Share your children's drawings of Thomas (or his friends) in places you'd like to visit after lockdown - £200 voucher to be won

[CeriMumsnet]

This discussion is now closed

Many of us will be dreaming of the places that we want to visit once lockdown is over, but for now our imaginations will have to do. The good news for parents is that fun indoor activities can be the perfect opportunity to teach our children the life skills they’ll need to enjoy our next family day out. Network Rail are encouraging families to continue conversations about rail safety this lockdown using their Stay Safe with Thomas e-resources. With this in mind, we would like you to ask your children to draw Thomas in the place they’d most like to visit after lockdown, and while you are thinking about train travel, to have a conversation with them about rail safety.

Here’s what Network Rail has to say: ^“Our research* tells us that only half of parents with young children talk to their children about rail safety, compared to road safety where almost all parents have discussed it. We know that it can be a difficult subject to bring up with young children, which is why we have produced the Stay Safe With Thomas book as it allows parents to have that conversation in a gentle way. Parents can download a free copy by visiting //networkrail.co.uk/Thomas.”^

So, do your children have a favourite or dream holiday location they can’t wait to visit, or would it be a simple trip to a friend’s house? Whatever the location we want to see your children's drawings of Thomas (or his friends) there. While they're creating their masterpiece, we'd like you to talk to them about rail safety (you can download the ebook here for inspiration)!

To enter the prize draw, share a photo of your child's drawing on the thread below, and tell us how your conversation about rail safety went. Was it a useful discussion? How did you feel discussing rail safety with your children?

All who share a photo of their children’s drawing and let us know how their conversation about rail safety went on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list), plus one MNer will win a bundle of Thomas toys worth £100.

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

Insight T&Cs apply

*Research conducted by Mumsnet in April 2020 amongst 611 parents with at least one child aged 3 to 6.

[alwaysataldi]

My DD cannot wait to to their grandparents house - which they love - she drew the journey there.
I have spoken about rail safety, due to your previous posts on this topic, when we have travelled by rail pre lockdown - staying close to mum, how dangerous tracks can be, level crossing awareness, and minding the gap between train and track when boarding and dismounting.
thanks for raising again - and I do feel it is important to keep awareness and a level which is based on their age and proximity to a railway.

[lovemyflipflops]

We used to go by train to see GP's in Cumbria, it's a wonderful journey and we miss it.
I have had several conversations with DS1 and 2 about being on the train, not running, keeping together, how level crossings work - and what happens when procedures are not followed.
I tell them to lock to door when going to the toilet, and not to let anyone in, (we cannot all fit in some of the tiny cubicles) other larger ones we will all go together.

[lovemyflipflops]

forgot the picture

[lillypopdaisyduke]

My DS 1 and 2, 11 and 14 love train travel, and steam trains especially, we have had a chat about how to behave on and around a train, the dangers of tracks - if you drop something - don't even think about going to collect it, the necessary 'mind the gap' talk, and how level crossings work, if the barriers are down and you don't hear or see anything coming - it's almost certainly on its way.
The took everything in (we had a similar chat last year when MN raised this topic last year.
I asked DS2 for a drawing -

[mummyuk86]

Here's is my 4 year old sons picture of Thomas at the seaside. He can't wait to get to the seaside for an ice-cream himself post lockdown.
Our discussion about rail safety went well. There's an manual railway crossing (controlled by a traffic light system) near his Grandparents house so we spoke about the importance of only crossing when the light is green.

[Asuwere]

Although we have discussed it, general rail safety is a bit of an abstract concept to my DC as we rarely use trains. We do sometimes use a level crossing when walking my parent's dog so we discuss safety around that every time we use it.
DD would love to go to our local trampoline park as soon as it reopens :)

[munchbunch12]

DD drew a picture of James visiting London, where you can see Big Ben, the London Eye and trees in the parks. DS drew a picture of Thomas taking the Eurostar route to France, under the channel.

Regarding rail safety, we do live near a railway line and pre-Covid used the train quite regularly, talking about safety near the edge of the platform, the doors etc each time, so this was more of a refresher and reminder not to walk on the tracks even if their friends suggest it to them whem they are older.

[munchbunch12]

Ooops, I did upload the pics before, don't know why they're not visible!

[munchbunch12]

Aaaargh, they were, but have only just appeared!! I need some It lessons from my 6 yo!

[doctorboo]

My boys (5,7 and 9) answered:

• never go on the rails because the live one will kill you
• stay away from the yellow line on the platform until the train has stopped
• do not cross a level crossing when the light is flashing and it’s making a noise
• do not throw things at trains
• mind the gap when you’re getting on and off a train
• do not play with the emergency buttons because you’ll get into trouble.

Rusty is going to Littlehampton beach to learn how to swim (9 year old has asd and struggling to learn), Thomas the tank is going to Lego Land specifically for the water rides and Toby is going to Chessington World of Adventure to see the zoo.

A good thing I’ve been working then!

[SUEJO]

brill comps for all kids.

