Why I Am Not Going to Disney Social Media Moms Conference

It seemed so straightforward. The 5 of us would head to Disney for the Disney Social Media Moms Conference February 10-13. I would do the conference while Coach Dad took the kid, the preteen, and the teen around the parks. We would meet up at the events put on especially for families. I was looking forward to doing the parks with my family in the nonconference times. Oh and did I mention the conference fee included park passes and hotel accommodations on the Disney property at the Polynesian Resort. Magical. Wonderful. Disney! A dream come true for our family!

Except for one tiny, teeny, significant detail. My kids are all in school. The conference/trip would occur Wednesday through Saturday. How could I even consider pulling the kids out of school for 3 days? We’re in a school district where teachers will not give out the homework or classwork until after the child returns to school. My kids would have to carry binders and textbooks with them on the trip to keep up with their school assignments.

I have two middle schoolers who would miss so much work both in class and homework that as I type this my palms are getting clammy. Moms of middle schoolers will know what I’m talking about when I say that middle schoolers sometimes don’t know which way is up. I find myself doing alot of hand holding with my 6th grader. She does the work, but sometimes has a hazy concept of time management. I can just imagine the tears and tantrums when the kids realized just how much work needed to be made up. Middle school is SO different to elementary school.

Now the story is different for my 6-year-old. I would take him out of school in a heartbeat. He’s 6, in first grade, and really I could work with him on the trip to make sure he did not get behind. Flash cards for sight words on the plane. Math facts at the airport. He loves reading books, so I could pack a stack of books and magazines for him to read. The trip would be an education for him.

But, I cannot take one child out of school for a trip and not take all three. Can you imagine the reaction from my girls if the boy got to go to Disney!! Plus, my husband would miss work if we took the trip as a family or if I journeyed to WDW by myself. I’m the one home for school bus pickup and dropoff.

I toyed with the idea of going by myself, but the cost of the trip is too high for just one person. And the eyes. I could not deal with the 4 pairs of puppy dog eyes looking at me as I prepared to go to Disney without them. So sad. So miserable. So mad at Mommy for even considering going to the Greatest Place on Earth without them! Waahhhh. Cue tears. The Musings from Me kids like to be included in the fun and festivities. Period.

So, I’m not going. I watched the tweets on Tuesday and it seems as though everyone…and her mother…literally…is going to the Disney Social Media Moms Conference except for this mom. Waaahhhh!

I had to stand up and be a grownup. I had to look at my children’s schedule. Our family calendar. The kids’ sports commmitments — two play travel volleyball and one swims yearround. The cost of airfares for 5 of us. I had to say “No” to this fabulous trip as taking the kids out of school for 3 days during the school year is not an option for this family. Hard decisions.

This is one of the many times I wish I had started blogging back when my children were little. Twice we have taken a trip to Disney World…once with a 3 yo and 5yo and once with a 3 yo, 8 yo, and 10 yo. Both times the school-aged kids missed only one day of school as we travelled over holiday weekends in the fall. Although my 10 year-old missed so much on the day she was out. It took her a few days to complete all the missed classwork, homework, and the speech due the day she got back.

Disney… ResourcefulMommy … MomTalkRadio …. MomBloggersClub … 5MinutesforMom … Next time a Disney Social Media Moms Conference is in the works, would you consider scheduling the conference Friday through Sunday? This schedule change would be such a huge help to moms with older school-aged kids. Thank you!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 2:50 pm and is filed under Children, Coach Dad, Education, Entertainment, Family, Kids, Moms, Musings from Me, Musings on Family, Preteens, School, crafty daughter, family fun, holiday, holidays, preteen, vacation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.