’m with you. I’m so over all the snow days. Luckily I can work from home when the weather is bad and school is cancelled but trying to do work and entertain two kids who after 10 minutes of anything say “I’m bored” is challenging!

    • It is more challenging to work around them. I can do it more easily than my husband b/c he has to be on the phone a lot during the day and they get bored and LOUD.

  14. Wow, the preschool should cut the rates!! That one is pretty ridiculous. I know they don’t for holidays because it all evens out, but really? They get the day off..

    • The part of me that has to pay for preschool agrees. But I know that they still have almost the same expenses even if the kids aren’t there(like paying their teachers). They just revised the policy to make up a few of the days.

  15. We’re not having the same snow trouble you guys are, but I know I’d feel the same way. There’s only so much interruption in the routine before it starts to drive you nuts. You still love your kids. Obviously. Those judgey moms need to just shut their traps.

    • Agreed. 🙂 We are off again tomorrow. The rest of the week isn’t looking good either. I may lose it.

  16. im a CT mom and i’m right there with you!  we’re due 12-16 inches thursday which means no prek party for my little one. she spent four HOURS doing her class valentines yesterday.  she’s going to be crushed. i love her, but she’s going to be very sad all day long on thursday when there’s no party …prek doesn’t have school friday and then we have a week off.  it won’t be made up. 

    • Oh, that’s terrible about missing out on Valentine’s! We have tomorrow off and the rest of the week isn’t looking so great, either. I helped my oldest make his Valentine’s box today and plan on helping all three with their Valentine’s tomorrow. I’m hoping they’ll make it up next week.

  17. Your title was so funny! I don’t have kids but I can appreciate how this would throw a wrench in things. I also love how you are just brutally honest.

  18. We are off today and tomorrow. We have already missed two days. I like snow days home with my guys, bit I get paid hourly on days that school is open in my teaching position. I hate not being paid.

    • Oh no, that’s terrible! That’s one reason I haven’t complained about the preschool tuition- I know those teachers still need to get paid and that comes primarily out of tuition.

  19. Yes!  Plus just the suddenness of it and when it is cold and hard to go anywhere anyway it would make it hard.

    I grew up in the midwest and remember loving all the snow days, but they rarely ever seemed to come.  This winter is just insane with how many snow days everyone has been having, even down in Texas!   We haven’t had in in SoCal yet though 😉

    • We had a lot of snow, growing up in Pittsburgh. But we had all the snow gear to go out and play. We are still woefully unprepared for that here because this is so not common!

  20. I’m with you on all of this especially the pre-school thing, I hate paying for days when there is not school. Also we have been baking a ton too. How are you enjoying Zumba? I just started taking a class again and I forgot how much I loved it. 

    • I have a list of things to bake tomorrow- since there isn’t school then either.
      I’m really liking Zumba. I was taking classes regularly a few years ago but got out of the habit. I really like the xbox game and how it keeps track of what I’ve done and calories burned.

  21. We have year round school and although I love my kids, three weeks off in the dead of winter SUCKS! And the worst is that the junior high and the preschool are on different schedules so it isn’t even like we can take a vacation or do anything fun. We just have to kill time all day until it is time to pick up the other kids. Those Moms that lament their kids going back to school make me crazy. 

    • One of the elementary schools around here went year round this past year. I thought about sending my older two, but realized they would be on a different schedule from my youngest and that they’d be on different schedules again once my oldest moved on to middle school.

    • Yes! It’s dangerous to go anywhere at all, so we are most definitely stuck inside! Today, we have freezing rain, so I can’t even send the boys outside.

  23. This is a great post! I have been loving the snow days with my son mostly because I don’t have to bundle up my twins and take them out of the house, ha! But we are definitely off our routine and I hate that his year keeps being extended. 

    • I remember feeling some relief when my oldest’s preschool would be canceled. I had a 2 year old and a 6 month old that I had to bundle up in winter, just to go the 15 second drive to preschool(yes, I timed it- and in warmer weather, we walked it).

