School groups

[pageta]

I was reminded once again this morning that if you are a school group, you don't have to share with anyone else. Playground, sidewalk, museum - doesn't matter. You take over wherever it is that you are and everyone else can just wait. It doesn't matter if everyone else shares those same things with other people every day. You just tell them that you're a "school group" and apparently that excuses you from having any manners whatsoever.

 

Am I the only one who finds this irritating?

 

I get so tired of going to do things we enjoy doing on a regular basis only to find out it's been taken over by some "school group" that's essentially taken over the place for the day. Yes, those children should be able to enjoy these things, too, but that doesn't mean they have the right to take it over and exclude everyone else. They just don't seem to understand sharing something with people they don't know.

 

Today it was the sidewalk at the park. It's extra wide, and we share it with other people every day - younger, older, faster, slower. But today there was a school group they and they took the whole sidewalk and acted like everyone else should just take the grass. If anyone else acted like that, it would be considered rude. But when we tried to go by them, they acted like we were being unreasonable and told us that they are a school group as though apparently that excuses their behavior. We weren't asking for the entire sidewalk - just enough for us to go by them single file while they continued to walk three-abreast.

 

This time of year is great for trips to the zoo and such, but I hesitate because it is also the time of year that we've made such trips only to have to deal with all these school groups who are having their "fun day" or whatever. It's one thing to try and keep a group together - I understand that. But they just walk around as though they're the only ones there and everyone else can just move out of their way. They're just so rude, it just ruins the whole experience.

 

Other people want to walk from exhibit to exhibit, too - you don't own the entire sidewalk. They just don't get it. They think that other people should just stand and wait for them to go by. And the adults say nothing. Kids out with their moms get regular instruction on waiting your turn, staying on your side so others can go by. But adults with the school groups seem totally oblivious to practicing good manners, especially to anyone outside of their group.

 

Sorry, stepping off soapbox now...

[shinyhappypeople]

:grouphug:

 

How frustrating!

[Jan in SC]

I've seen some of this, but usually it's younger children that have been placed somewhere and told not to move.

 

We have more issues with the "young at heart" groups. I'm always disappointed to see big church vans at museums and restaurants.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

We were visiting a French WWI fort a few years ago when the kids were early elementary age. When I bought our tickets, I got a lecture from the ticket seller about there being a school group visiting and how we needed to make sure our kids didn't interupt them.

 

As if. They were a bunch of teens, who couldn't be bothered to even look around them at the rooms they were going through, let alone read any of the signs posted or stand where they could hear their guide/teacher.

 

My kids were interested and had lots of questions about the fort and the long, major and devastating battle fought there.

 

Since then I've seen it over and over. School groups not only barge through museums but tend to race through them, filling out whatever little handout they have, without really looking at the exhibit around them.

 

I tell my kids that if a school group comes through, they need to not get mixed in with them and swept away, but that if they will wait a couple minutes, the group will go on to the next room and leave us in peace.

 

FWIW, in a situation like the op described, I wouldn't hesitate to mention to the group leader that they were making it difficult for others to walk on the sidewalk. I'd do it in a low voice in passing. But I wouldn't feel like their being a group meant I had to suffer in silence.

[joannqn]

This time of year is great for trips to the zoo and such, but I hesitate because it is also the time of year that we've made such trips only to have to deal with all these school groups who are having their "fun day" or whatever. It's one thing to try and keep a group together - I understand that. But they just walk around as though they're the only ones there and everyone else can just move out of their way. They're just so rude, it just ruins the whole experience.

 

 

 

I try to avoid field trip venues during the end of the school year. It just isn't worth going, especially if you have to pay admission. I've seen groups of school children at these places not let anyone else have a turn at exhibits (ie. science centers), and I've had another parent recount how one of the chaperones physically remove a nonschool child from an exhibit where you sit down and it draws your aged self before the drawing was complete so her group could do it. It's horrid. Even without the rotten behavior, it place is so crowded it isn't fun.

