AIBU to think a three-hour sports day is too long?

[DriveVerySlowlyPastNumber23IWantThemToSeeMyHat]

AIBU to think a whole school 3 hour sports day is ridiculous?
11am - 2pm.
A range of activities.
DD is in Reception.

What’s ridiculous about it?

Omg

Give over.

It's fine. They have to get all the events in for all the different year groups.

Don't go if you don't want to!

They'll a break for lunch

They might only take reception out for part of it

Speak to the teacher.

Sounds short to me - when I was at school, sports day was a full day affair (as in 9.30-3.30).

At my school it's the whole day with KS2 in the morning and KS1 in the afternoon.

Sounds quite normal

Edit - just seen it’s the whole school so quite short really

It's the fact that yet again, working parents have to struggle to get the time off! Time off they actually need to use for childcare in the holidays!

Not really. It's what my kids were doing 25 years ago and they enjoyed it.

The parents made an afternoon of it and as long as the weather was nice it was fun. I remember it being cancelled at least once and cut short another time due to bad weather. The kids weren't running or doing strenuous exercise constantly for 3 hours but having fun.

School isn't childcare though

My parents never attended a sports day - you don’t have to go 🤷‍♀️

Pretty normal I think!
Ours have always been a full morning/afternoon

I hate this attitude.

Let's lock kids away in school and not let any parent watch their sports day/Nativity because some parents make decisions that mean they can't be there, so let's stop everyone.

I think I went once. Didn't really miss out on anything. Friends would send a photo or two. There's no rule that says you need to go.

Teacher here. It’s totally normal timing. Sadly, we are unable to do sports day in the evening.

My friend never made it to a sports day. I cheered on her children.

Also every teacher at that school doesn't make it to their child's sports day if they work full time and their child is at another school. Even if they work part time, that sports day for their own child would have to fall outside of their working days.

What about your Dp/Dh any other family member going instead?

Lots of parents are in the same position as you. Can you work flexibly at all around things like this?

Sports DAY. Seems short to me.

You're not making sense. If it's only three hours long that's not really a sports 'day'. Isn't that easier than having to take a whole day off?

Also, at my school, sports day is for the kids. Parents aren't expected to attend.

They're doing activities for the full 3 hours on a carousel. 10 minutes on one activity, move to the next.

I wouldn't mind if it was the morning or afternoon. It's the fact it's in the middle of the day.

No they don’t. It’s lovely to be able to go to these things, but the reality is that most parents can’t (or don’t want) to go.

Your child won’t be the only one whose parents aren’t there. Explain why you can’t be there and do something nice after school to celebrate their achievement.

It is an awkward time to be fair, you could feed that back to the school and say it would be much easier for working parents if it started/finished at lunchtime. I (or DH) usually take half a day annual leave for ours

Dont go then its not mandatory. Plenty of parents cant get the time off work. Its not the end of the world

If parents are free they can go, if they are at work and can’t get time off/ need to save leave for holidays- they don’t go. It’s not really a big deal. Not all parents go to sports days. Just tell your little one you are working.

The kids are expected to go home a 2pm. If I start work at 9, there's no point me going in for an hour, to leave and go to Sports Day.

That requires a full day taking off.

Ours is about the same. Races in morning then you come back after lunch to see potted sports and baton relay and then it’s home time.

So what do you want the school to do ?