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Excuse your child's absence with the right dates and no extra details

Practice: Setting limits and rules. About 5 minutes.

About this exercise

You need to email the school attendance office about your son's absence. Keep it under 60 words, plain text: his full name, grade, homeroom and the corrected absence dates in the first sentence, the reason as just "sick" with no symptoms, then your phone number as the last line. Don't ask the office about makeup work; that goes to teachers. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 60 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Cap each part instead: "3 sentences, each under 18 words, then the phone line."
  • Burying the key facts. The AI opens with "I hope you're well" and scatters the name and dates. Try: Add: "First sentence: full name, grade, homeroom, dates absent."
  • Using all three days. Your notes list Wednesday before you crossed it out. Try: Add: "Only Mon Nov 3 and Tue Nov 4 (Wednesday was a tardy)."
  • Oversharing. The AI adds the symptoms to sound thorough. Try: Add: "Reason: sick. No symptoms."
  • Mixing in other questions. The AI asks the office about the science quiz, which teachers handle. Try: Add: "Don't ask about makeup work. End with my phone number."
  • Ignoring where it will be pasted. AI loves bold and headings, which show up as stray ** and # symbols in the email. Try: Name the place and the format: "For the email. Plain text, no bold or headings."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Puts key facts first
  • Uses the right dates
  • Keeps it private
  • Ends with your phone
  • Sets a word limit

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