This mom goes off about half-days at school, and many parents are here for it

I always find it endlessly interesting—and mildly frustrating—thinking about the things that brought us joy when we were kids, but turned out to be a real inconvenience for working parents. Snow days were great as a kid, but now, as I sit here and work while my son plays too much Nintendo Switch, it makes the workday tricky. Do I feel guilty for all the screentime? Absolutely. Is it a necessity so I can stop being the snack b—- and playmate and earn an income? Again, absolutely. Of course my son is thrilled with this predicament. What five year old doesn’t want to play Mario all day? But when kids are in school for just half a day? That makes things even more difficult, so I totally relate to this mom’s rant about half-days at school, and I bet you will, too.

After what appears to be school drop-off for her children, mom Jen Lottier makes a video in her car, venting and asking the questions we all have about the dreaded half-days at school. Lottier began, “Could we give a quick minute for f— half days? Why? Why are we doing this?”

Lottier continued, “By the time it takes me to drag my kids out of their bed and shove them out the door…” she couldn’t even finish her thought. Then she said her children’s school did this two days in a row. Two! And she logically asks why they couldn’t just do one full day off. “Who’s doing the math? What math are we doing here?” Lottier asked. “Is it the amount of hours in? Or the amount of days I have to drag my kids here? Because we know they’re not doing sh— for these two days, yet it’s causing me angina to get them out of the house…only to have to go pick up these a— within three hours,” she hollered. 

“What sh— can I get done in three hours?” she asked. “I can’t get nothin’ done! I’m circling my tail for at least an hour and a half at home.”

“That’s not a lie,” she whispered. Lottier then demanded, “Who can I talk to?” 

Several viewers shared solidarity with Lottier’s rant. Including a mom’s kids’ bus driver.

The mom shared, “Hahaha for real. The bus driver always says to me on half-days… see you in a few min. I’m like these half days are a joke and they get a lot now.” 

“Where I live every single Wednesday the elementary schools get out at 1p.m. It’s ridiculous. I loved it as a kid, but as a parent it’s the devil!” another mom lamented. “You can’t call them half days when they’re home at 11 freaking AM.” Can I get an amen?

Some folks tried to explain the reasoning for this seemingly frivolous endeavor. And it all has to do with funding, as it almost always does when it comes to the administration. 

One viewer said, “Honestly, it’s because kids only have to be at school until 12 to get the school paid. Two days means they don’t have to be made up for funding reasons.”

“The school gets credit if they are there for so many hours a day,” another viewer said. So half-day equals the school gets full credit,” they said.

And of course, there were the actual teachers who definitely did not like Lottier’s video, with one saying, “Tell me you know nothing about public education without telling me,” another teacher said, “Teacher here…going to just keep my comments to myself and keep scrolling.”

“You are so ignorant just to think that teachers are there so you can get ‘s— done.’ Pay for a babysitter or homeschool if you don’t like it,” another viewer commented. 

That’s way harsh, but possibly true? What do you think? Half-days are a necessary evil or not? You can always keep your kids home the entire day, but at what cost when you’re a working parent?