  24. School is closed for us tomorrow. Hopefully we get enough snow for sledding. We used a rubbermaid bin top one year and duct taped a jump rope to it. I never thought to use the riding lawn mower, although we didn’t have it that year we did get snow. Thanks for the idea!!

    • We have off today, too. And the rest of the week isn’t looking promising.

      We have absolutely no hills anywhere around here, not even the tiniest little slope, so we used the riding lawn mower. The boys thought it was hilarious. One of mine fell out of the container but still held onto the rope and went around the yard on his belly… and his younger brother sat on him like he was the sled. LMAO

  25. Same here….snow day after snow day, after snow day. We have had a lot of 2 hour delays as well though. I love having little man home with me, but it does totally mess up their schedules. We have been doing a lot of baking, eating, and just being lazy in general. 

    • The first couple were nice- a novelty to have the break in routine. But it’s looking like we won’t have school for the rest of the week- that’s just too much!

  26. I wasn’t working from home or anything when my kids were in school, so I was all about the kids. I LOVED when they had snow days, holidays, in service days all of that. I really didn’t want to share them with the world, quite frankly. lol

    • I understand. When we had our first few this year, I was excited to have them home. I really wasn’t ready for Christmas break to end this year(maybe b/c I was sick for half of it). But at this point- we’ve missed something like 14 days. And it doesn’t look like we’ll go to school for the rest of the week.

    • 😉 One of my boys was watching Zumba and he asked “Why are them shaking them butts all the time?” and another said “ew, that’s so gross! That shirt shows her belly!” Kids!

    • Spring really does need to get here! We have yet another day off today and the rest of the week isn’t looking promising.

  31. I love this! I don’t have a child in school, but I have witnessed the judging from other people toward moms that do not like snow days. It does throw off a lot of schedules, routines, etc. It also makes it harder to stick to the school’s “learning calendar.” It makes it harder for the children that were struggling with a subject pre-snow day to retain the information that they just learned. Snow days can really stink! 

    • I think the teachers are having a really hard time with it. We have school and then the kids unexpectedly have 6 days off in a row, go for two, then have three off, etc. It makes it really hard for them to get through the material.

  32. Totally agree. As soon as I get that call from the school I know I can chalk up whatever plans I had. Can’t work. Can’t run errands. Nothing. My teen doesn’t care so much, but the four year old – wow. He goes nuts when he has to stay inside. No fun at all.

    • A day or two isn’t bad, but this is getting ridiculous. It’s freezing rain today(another no school day) and I can’t even send them outside to play!

  33. I’m the weird one here – I’ve never seen snow! Sledding sounds like SO much fun though… I can imagine too much of one thing isn’t good though.

  34. I love snow days and the kids being able to stay home. The school system has been letting me down and I’d rather have them safely home and in my care. : )

  35. some moms just are bored and fb creates drama and something for them to do. No mom wants to be with their kid 100% of the time…we all need time apart, even the parent can get on a kids nerves I think.

  36. I’m so over snow days too! But I love my kiddo and I love spending time with her. The occasional snow day/mental health day is great. Weeks of them? No thank you. 

  37. To many snow days can definitely be a pain. After all our work doesnt stop for the snow. But we get some few of them in GA, I am trying my best to enjoy them.

  38. We have a lot of snow and I’m tired of it. Another one is coming soon so I ‘ll have to hunker down… My kids are older now but we found things to do like you.

  41. What’s a snow day? Is it like a tropical storm or hurricane day? Just kidding. My boys are so upset that they can’t see any snow. If they realized that children got out of school because of it, I don’ know if the world could survive.

  43. Thank you for saying this!  I love my kids dearly, but even they’re tired of all the snow days!  We thrive on routine at our house and we’ve had none!  My teenagers hate not being able to see their friends and the extra days of school during the warm days of spring are not making any of us happy!

  44. I agree with you I’m getting sick of these snow days, although for different reasons. I moved to SC to avoid the snow and ice, not to have MORE of them jeez. And you’re lucky that you got snow, we were in the part of the state that got the ice and lost power for DAYS.

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