[billybear]

alton towers or blackpool sea life centre is where my kids want to go once all back to normal

[NativityDreaming]

Well, my boys want to go to the seaside. They concede a track next to a beach like this is maybe not the safest!

They think crossings are important and that you never play on a track, always stop, look, listen and cross sensibly when safe to do so.

[ThisTime6088868]

So glad that I came across this post; I haven’t honestly had a really meaningful discussion with either of my children regarding rail safety. I do fall in to the category of talking about road safety and not nearly enough about rail safety! When I have spoken to them about it, it has been when we have been at the train station and it has felt rushed, almost panicked and with the utmost sense of urgency. Which, now I think about it, really probably has been counter productive.

I used the resources (website and e-book and video with joe) to guide our conversation and I felt they were really useful and ensured I covered the most important key points. It was good being able to do this in a relaxed way and I was particularly happy when my children asked questions throughout as I realised they were actually actively listening to me. They now understand how to behave around tracks and why. I am happy to report that the conversation went very well, I was able to convey very important safety information in an engaging way that I really feel landed with them thanks to the resources you provided.

[Mummybarnowl]

My little one loves trains and so was happy to talk through the Thomas book - a good way to introduce the safety topic without scaring her. It was helpful to have a resource to use as this helps it stick in the memory for the day when we are finally able to go out for a day trip on the train. We walked about staying away from the edge of platforms and being careful getting on and off the train. We used the pictures to spot things that could be dangerous.
My little one drew a picture of Thomas who she thinks would love to visit Holt station in Norfolk - this is where she wants to go after lockdown. Happy memories of holiday trips.

[Mummybarnowl]

Oops - forgot to post picture. My little one would love to visit Holt and thinks Thomas would like to go to the station there too. My summary of our rail safety conversation is in the original above.

[sallieb]

Daisy's holiday to mexico was cancelled last year,so that's where thomas is taking her

[sallieb]

forgot to say about our rail safety chat...Daisy remembers going on a train to London ( 2 years ago),and you are not allowed to stand near the edge of the platform.A good memory for a 5 year old

[PashleyB]

We did often get the tube, so it's been a good idea to refresh the safety conversation as it's been so long since being on a train. As others have said we often talk about road safety but less so about rail safety.

This is a picture of the trains in the Lake District that we are looking forward to visiting again

[Bubbles85]

This is my little one’s picture of Thomas at Furzy Gardens. A beautiful garden near to us that you can visit and search for fairy doors among the trees.

We spoke about rail safety and used the Stay Safe with Thomas book. My children loved the book and enjoyed learning about how to stay safe near the tracks. The book definitely helped me to discuss this with my child.

[quizqueen]

My 2 granddaughters drew these. The younger one (4) wants to go to Pepper Pig World at Paulton's Park and the older one (9) wants to go to Harry Potter World, as their pictures show. Where they go camping regularly in Swanage, they can wave to the passengers on the steam train, as it passes, from behind the safety of a gate in the field so they know never to go near the lines on the other side of the gate.

[chris8888]

We talk about rail safety usually when we are actually travelling they know to stay behind the yellow lines. Not to run about and play on the platforms and to be very carefull getting on and off the trains. They are a bit young yet for talks about level crossings but certainly will as they get older.
Alice wants go and see her granddad and go on a boat. We went on a boat trip last time we were on holiday. She likes seeing all the cows and sheep in the fields when we travel by train.

[pushchairprincess]

I think you need to discuss rail safety as soon as children understand, we discussed this whilst setting up the Brio on the 'road carpet' and set up our own level crossing, the car stopped and let the train past, and when it was safe to do so, our car brummed over the level crossing.
Learning through roll-play makes things more memorable, and realistic as to what can go wrong if you do no respect the level crossing.
We discussed not running along platforms, not going to the toilet without a grown-up watching the door, and the dangers of electrified tracks.
Here's our picture

[Hopezibah]

My daughter desperately wants to visit Scotland once it is safe to travel again and realistically, we would love to do a train trip up to get there as I think that would be amazing! So she has drawn Thomas along with the Scottish flag, a castle to represent Edinburgh castle and the loch ness monster! I also dream of visiting Fingal's Caves - that has to be one of nature's wonders - so beautiful!

When I think of rail safety, I always recall a visit we had when I was at school and how the man who gave the talk explained that we were all to take it seriously. The video showed a young lad who had lost the use of his legs after crossing and snagging his shoelace on the railway line. It was incredibly powerful and I have always remembered it. It shook me up a lot at the time and I explain about that story to my children when discussing rail safety. I'm glad there are a lot more age appropriate resources available too these days to help have those discussions and to know how important it is.

[EsmeeMerlin]

My son aged 7 drew a picture of him, his younger brother and my mum (nan-nan) at the zoo with Thomas. His younger brother loves animals and has never been to the zoo so we keep talking about going later in the year. They both really miss my mum and are very close to her so just want a day out with her again like they used to.

Being in London, we talk about staying behind the yellow line on the platform and also what to do if one of us do not get off the train with the others when it is busy. We also talk about railway crossings as there are railways crossings in some places we visit family.