Experienced Bad Mom

Not Just a Bad Mom, But an Experienced Bad Mom

Steps for Sending Your Teen on a School Trip

By

Loyal readers may remember my son and I went on a school trip to Toronto a couple years ago.

It was fun being a chaperone, but not SO FUN that I decided I would do it again this year when his 8th grade class went to Washington, DC for four days and three nights.

After all, it’s a lot farther from metro Detroit to DC than it is to Toronto. And, I’m not any shorter than I was two years ago. (Hello, no leg room on the bus!) I’m also two years older and crankier.

So I decided to skip this one.

But that didn’t mean I couldn’t do my best to prepare my thirteen-year-old for his trip to Washington, DC. That’s right, here are the super fantastic steps I followed to send my teen on his overnight school trip:Steps for sending your teen on a school trip

  • Email parent volunteer a question.
  • Make list of things to pack.
  • Go over list with teen.
  • Pray for teen’s trip.
  • Make another list, categorized by carry on and checked baggage.
  • Email parent volunteer another question.
  • Check off items on list.
  • Realize I checked off items on an old list.
  • Try to find revised list.
  • Give up, make new list.
  • Consider putting list in teen’s backpack for reference during trip.
  • Remember teen could care less about my list.
  • Buy air freshener for the shared bathroom on trip and feel like a good mom for thinking of that one.
  • Pack air freshener in a plastic bag to protect against leaks in luggage, and feel like a good mom for thinking of that one.
  • Instruct him that he and his buddies are NOT to have an air freshener fight in their hotel room.
  • Nag teen to pack.
  • Double check packing.
  • Get money for him to use on trip.
  • Get more money for trip. Just in case.
  • Pray some more for teen’s trip.
  • Realize I do not have ALL answers for every minute of his trip and every hypothetical scenario of trip.
  • Pray some more for teen’s trip.
  • Have “Make good choices” talk with teen.
  • Buy snacks for trip.
  • Revise snacks. Some don’t mix well with moving buses full of smelly teens.
  • Double Triple check what we packed, my list(s), emails I’ve sent to the parent volunteer, snack situation, and drink some wine (me, not him).
  • Drop him off for trip.
  • Pray some more for teen’s school trip.
  • Let him go.
  • Let him go.Steps for sending your teen on a school trip

What did I miss? Moms of older kids, did I get this right?

Note: I wrote this before he left. I’m happy to report he returned safe, sound, happy–and exhausted!

Another note: I’m pleased to share that a piece I wrote earlier this year about my daughter is running on Mamalode. It’s a piece from the heart about feminism and raising girls. I’m grateful for any visits and shares, thanks!

Comments

  1. I’m glad he survived and you survived the lists. I need to write a children’s poem about the never ending lists in our heads to survive the day. #GlobalBlogging

  3. That’s about right. Though I like to toss in at least one night of agonizing over every terrible thing that happened when I went on school trips, as well as every stunt any kid pulled on said trips. When my teen went to DC I pondered my choice of getting my cartilage pierced at a mall in DC on my school trip. Then I remembered the group of kids who brought alcohol by ‘repurposing’ contact solution bottles into vodka containers. Finally I just glare at my kid hoping they don’t have friends who think of this crap! #MMBH

    • Oh my gosh, yes! Happy to know I’m on the right track–and thinking the same thoughts–as other moms of teens. Contact solution bottles into vodka containers?!? WHAAAAT?! #MMBH

  4. this might be the most realistic list I’ve ever come across on a parenting blog! The only thing I would add is to make sure they pack double the amount of socks and underwear and remind them 15 times to change their socks and underwear! #teenstweensbeyond

    • Yes, they can never have too many pairs of socks and underwear! I think the chaperones were grilled on telling the kids to change them, too. The school sent about 3 reminders just on that topic, too.

      #teenstweensbeyond

  5. I love this! It’s so true! Coincidentally both my 13yo son and 11yo daughter go on a residential school trip on the same day next month. I recognise the endless list making, the careful monitoring of their packing and the instructions about exactly how to behave etc. My boys always completely forget to actually change their clothes, particularly their underwear! Sometimes they genuinely believe they have changed it, when they clearly haven’t!
    But they come home happy and in one piece and that’s all that matters, right?
    Sarah MumofThree World recently posted…Talking to my daughter about pubertyMy Profile

    • Ha ha ha! What is it about the boys and underwear? The school send home about 3 different reminders to pack–and change–underwear.

  6. Ok you did ask … I would add a concern that the packed items actually return home. And no. The concern over items returning home doesn’t end when they graduate. My son was 18 and working as a swim coach for the summer. The swimmers had an outdoor sleepover on the pool grounds and naturally he slept in a tent. Well he stayed overnight. Not sure if he slept. Anywho, he returned home with only one shoe of his good pair of shoes. Of course one takes ones best shoes to a sleepover. He asked all of his swimmers if they knew what happened to his shoe. Nobody confessed. He checked the pool’s lost and found. No shoe. I phoned the city’s recreational lost and found. No shoe. He left for university and about six months later when I was tossing the dust about in his room, I pitched the remaining shoe. No point in keeping it. What did he find the very next summer tucked up in the bottom of his sleeping bag? Uh huh.
    kelly L McKenzie recently posted…Our 94 Year-Old Goes Home To HonoluluMy Profile

  7. Oh wow this is brilliant. My 15 year old is off on a skiing trip next year and this will be me! Thanks so much for sharing with us at #TweensTeensBeyond

  8. Brilliant. Love the bit about the air freshener, that so won’t have been used for what it was intended! Deodorant anyone? I’m laughing but I had a total packing freak on my daughters first brownie trip. I think the case came back exactly as it went. Bless her, I don’t think she changed for 3 days. We have had a few more successful ones since. I’ll use your list next time! Lovely to have you at #tweensteensbeyond

  12. I think you made the right decision, all those teenagers on a bus… Could get a little smelly 🙂 I say that because my 2 little ones already stink out the house!!! These are great tips. I am sure I would be a nervous wreck!! #globalblogging

  13. Katy I have lost count of the number of trips I have packed for over the years. It is a bit of standing joke in our house that when they go away I have to take them through the contents of their bag in detail to ensure they know exactly what they are going with and where it is in the bag. I will never forget sending my daughter on a trip to Scotland which included climbing a mountain and camping out overnight. I bought her the recommended outdoor trousers as they were not allowed to wear jeans and because she couldn’t remember where in the bag they were, she told her teacher she didn’t have any and wore jeans which of course in the rain were hopeless. I was incandescent when she came back! So now if they moan at me I just roll my eyes and say “remember Scotland?!!” I have also learnt over the years that they love these trips and come back brimming with confidence which is just wonderful! Thanks for joining us . #TweensTeensBeyond

    • I’m picturing Mel Gibson as Braveheart belting out, “Remember Scotland!” LOL. My son loved his trip…and I missed him! #tweensteensbeyond

  14. Haha! I sent my eighth grader last year alone on a cross country trip for 4 days! Eeek. It was a little nerve wracking, but she is a smart girl and handled herself well. I am glad your son had fun. This year when school starts back up it’s my sons turn to travel solo…..
    Jen recently posted…The Happy Now Blog Link- Up #58My Profile

Happy Now

JENerally Informed