 

I tried to visit an ancient Egypt exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry a couple of weeks ago with my kids. I thought it was too early, still, for school groups. It was so crowded we really didn't get to do anything. We ended up leaving. It's 2 1/2 hours away so it isn't like we can just go back whenever we want. By the time field trip season is over and we can take the drive again, the exhibit will be gone.

[ravinlunachick]

We have a membership to our local Children's Museum, but generally only go in the late afternoon because there's no point in showing up when everything is mobbed by school groups. Same thing for the zoo. It can be frustrating, that's for sure.

[twoforjoy]

We have a science center membership, and if we go one day and it's full of school groups, we'll usually head home and plan to make the trip another day. We live very close by (about 2 miles), so it's just not worth dealing with the crowds and the frustration, especially given that we can go over there pretty much any time we want, but most of the kids on the field trips are probably there for the first time and won't be back again for a while, if they go back at all.

[Punchie]

We experienced this at the zoo recently. There is a playground area specifically for littles. DD4 loves playgrounds and made a beeline for it. Unfortunately, there was a group of school kids who were beyond the height limit (posted in multiple places) playing very "energetically" on the equipment w/o any regard for the little kids the equipment was geared for. Their chaperones just stood around chatting w/each other, generally ignoring the mayhem their kids were causing. I let DD play for a only a short while before I reached the point of opening my mouth and saying something generally rude to the oblivious chaperones.

 

The only well-behaved school group we saw that day was a group of about 8 preschool kids. I'm assuming they weren't K'ers as DD towered over several of the kids.

[Hen]

yes, agreed.

 

we live near a children's science museum, I have learned to show up after lunch so that the hordes of school kids will have been taken outside for lunch and then get on the buses to leave.

 

There is a park next to the Science center that my kids like to go to, but time after time we find 100's of school kids, often 2 or 3 different school groups there. The playground has 4 swings, lets see...50 kids and my 4... my kids won't get to play. I tried going after lunch, but sometimes they are still there.

 

One year, we were run off this public park next to the Science center, so we went to the very small neighborhood park in our housing tract...a private school showed up, we left. I was pretty mad that day, because the day before we had been at another public park and a big group of daycare kids showed up and took over.

 

I get a bit steamed that the public can't use the public park because either public schools show up for lunch for a field trip, or summer/holiday daycamps don't have playgrounds of their own and so go to the park everyday. Yes, end of school year is not a fun time for field-trip places.:glare:

[Hankins3]

This soooo drives me crazy! I think that it also has a lot to do with how the group leaders lead, as well as how young people are being taught to treat others these days. It just seems as though kindness and manners are not things that a lot of people are teaching at home, and we certainly cannot depend on the ps to teach it!

 

We work really hard to teach our son the importance of these things, and we get compliments in public... people are actually shocked that he will say yes ma'am, or open a door for a lady, or stand aside and let someone enter before him. Of course, he has his moments. LOL But I find it so sad that it is so uncommon that people act so shocked and come to tell us how rare it is that they experience a child with manners.

[happi duck]

We were visiting a French WWI fort a few years ago when the kids were early elementary age. When I bought our tickets, I got a lecture from the ticket seller about there being a school group visiting and how we needed to make sure our kids didn't interupt them.

 

As if. They were a bunch of teens, who couldn't be bothered to even look around them at the rooms they were going through, let alone read any of the signs posted or stand where they could hear their guide/teacher.

 

My kids were interested and had lots of questions about the fort and the long, major and devastating battle fought there.

 

Since then I've seen it over and over. School groups not only barge through museums but tend to race through them, filling out whatever little handout they have, without really looking at the exhibit around them.

 

I tell my kids that if a school group comes through, they need to not get mixed in with them and swept away, but that if they will wait a couple minutes, the group will go on to the next room and leave us in peace.

 

FWIW, in a situation like the op described, I wouldn't hesitate to mention to the group leader that they were making it difficult for others to walk on the sidewalk. I'd do it in a low voice in passing. But I wouldn't feel like their being a group meant I had to suffer in silence.

