I Miss Real Snow Days
When I was a kid there was actually such a thing as a snow day. It didn't happen often, southern New Brunswick isn't really known as a snow belt. We got our share of snow, but if anything ice was more likely to be an issue. In any case, once in a while everything would be cancelled due to weather. Buses, schools, and most work places. Everyone who could stay home without risking societal collapse got a bonus day off.
Now, I realize childhood memories are notoriously unreliable. Add to that the fact my parents were both teachers. If I had a snow day, so did they. There were probably more people trudging to work on those icy, blizzardy days than I was aware of. However, there have also been some changes over the years.
Around the time I started high school, the powers that be decided the bar for closing schools should be higher. There was still the safety issue of driving buses on icy roads, however. Their solution was to delay the morning bus to give the ploughs and salt trucks more time to clear the roads while keeping schools open.
So, to teachers with elementary-aged kids: "You need to be at school on time to meet the kids who walk or get dropped of by their parents, but your own kids won't be leaving the house on time." Fine if they taught at the same school their kids went to and could just pop everyone in the car and bring them along. Otherwise? Logistical nightmare.
Depending on the forecasted timing and severity of the weather, buses might be delayed one hour, two hours, or occasionally cancelled altogether (but school was still open). This was before the days of smart phones and social media to communicate with, by the way. These days came with a lot of confusion.
Fast forward a few decades. I live in a different province and my son is in elementary school. Since Kiddo started school there have only been one or two days when schools closed because of snow— plenty of closures for other reasons, though…but moving on. It also seems like nothing else closes due to weather either. Everything and everyone just carries on and hopes not to end up in the ditch. Buses are cancelled frequently. (Four times in the first two weeks after Christmas Break), but school stays open.
On one hand it's a good thing. Kiddo’s not old enough to spend a whole day home alone, and Hubby and I still need to go to work—after frantically checking our schedules to see who can get home early since no bus means no after-school care. But sometimes I feel bad Kiddo doesn't get to fully appreciate a true snow day. Hit pause for a day and just stay home. I feel bad I don’t get to do that either.
The snow is pretty, though. I wish it had been here for Christmas.
