“You’re there to help, not to socialize.” Make a master list of students and cellphone numbers. “Make sure you get a list of responsibilities from the teacher in charge,” suggests Sarah Merrifield, a mom of two from Chesley, Ont. If they do, try to get it done sooner rather than later criminal record checks can take anywhere from two days to several weeks to process, depending on whether the RCMP, local police service or a third party needs to research your history. Before you head bravely into the world of field trip volunteering, here’s what you need to know.Įvery school board has its own policies, so check with your child’s teacher or principal to make sure they don’t require volunteers to get a police check. I also consulted our amazing Today’s Parent Facebook community and my teacher friends for advice from the trenches. (Ouch.) While it may sound like an experience I survived rather than enjoyed, in the end I was so glad I made the time to go, because being a field trip volunteer makes for amazing memories. This year, I learned that you shouldn’t go out celebrating a work success with your colleagues the night before, and if you do, you should limit those celebrations when you’re chaperoning the next day. It goes without saying that I learn something new about field trips each time I volunteer. It felt like a family outing, but with more yelling and frequent head counts. My husband led our son and another first-grader, while I tended to our daughter, Lucy, and two of her kindergarten pals. What it's like to be a parent on a field trip (in GIFs) Last spring, Jan and I both tagged along to the zoo with the entire school - aboutģ00 kids. My first thought? Thank goodness I didn’t chaperone that one.Īs a working parent, I have learned to let go of the guilt on the days when I drop my kids off and wave to some other field trip volunteer, who looks at me snidely as I sneak away, BlackBerry in hand. But I have promised my kids that I will go on one field trip a year, which I take a vacation day for. But even he walked in shaking his head, lugging pumpkins, legs covered in mud up to his knees. With his level of patience, he should have been a teacher. My husband, Jan, is self-employed and has a flexible work schedule, so he’s a seasoned field trip volunteer. It becomes his favourite shtick, repeated for months after. Then they brought another bus to pull it out, and the bumper fell off the first bus… And then on the way back we got lost!” Nate’s laughing so hard he’s in tears now, busting a gut over a story that could not possibly fit on this page, with all its comic nuances. “The bus got stuck in the mud! And Dad and all the parents tried to push it out, but it wouldn’t move. “Mom! Mom! You’ll never believe what happened on the field trip.” My son, Nate, rushes in after what should have been a fairly uneventful trip to the pumpkin patch.

Chaperone field trip