 

:iagree:

[sarahbobeara]

This happened to us a few weeks ago! We tried to go bowling, of all things, and the employee wouldn't let us bowl since they were expecting a group of school kids. There were over 100 kids due in half an hour, but wouldn't let us bowl on ONE lane, even for one game. And yes, 100 kids in one bowling alley is a lot, but allowing us just one game would have been really fun for my kids too. *pout*

 

We've lived here for almost 3 years and this was the first time we'd even been inside this alley. I was so surprised that the whole place was reserved...there certainly were no signs on the front door letting bowlers know that there would be no open bowling. Not only do I not want to go back and try again, but now I've figured it up and with no coupons we could easily spend $50 on 2 games of bowling for the 4 of us. Just for bowling. (That's another thing that blows my mind, when did bowling get so pricey??!?!?!)

 

Regarding the sharing the sidewalk, I find that to be just common RUDENESS, in all ages, these days. I sound like a grouchy old lady but common courtesy seems to have disappeared with the invention of the cell phone.

 

Ok, rant over.

For now.

[Hyzenthlay in Pa.]

FYI-I've found you can go to the zoo and museums during early September and have the place to yourself. The vacation crowds are back home and the schools haven't had time to get their permission slips back for a trip.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

This happened to us a few weeks ago! We tried to go bowling, of all things, and the employee wouldn't let us bowl since they were expecting a group of school kids. There were over 100 kids due in half an hour, but wouldn't let us bowl on ONE lane, even for one game. And yes, 100 kids in one bowling alley is a lot, but allowing us just one game would have been really fun for my kids too. *pout*

 

We've lived here for almost 3 years and this was the first time we'd even been inside this alley. I was so surprised that the whole place was reserved...there certainly were no signs on the front door letting bowlers know that there would be no open bowling. Not only do I not want to go back and try again, but now I've figured it up and with no coupons we could easily spend $50 on 2 games of bowling for the 4 of us. Just for bowling. (That's another thing that blows my mind, when did bowling get so pricey??!?!?!)

 

Regarding the sharing the sidewalk, I find that to be just common RUDENESS, in all ages, these days. I sound like a grouchy old lady but common courtesy seems to have disappeared with the invention of the cell phone.

 

Ok, rant over.

For now.

 

Watch for specials over the summer. The lanes near my MIL have free bowling for kids during the summer.

 

From what I've seen, bowling alley's are closing and aren't overrun with customers during non-league times.

 

(Maybe the school group had rented all of the lanes ahead of time. The day camps in our area used to rent about half the lanes every day during the summer.)

[twoxcell]

They are learning to socialize:lol:!

[Ellyndria]

We went to a children's museum last week. We went once earlier in the year and it was very tranquil and not busy. I forgot that this was the time of year for field trips. We got there not long after it opened, but there was already a large group of 5th graders (I know because it said so on their shirts) there and they were everywhere. They were loud, and took over almost everything, even though most of the exhibits were more appropriate for younger kids. Luckily, that group left after lunch, and while there was still another school group there, they were younger, there weren't as many of them, and they were quieter. Lesson learned! (Go at a different time of year.)

[Belacqua]

 

I tried to visit an ancient Egypt exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry a couple of weeks ago with my kids. I thought it was too early, still, for school groups. It was so crowded we really didn't get to do anything. We ended up leaving. It's 2 1/2 hours away so it isn't like we can just go back whenever we want. By the time field trip season is over and we can take the drive again, the exhibit will be gone.

 

Oh, I feel your pain. OMSI is awful this time of year. When I was buying my membership, I was chatting with the admissions person and she confided that it's horrible from mid-April until schools let out mid-June.

 

And Sebastian gives good advice about reminding our kids not to get swept up in The Group. My friend had a dreadful experience at the park once when she dressed her three boys in bright yellow shirts so she could keep track of them. Of course, an enormous school group showed up and everybody was in bright yellow shirts. My pal spent the entire time preventing teachers and chaperones from trying to round up her children and make them follow the group.

[dirty ethel rackham]

We made the mistake of going to a science museum on a school field trip day. The kids were animals rushing to touch everything, but not actually interacting with any of the exhibits. My then 5yo daughter was shoved so hard by a kid flying through an exhibit that she landed 5 feet from her flip-flops that were still where she was standing. Not one adult said a thing (except for me, of course.) We decided it was lunch time. While we were eating, I overheard a couple twentysomethings complaining about these kids manners. I was so happy that they all left after lunch and we had the museum to ourselves. We decided that if we can't do a field trip in September that we would go in the afternoons when all those kids had to be back on the bus.

