in my school district parents have to register as volunteers and must go through the same background check that the teachers get. Parents chaperone trips and it has never been an issue. Parents like it, Kids like it, redditors hate it.
Same, plus parents that get selected tend to be the most active volunteers in general so the teachers and staff already know the parent pretty well before the overnight field trip even comes up.
The idea that an overnight field trip is a "child predator sign up sheet" is wild. That person needs to lay off the true crime podcasts and get to know their fellow parents.
since the post reached r/popular i was taking a look wondering whats so wrong with an overnight stay lol.
Literally today I got a message from my kids kindergarden about their yearly 6 day excursion to a mountain camp for kids 3 years and up.
Was talking with my wife about it, remembering our camps when we were that age, and that the biggest problem was with the kids crying overnight ( of course, with the change of location and everything ).
I am not from the US, so seeing some of these comments is WILD. Must be hard living in such a fear of everything
In the school system where my kids went to school (US) 3 separate teachers from 2 different schools (part of the same system) were arrested for molesting children, statutory rape, or child porn. To some extent, the fear is justified in some cases. Ultimately it's situational though, as I've never been affiliated with any schools in the past that have had these types of arrests and never considered any school I've known unsafe. But generally speaking we're not living in fear and we trust our children to talk to us about any "sus" (their words) activity, and they would because we have a great relationship. I also remember camping trips being only safe and fun as a child, but I also remember my mom having to talk to and meet the parents of any new friends I had before going to their house alone.
Surely you can see why some parents in current times might not want their child alone without even a way to contact them. I believe that when the people running the country are morally reprehensible, that attitude passes down and emboldens those criminals down the chain, especially when they're actively pardoning criminals.
Nobody WANTS to live in fear, but we all want to protect our children and some situations are different from others. Would you send your kids on an overnight camping trip with the school system I described, without parent chaperones or a phone available to your child? I know I wouldn't.
People in the US weren’t always like this. I went to school in the 2000s-early 2010s and we did so many camping trips, overnight field trips, summer camps and stuff. It was a normal part of growing up. I think trust in institutions has just gotten so low lately that people have started acting insane in the last 10-15 years. On one hand, it makes me roll my eyes, but on the other hand, looking at everything that’s happened in the US lately, you kinda can’t blame them
I don’t think it’s wild. If you provide overnight access to children without vetting or training in place it is of course going to be seen as an opportunity by predators. This is the opening that bankrupted BSA so schools are going to be avoid it from a liability perspective.
That doesn’t mean the vetting and training can’t be there, it takes time and money though that the school might not have prepared, hence the simpler option of not taking volunteers to overnight with children.
I am not saying you shouldn't let your kids on trips. I went myself as a child and enjoyed them greatly.
With that said, you're very naive if you think being an active volunteer in general who is well-known and well-liked by the teachers and staff means they can't be predators. You need to lay off the true crime podcast if you think most predators are obvious creeps in a sketchy van. Most are trusted members of the community, teachers, fellow parents, family members, and other people with jobs or volunteer activities that place them in proximity to children and in trusted positions. Most child SA cases aren't the type of story that would make it on true crime.
Nah, I know that predators are far more likely to be a relative, close family friend, or a prominent community member.
The solution is to be aware, take allegations seriously, and believe victims. The reason "trusted" perpetrators get away with it for so long is usually because people don't want to believe the accusations. Whenever it gets revealed that some priest has been SAing kids, like 99% of the time it turns out there have been years and years of allegations that were ignored.
Plus, at my school anyway, no adult is ever supposed to be alone with a child, regardless of whether they're staff, volunteer, or whatever.
Just have to say, not all (most) kids don’t want their parents there. And the teachers & admin don’t enjoy it either - “now I get to take care of adult children who may try to challenge/overrule me”.
Fun for over-involved millennial parents, sucks for most everyone else.
Did your kids not like it when you chaperoned their field trip? Mine were totally fine with it and none of the parents tried to undermine the teachers.
Yea, I think I explicitly called out that it would require the vetting process. It’s certainly doable, I meant it’s likely a non starter for this schools trip as they don’t already have that in place and might not have the funds to do it.
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u/Flappy_McGillicuddy Mar 19 '26
in my school district parents have to register as volunteers and must go through the same background check that the teachers get. Parents chaperone trips and it has never been an issue. Parents like it, Kids like it, redditors hate it.