Do you agree with me or parent and child?

She doesn’t take medication she doesn’t go.

Totally unfair to the other kids and adults who have to deal with it.

Gerty has a choice: she takes her medication and goes on the trip, or refuses her medication and does not go, as her action impacts on other people.

If it is a school trip and part of the curriculum, I am not sure where you stand, (depriving child of educational opportunity) but possibly get parent to sign a disclaimer and agree to take responsibility for any damage caused.

Have to ask……is Getty’s mother going to pay the coach company charge for cleaning up a soiled seat?

Posted too soon……..it would have been the fact that Gerty thought it was funny that would annoy me! And if dearest mummy knew what would happen why didn’t she send a bowl, wipes, bottle of water etc to minimise the mess!?!?

Insist ‘Gertys’ Mum goes too so she can clean up the inevitable mess.

What has the world come to?! This reminds me of the time I was on a road trip with friends years ago and a child vomited, car sick. At the comfort break stop the child wanted a strawberry milkshake, mother said Yes, a chorus of the rest of us cried No!

No meds, no trip in future.

I remember school trips my children went on and there were always plastic lidded buckets taken on the bus/coach.
If parents know their child suffers from travel sickness then they should be given a tablet. Gerty's mother should have explained to her that it's not fair on others if she is sick on the coach and she has to take her travel pill or forfeit the trip.

The best solution would be for Gerty’s mum to tell Gerty that if she doesn’t take the anti sick pill she is not going. That isn’t going to happen however. Does Gerty get to choose everything in life? Does she choose to come to school or not? Mum must take responsibility and it is mum who should be told Gerty will not be allowed on school trips unless she takes the medication.

tanith

Insist ‘Gertys’ Mum goes too so she can clean up the inevitable mess.

Best advice !

It wasn't a school trip but a youth organisation. We had buckets, etc, not enough for one per passenger, spread around the coach. Mother wasn't particularly concerned when she picked Gerty up.

I think you know the answer! Yes taking the tablets etc is the only way Gerty should be allowed if there is a next time.
Her mum should come too though she sounds very stupid and not someone you'd want on a coach trip.

Kwells are very easy to take and you can get children's ones.

But this business of asking infants to make a choice when their experience of life is so short, sounds like utter nonsense to me!

I had 4 kids and not much spare cash so I can't remember offering them many choices.

tanith

Insist ‘Gertys’ Mum goes too so she can clean up the inevitable mess.

Or ask Gerty's mummy to please drive her separately (and take her home again afterwards).

If she is unable to travel without being sick I think you should be able to provide her with a "suitable alternative activity" to be done at school or at home.

I would be very upset for the other children with vomit over them.

It should have been part of the risk assessment.

Yes. That's true.
But a risk assessment is only as good as the information given to the person doing the assessment.

It sounds to me as though nothing was said about this ahead of the day.

Perhaps a bucket on her knee at the start of the trip might have been a good idea, just to be “on the safe side”? 🪣

She might have opted for the medication instead…

A chorus of her classmates yelling "dirty gerty" might discourage her.

Grammaretto

I think you know the answer! Yes taking the tablets etc is the only way Gerty should be allowed if there is a next time.
Her mum should come too though she sounds very stupid and not someone you'd want on a coach trip.

Mum should also sit next to her with a bucket on her lap and copious wet wipes!

I agree with everyone else, if the mother wants her child to make a choice, give her one, she either takes the meds or doesn’t go on the trip. Other children didn’t choose to be covered in vomit.
This isn’t about giving a child a choice is about allowing a child to do as she pleases and taking away the choices of others to enjoy a coach trip.
If you do this another time be sure to tell the mother that because of the previous trip her child should either take the meds or unfortunately cannot go on the trip.

I would want to see the child take the medication and if I didn't, I wouldn't allow her to go.

How b8zarre that a mother wpuld not be bothered about her child goingbthrough the mess and distress of vomiting. Not to mention mouthfull of sick and risk of inhalation. I would approach it as a safeguarding issue and see what she says.

If it’s a youth organisation is Gerty that young ?
Although you didn’t have enough buckets to go around surely after the conversation with her mum prior to getting on the coach she should have been priority to have one
However I would follow all the other posters in future no meds no trip another time

Am amazed that Gerty appeared not to mind being sick, one of life's more unpleasant experiences. A good thing that none of the other children didn't follow suit, given the pong in the bus. I agree - no medication, no trip.

tanith

Insist ‘Gertys’ Mum goes too so she can clean up the inevitable mess.

This would be my immediate response too, but I am not certain that my quondam headmistress would have approved it!

Is there any possibility of seating Gerty on her own, so she only vomits on hersefl the floor and the empty seat beside her? (Bad enough, but better than over other children).

Knowing today's parents and their dear, spoiled children, who are in no way responsible for their lack of upbringing, I very much doubt that whether you are a teacher taking a class on a trip, or a volunteer planning supervised events for children during the holidays, whilst parents are at work, that you can actually either demand a child takes medication, or ban the child from taking part.

This situation strikes me, a retired teacher, as a minefield, so before proclaiming ulitmatiums, check whether you can and may do so for your own sake.

I imagine your strongest allies are the parents of the children who were within Gerty's range.