[QueenCat]

And Sebastian gives good advice about reminding our kids not to get swept up in The Group. My friend had a dreadful experience at the park once when she dressed her three boys in bright yellow shirts so she could keep track of them. Of course, an enormous school group showed up and everybody was in bright yellow shirts. My pal spent the entire time preventing teachers and chaperones from trying to round up her children and make them follow the group.

 

YIKES!!! That couldn't have been fun!

[Photo Ninja]

While the school children should be using good manners themselves, they are allowed to exercise poor behavior by the adult chaperones. If the chaperones require and enforce proper behavior (waiting their turn, sharing, etc.) then the school children are more likely to behave. I have noticed that children usually do what is expected and allowed. If chaperones allow them to run through the museum room, they will. If chaperones allow them to push to the front of the exhibit without waiting their turn, they will.

 

We were at a theme park one spring, enjoying a wonderful day. There were many school groups there as well. While standing in line for a ride, my dc (preschool - 2nd grade) were pushed out of line as a group of six school children pushed their way to the front. They got off the ride, my dc continued to wait in line, and these children ran back into line and pushed to the front again! I was shocked. Their chaperone was standing there, watching and laughing. The third time it happened (yes, third) my oldest tried to stop the group from passing by and the school boys pushed him and yelled at him to get out of their way because they wanted to ride again.

 

I had had enough by then and asked the chaperone why she was allowing the children to skip to the front of the line like that. She laughed and said, "Well, what can you do? They're just kids having fun away from school." I told her that my children are kids just trying to have fun, too, and but they are waiting their turn like they are supposed to. She said that she didn't really want to be there chaperoning, but had to put in her volunteer hours, and that the kids won't listen to her anyway.

 

I was disgusted and called to the ride operator and asked what the theme park's policy was on people who push to the front of the line without waiting their turn. He said that they can kick them out of the park. I asked him if he would please call whoever needed to take that action because these six children had pushed to the front of the line several times and there were other children in line who wanted to ride. He made them get off the ride. The chaperone got angry and yelled about how people are rude and won't allow children to have fun on their days out of school. (Ironic, right?) In this case, the fault lies with the ride operator as well, because he allowed it to happen, until I commented. Since we had already had some bad experiences with other children from that private school earlier, we avoided the rides with children from this school the rest of the day (they were all wearing school t-shirts for identification).

 

Museums, zoos, etc. are usually nice after about 2:00 because the school kids leave then. And it is usually true that if you go to a corner of a museum room and wait it out, the school groups leave in a few minutes because the kids often don't do much more than rush through.

[Virg]

I tried to visit an ancient Egypt exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry a couple of weeks ago with my kids. I thought it was too early, still, for school groups. It was so crowded we really didn't get to do anything. We ended up leaving. It's 2 1/2 hours away so it isn't like we can just go back whenever we want. By the time field trip season is over and we can take the drive again, the exhibit will be gone.

 

Oh! I am sooo sorry, that exhibit is awesome too! My DC were so interested but the same thing happened to us, the school kids just filed by the mummy without even looking at it! I was horrified inside! My DC, on the other hand, I had to drag away from the poor lady who was answering the questions about the mummy. Luckily there was only a few groups so we were able to see it by just waiting patiently the whole time. It took us the whole day but I knew we wouldn't get a chance again. I have been there on a non-school day when we just left because it was crazy.

[Luckymama]

While the school children should be using good manners themselves, they are allowed to exercise poor behavior by the adult chaperones. If the chaperones require and enforce proper behavior (waiting their turn, sharing, etc.) then the school children are more likely to behave. I have noticed that children usually do what is expected and allowed. If chaperones allow them to run through the museum room, they will. If chaperones allow them to push to the front of the exhibit without waiting their turn, they will.

