Can I take my child to Disney for vacation?

[CJane]

I am probably old enough to be your mother... LOL I turned 50 in July.

Close.

I was 33 in August.

 

[ezmarelda]

I was reading before pre-school at age 3 1/2. I expected my kids to be able to read prior to KG as well.

Me too

 

[Rushia]

I am probably old enough to be your mother... LOL I turned 50 in July.

Heehee! My mom turned 50 this past March.

 

[Bloopy]

Heh. And here's the reason I'm all twisted and crazy and dangerous... The very first non-school chapter book I ever read - in first grade, mind you - was Firestarter by Stephen King. I was 6 1/2.

We never took vacations during school either. We took them in the summer when vacations are supposed to be taken.

My foreign parents had no idea what a little girl should read. I always checked out books from the library and was a voracious reader. For my 10th birthday they decided to ask around and buy me my very own books… Along with Little Women were the incest collection of V.C. Andrews, and the literary genius of Danielle Steele. I had already read the Classics they chose but the others were a treat.

Despite their limits with English, they too insisted upon perfect attendance.

 

[CJane]

My foreign parents had no idea what a little girl should read. I always checked out books from the library and was a voracious reader. For my 10th birthday they decided to ask around and buy me my very own books… Along with Little Women were the incest collection of V.C. Andrews, and the literary genius of Danielle Steele. I had already read the Classics they chose but the others were a treat.

Despite their limits with English, they too insisted upon perfect attendance.

Bahahahahaha!

I started reading V.C. Andrews at about 11 or so... and Danielle Steele around the same time too. Thankfully I outgrew them because they're honestly terribly crappy authors.

 

[nextwife]

At 10 and 11, when everyone else was still reading kids chapter books, I was reading books like Gone With The Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird. I was in the 100 percentile always for reading.

Me too, only I read Gone With the Wind the first time at 9, not 10. And I often read in the car on the two day DRIVE down to Florida, while out of school. My sib has a Master's from an Ivy League college in CT, and got a partial scholarship to go there, and she was also taken out of school for family trips, so missing some school sure didn't hurt her career..

As long as it's not abused, it should be a parents decision.

 

[Bloopy]

Arguing about taking a week for Disney okay is moot.

- Disney is fun wonderful family time. Calling it “educational” is an act of marketing genius.
- It is possible to miss a week of school and not fall behind.
- The school already has said it would be fine. No new concepts will be introduced and the children may take their work with them.
- However, missing a week of school IMO teaches its okay to blow off school. A value I don’t want my kids to pick up on until college.

What killing me in this whole debacle is that Dad knows how mom is but went ahead with his plans anyway.

“My Ex will NOT, and I mean WILL NOT allow this vacation. I had to get an emergency court order to have my son at his half-sisters birthday party.”

“It is difficult for me to imagine him not going, and having to explain to him, why I took his half-sister to Disney & not him. I have not told him of the trip yet, just in case the ex flipps out and tries to ruin it. I also can not deny my 5 year old going to Disney b/c my ex is unreasonable.”

Clearly, he can totally image not taking him. As much as you can argue for Disney it is very reasonable to deny the child missing a week of school… and Mom doesn’t even need a “good” reason to deny. So Dad is totally cool with starting a huge fight over the Mouse. If mom “wins” then she’s a witch. If dad “wins” he’s a slacker who doesn’t care about the child’s education.

Either way the child loses. I guarantee that even if he does get to go he’ll still feel torn between his parents and a chunk of the joy of Disney is zapped.

I’m guessing it’s about pleasing the new wife, “I’m not going to let that B*tch of an Ex ruin…”

 

[Bloopy]

Bahahahahaha!

I started reading V.C. Andrews at about 11 or so... and Danielle Steele around the same time too. Thankfully I outgrew them because they're honestly terribly crappy authors.

Surely I lost a few IQ points, but what I gained in corruption… Yep it was a phase as they were total crap.

My parents are uber-Catholic and believe I had never seen a rated-R movie until after I was married. As for other before-marriage things… TMI, TMI

 

[CJane]

“My Ex will NOT, and I mean WILL NOT allow this vacation. I had to get an emergency court order to have my son at his half-sisters birthday party.”

This is actually my favorite part of OP's post.

An emergency order for a BIRTHDAY party? That's exactly the kind of thing that LMPS's mommy would do, and we'd laugh our a$$es off at her.

 

[tuffbrk]

An emergency order for a BIRTHDAY party?

I don't get the OP doing that at all - why not just have the party on the w/e the son is with you? Or better yet have a "just us" party with just the 1/2, SM and Dad?

Gotta have some $ to burn to be throwing it away on court costs for stuff like that...

 

[wileybunch]

I was reading before pre-school at age 3 1/2. I expected my kids to be able to read prior to KG as well.

My oldest was, my 2nd oldest almost was, and my youngest (twins) weren't, but once they did, they exploded. They also potty trained at vastly different rates. Go figure.

Hey OP -- if you can't take your kids, you can take my twins. They may even be on track break and wouldn't have to miss school.

 

[wileybunch]

What killing me in this whole debacle is that Dad knows how mom is but went ahead with his plans anyway.

I agree, that is a problem. You've laid it out in a way that finally clicked with me!

This is along the lines of the alienating things my husband's ex does to entice the kids away during his scheduled weekends and holidays. It's a no lose for everyone when a carrot is dangled that shouldn't have been dangled in the first place.

If you want to be able to do these vacations, I would ask for the change in the court order NOW to get those accommodations for the FUTURE, but I agree you shouldn't have dangled the carrot first and then tried to force fit everything.

 

[Bloopy]

you shouldn't have dangled the carrot first and then tried to force fit everything.

I'll give points to OP insofar as he hasn't told his son about the trip YET. The carrot has not been dangled yet. However, Son will find out.

Poor Daddy can't take his boy to Disney because of mean old Mommy.

Hey! He IS a Disney Land Dad.

The trip could have been scheduled during the summer when, along with long lines, he’d have leverage. Now mom clearly has leverage.

 

[LdiJ]

One thing that this thread demonstrates, is that a whole lot of educated, reasonable and fair people have many different attitudes about a particular situation. There was no bashing or flaming on this thread, and lots of well thought out responses.

Personally, I would never have planned a Disney type vacation during school time, but I don't particularly have a negative opinion against someone who does if their kids are doing well and the school is ok with it.

Like I said from the very beginning....its all going to boil down to what the judge thinks about something like this....and the only person who could predict what the local judge would think is a local attorney.

 

[stealth2]

Im on both sides of the fence here.

In CA, kindergarten is not mandatory, not sure about FL. But if so, I would find it hard for a judge to rule that the child couldnt miss school when kindergarten is not a mandatory grade (or whatever). It would be the same as him ruling that the child couldnt miss pre-school or day care. Same thing.

Totally moot as the K kid is not the one in question. It's the Gr 2 kid whose attendance is in dispute. And I do believe Gr 2 attendance IS mandatory.