Aussie mum says children should get ‘stress leave’

An Australian mum has called for children to have one day off school a fortnight as ‘stress leave’.

Early childhood educator and mother Clare Crew said it’s alright for children to miss a day of school every now and then, as much as one day a fortnight.

However, she said she wouldn’t advocate one day a fortnight for most families but more two to three days a term.

She believes children who are just starting at school or students who may be floating between mainstream and special education classes would be more inclined to take one day a fornight.

Sunrise commentator Ron Wilson said he “is against” having days off for this reason and that it “disrupts” the system.

“I think there is indeed an amount of comfort and security in structure and often at work you find people having a day off like ‘I’ll be at home if you need me’ and I think that’s disruptive to the workplace and I think this will be disruptive to the classroom,” he said.

“There’s enough disruption there already and I don’t see that this is going to help things for everyone at all.”

'Are they worried they don't have a good lunchbox?'

Susie O’Brien from the Herald Sun said she doesn’t think students “are as stressed as parents”.

“It used to be they went to school because it was a school day but now they’re so stressed because they don’t even know if they’re going to get a participation ribbon, and they’re worried they might get marked down because they didn’t have a good enough lunch box,” she said.

“I understand they are stressed but not as stressed as parents.”

Sunrise host Samantha Armytage agreed and said she feels it’s teaching children that “when the going gets tough, take a day off”.