 

 

Yes, this, absolutely :iagree: Last Friday dd11, dh and I went to Hershey Park for the day (using month-of-May super-discounted homeschooling tickets). The first few hours it seemed like it was just us and a gazillion high school physics classes (most groups were wearing punny physics tshirts). The kids were uniformly polite even though they were going through the park in small groups without chaperones. After lunchtime, the park was flooded with middle school music groups (wearing identifying tshirts). Those kids were touring the park with great enthusiasm yet managed to retain their manners :001_smile:

 

Last spring dd's 4th grade class visited a nearby aquarium for a science field trip. Behavior expectations were addressed in the days before and right before exiting the bus. However, other groups seemed to have forgotten to have the same talks :rolleyes: with other children crowding out the hands-on exhibits.

[happyhomemaker25]

We usually school through the summer and then take September off. It's a bit cooler out and schools have just started back up so no field trips. We also take a week off in the spring when the local public schools are doing state tests. No field trips that week and we get to enjoy the nice spring weather.

My kids have seen such awful behavior from school kids when they were just trying to enjoy a day out that they groan and moan if we pull up anywhere and there are school buses.

We had school kids take pizza off of our kids plates at the pizza place, one of my kids was squased against the rail at the zoo by a horde of school kids pushing forward, we were asked by chaperones to leave a playground because there was just not enough room for my 5 kids and a group of school kids, we have been pushed away from exhibits by school kids, told that we could not enter a museum because there were to many kids there.. the list goes on. It's ridiculous.

Our favorite day is the first day of public school. We gather our homsechool friends and go to Chuck E. Cheese for the day. It's empty. :tongue_smilie:

[Farrar]

Having been on both sides of this as a teacher at a school that took a LOT of field trips and now as homeschooler... I dunno. They annoy me. I mean, I live in a city that's completely taken over by 8th graders on an extended school trip every spring:glare:. But... I mostly feel like they're just kids. It's fine. It's just something I have to deal with. And we go places with our homeschool groups pretty often, so I'm sure we create chaos too. Obviously, when they take over a space and don't let others use it, that's not appropriate. But I haven't really experienced that. Just annoying crowdedness. One thing I have seen is when at performances or workshops or things if the school groups arrive early they'll start the performance early and not wait for the individual ticket holders. And *that* does make me mad. I mean, what are we, chopped liver?

[TrixieB]

I've found that when we go to the museums, zoos, etc. on a school day, if we arrive around 2 PM the school groups are all getting back on their buses to go home, and we have the place pretty much to ourselves.

Edited May 18, 2011 by TrixieB

[Violet Crown]

Back when I was still pondering whether to homeschool or put dd#1 in Kindergarten, we were at the main city park when two buses from a local middle school pulled up. The kids spilled out and went screaming across the large play area, including into the "little kids" section where dd and some other tots were playing in the sandbox.

 

Before long, two of the girls started a (physical) fight, right there in the sand area, among the preschoolers! A ring of other middle schoolers immediately formed, egging them on. I dashed over and told them in my best Mean Mom way to get the heck away from the small children and what did they think they were doing anyway? They sneered at me and drifted away.

 

Then I immediately went over to one of the few adults who had arrived with the kids, and told him what had just happened. He gave me a pained look and said, "Oh relax. We'll be out of your way in a few minutes." Then went back to his Standing About Not Doing Anything, nowhere near any of the kids he was supposedly supervising.

 

One of the many little nudges toward homeschooling I received that year.

[Sasharowan]

I get a bit steamed that the public can't use the public park because either public schools show up for lunch for a field trip, or summer/holiday daycamps don't have playgrounds of their own and so go to the park everyday. Yes, end of school year is not a fun time for field-trip places.:glare:

:iagree: All the rec centers here run day camps during the summer for the school kids. If there is a park or playground attached, they take it over for their group and we have been requested to leave by the leader as it is "reserved" for the day camp. But if we reserve a pavilion for a party, we cannot take over the playground. :tongue_smilie:

[talexand]

I wonder if that was our group at OMSI a couple of weeks ago. My kids go to school half time and we took the entire 200 K-6 student population to OMSI. It was kind of a last science celebration for the kids' science-loving principal who is retiring.

