School Trips: My Fears 

I was prompted to write this post when I heard on the news today of a school mini-bus having an accident with a lorry and unfortunately a fourteen year old schoolgirl died with a number of injuries. I know this is rare and thankfully it doesn’t happen often, but it’s my greatest fear about school trips.

I have often wondered if I am the only person who gets paranoid when their children go on a school trip for the day.

Last Thursday my five year old twins went on their summer trip to a local beach about 12 miles from our home city. My fear of something happening while they are away from us is sometimes hard to bear.

In fact, the night before the trip, just before I went to sleep I broke out in a sweat with total worry, thinking I hope they will be ok. Deep down I know they will be fine and obviously the teachers are all trained to look after children and I totally trust them to do that, and I know they will look after my little twin girls as if they were their own, but OMG, I still get parnoid.

So on the morning of the trip I must have said to the girls a hundred times. Do as you are told, stay close to the teachers, don’t wander off, don’t talk to anybody you don’t know, the list was endless! In fact the girls may be only five, but I’m sure I was getting eye rolls from them.

I had to leave for work and as I was going R repeated back to me everything that I had said to them. She didn’t see my face, but it gave me a smile of satisfaction, she had been listening! YAY!

Of course I know I can’t stop them going because that would be unfair as all their friends are going on the trip. Strangely I’m like this with my older children and actually they have grown up and if they go on holidays I usually give them a list of instructions, I must drive them mad, haha!

So thankfully I was in work all day. I say thankfully because it didn’t stop me thinking if they were ok.

When they are in school away from us I’m fine with it because it’s like a bubble. Nobody is allowed in without authorisation and it’s a completly safe environment which suits me. It’s just when you take them out the school I think of all the possibles that could happen. Is this a fear I have because of the very unsettled world we live in? Most likely.

When my children go on a school trip, I have to take a leap of faith and put my trust in coach drivers, teachers and quite often parents. Who are there to help. Obviously I know they have the best interests of children at heart. It just doesn’t sit well with me. I can’t begin to imagine what the parents of that 14 year old schoolgirl are going though, and if I’m honest I never want to find out. My heart goes out to them. 

School trips are something that I could happily see as a thing of the past! Is that going to happen? Not a chance! So I need to overcome my fears.

I would love to know what you think of school trips. Do they worry you?