Originally Posted by sharlan:
IMHO, yes, it would be wrong to make the child sit out because the parent didn't pay.
I would text the parent the night before reminding them. I would say something like - Don't forget, tomorrow is water park day, the fee is $1 and I'm sure Susie would like to join the others.
I rarely charge the parents for field trips. I did have one parent offer to pay for the whale watching tour on Monday, but he's the only one that has to pay. The others are free.
I hate it, but it has to be done sometimes.
We have 25 2-5 year olds, who all participate in basically the same field trips/activities. We try to pick activities that are free, but hey, some of them aren't.
We had about half not pay for the last field trip we took on Thursday. We absorbed the costs for the non-payers for the first two pay-for activities this summer, and we decided we couldn't keep doing it. And it wasn't fair to the other families who did pay, and it wasn't fair to cancel it.
So the ten or so kids whose parents just refuse to pay, they had to stay back. It was just a regular day for them. I felt bad, and I did tell the kids who did go to keep the convo's about to themselves.
But if some parents can scrape up the money for their kid to enjoy the summer, then the rest of them can. Even if they said "hey, I can only afford to pay half the activity fee" that's okay. But to just assume that someone else is going to pay for your kid is wrong, and to just not care if your kid has to sit out all the time is worse. Mind you these are all state-pay families, with no copay.
I'm sorry but this really bothers me.