 

We had 40 parent volunteers so we were in groups of 5. Each group went around separately so I hope we didn't overwhelm the other patrons. I actually had a great time. Everywhere I looked there were people I knew.

 

I do know what you mean though when we go to OMSI during homeschool time if I don't plan the timing around school groups. I had even worse luck over spring break. What a zoo!

[bairnmama]

We just experienced this last Friday as well. Our homeschool group's Sand Sculpture Day got rained out, so we decided to head to the aquarium with another family. When we got there, there were already 3 lower elementary groups lined up waiting to go in and at least 2 Jr High age groups. Inside it was even worse. We found at least 3 other school groups inside and the noise was deafening! Ds and his friend walked with their hands over their ears and we had to basically shout in each other's ears to be heard. This is NOT a large aquarium by any stretch of the imagination either. We gave up at the 3rd exhibit and went to a park instead despite the dark clouds and threat of rain. It was blissfully empty there!:D But, as we were leaving the aquarium, another 2 tour buses were pulling up to offload!

[Sun]

Back when I was still pondering whether to homeschool or put dd#1 in Kindergarten, we were at the main city park when two buses from a local middle school pulled up. The kids spilled out and went screaming across the large play area, including into the "little kids" section where dd and some other tots were playing in the sandbox.

 

Before long, two of the girls started a (physical) fight, right there in the sand area, among the preschoolers! A ring of other middle schoolers immediately formed, egging them on. I dashed over and told them in my best Mean Mom way to get the heck away from the small children and what did they think they were doing anyway? They sneered at me and drifted away.

 

Then I immediately went over to one of the few adults who had arrived with the kids, and told him what had just happened. He gave me a pained look and said, "Oh relax. We'll be out of your way in a few minutes." Then went back to his Standing About Not Doing Anything, nowhere near any of the kids he was supposedly supervising.

 

One of the many little nudges toward homeschooling I received that year.

 

Am I the only one who actually calls or emails the principal of a school when the kids and chaperones behave this egregiously?

[Holly]

I took my DC to a children's museum last week. I was expecting a nice, quiet day...there were eight school groups present. I didn't witness any horrible behavior (just lots of noise and chaos), but I don't expect much from a large group of kids. ;)

 

I did walk away feeling like it was a waste of $40, but my kids hada great time. :tongue_smilie:

[LinRTX]

School groups can be rude! I remember being at a children's science museum once with my 5yo and 1yo. It was quiet when we got there. My little one was learning to walk up stairs and so we were going slow. Next to the narrow set of stairs was a wide ramp to walk up. Most of the kids coming in from the buses were running up the ramp. A few wanted to get ahead and started running up the stairs. They came close to knocking my baby over. I stepped in front of them and said that my little one had as much right to be there as they did and they would have to wait patiently while she climbed the stairs or use the ramp. When the teacher said something about them staying together for the field trip, I think I just said they could all slow down so they could actually see the exhibit. I had paid to be there and most likely had paid part of their way also with my school taxes. All the children used the ramp that day. If we had not been on the stairs first I would have waited, but we were half way up and caught between a wall and a rail. I refused to be trampled!

[Jean in Newcastle]

This kind of behavior can be equally true with homeschool groups (there have been a number of threads about this over the years). Any group that does not use manners and allows rude behavior is out of line. Kids can learn to behave and still have fun.

[m0mmaBuck]

We have an annual pass to a nearby zoo and go at least once per month. The last time we went it just happened to be Earth Day and there were several school groups there. My 5yo was knocked down no less than 6 times by groups of slightly older children blasting by her on the way to exhibits. Oddly there never seemed to be any chaperones with a line of site on these kids. I would like to think that had a chaperone seen their behavior, it would have been addressed. I'm probably wrong.

[mom2scouts]

This is our first year homeschooling and we decided to start our year with a few field trips. I was thrilled when we went to a large city science museum and discovered that, other than a few other homeschooling families and grandparents with preschoolers, we were the only ones there. We went to the second floor and we were the ONLY ones in the entire second floor exhibit area. We got to explore and discuss the exhibits unlike our two previous visits, one on a busy Saturday and another on our spring break when another school group was visiting.