To think that kids on a residential should be allowed a couple of phone calls

I’m strongly in the no camp.

Why did parents refuse to let their DC go? Why did they think there was a risk of SA? Have they never allowed their DC go on a residential @ftmni

OP, what if you spoke to her and she became emotional hearing your voice? It would make you both upset.

I think there will always be anxious parents, and those that don’t send their children (potentially for their own benefit rather than the child’s)

Having a phone wouldn’t stop these parents worrying. It would probably make it worse.

If there was an emergency they’d call me, otherwise I assume everyone is having a great time. Absolutely no need for a phone (our Y5s don’t have phones, it’s rare until 13+ at our school)

Disagree. It's good for them to be independent. Indeed this is the point.

My friend let her son hide his phone so he could text her. All was well until the 2nd night when he called her late at night homesick & let his friend also call his mum crying & homesick (I'm guessing he remembered his home number). This was about midnight! My friend had to get the teachers to go into the boy's room & 'settle' them. This is why they are not allowed phones at school camp!

Anyone remember this song? Kids are so fickle!!

Hello mother, hello father
Here I am at Camp Granada
Camp is very entertaining
And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining

I went hiking with Joe Spivey
He developed poison ivy
You remember Lennard Skinard
He got ptomain poisoning last night after dinner

All the counselors hate the waiters
And the lake has alligators
And the head coach wants no sissies
So he reads to us from something called 'Ulysses'

No, I don't want this should scare ya
But my bunkmate has malaria
You remember Jeffrey Hardy
They're about to organize a searching party

Take me home, oh mother, father
Take me home, I hate Granada
Don't leave me out in the forest
Where I might get eaten by a bear
Take me home, I promise I will not make noise
Or mess the house with other boys
Oh, please don't make me stay
I've been here one whole day

Dearest father, darling mother
How's my precious little brother
Let me come home if you miss me
I would even let Aunt Bertha hug and kiss me

Wait a minute, it stopped hailing
Guys are swimming, guys are sailing
Playing baseball, gee that's better
Mother, father, kindly disregard this letter

I remember when my DD was on yr 6 residential, they didn’t have phones (well she didn’t have a phone then) but they put pictures on twitter.
There were none of her for ages, then the first was she was in she looked miserable.
When she got home, and I asked her about it, she said she was ‘looking moody’ on purpose!
If she’d have been able to call home, I know I’d have been going ‘but are you ok? Really? Because you looked sad’ until she questioned herself!
Residentials are hard, thankless tasks for teachers and school staff. The addition of phone calls at that age would honestly be a dealbreaker I think.

No I don’t think they should be allowed. My DS is going this week and he needs some independence away from us for a few days.
I remember phoning home on one residential I was on and my mother, in her infinite wisdom, decided to tell me about my younger sister having some condition or other.. it turned out to be something quite minor and she grew out of it, but I spent the whole week thinking my sister was going to die!!

I know not everyone is as stupid as my mother but still, I definitely agree with no phones. They can manage a few days without speaking to me.

I can imagine the children of those parents having anxiety later in life. Children can't be wrapped in cotton wool forever.

No no no.

our school did this once when I was younger, then all my mates sharing my room were crying wishing they were back home with their mums and dads. School never allowed phone calls again

This, a million times over.

Don't fall into the trap OP that having a phone replaces teaching a child basic ways to keep themselves safe.

YABU.

I've just been on a Y7 residential and the no phones rule was amazing. They had FUN. They TALKED to each other.

Only 2 out of 100 kids needed parents to be called. One due to being very homesick (autustic) and the other for a medical reason.

No parents sent messages.

@ftmni the kids are fine. I think it's the parents that can't cope!

i have been on more residential trips than I can count. Absolutely phone calls make homesickness worse in many children.

I have never heard of anyone not going on a trip because of SA concerns - when the biggest risk of SA for a child is within their own family. They really need to give their heads a wobble and remove their kids from that school if thats the case!

Absolutely agree with everyone else no to mobiles! There is no need to call parents while the kids are aware having an amazing time!

No - don’t agree with phones on primary residentials (and lived through it). Also experienced a Y7 residential for 2 nights and they didn’t want to bring a phone. Told me loads of people spent hours on there sending unnecessary photos that could have been shared later.

I had to collect early due to sickness. Guess what - the teachers called me. Old school I know.

And I could tell you about my (last) residential, that I remember vividly. I won't though as it would probably give OP even more anxiety or even nightmares.

Not everyone was fine and some of us have reasons to be anxious and neurotic.

Whatever SA means, I feel sad for the DC of the mums you’ve been talking with OP. These women are doing their DC no favours and it sounds almost as if they are implicitly boasting about being Good Mums. I find them the opposite (unless the DC have SEN issues affecting participation with the trip)

No need at all! My Y5 DC is just back from a two night residential and the kids were all fine and had a blast! The mums were the only ones stressing... but the school were great at sharing pics regularly and keeping us updated.

@OhmygodDont I would hate that, even if I understand how manic and busy these trips are.

Some days there were so many pics it felt like I spent the day with her. A very happy neurotic mum.

Basically, do you want your child getting changed in a room where immature children have devices that can take photos and instantly send them across the internet when they are all too young to understand the risks?

A kid in our year at school in the 80s got mercilessly teased on our five-day geography field trip when, on day three, a letter arrived from his mum.

The last sleepover I let ds have was just after the “all getting smartphones” age in year 6. It was a nightmare. Taking photos of each other asleep, texting girls at 1am etc.

I fully support school trips, camps etc being phone free. I do make sure ds knows how to use a pay phone (rare to find, I know) and keeps a card with my mobile phone number on it.

You really need to get over this. Your anxiety will not help your child to flourish.

It would take a long time though to let each child call their parents, 5 mins x 30 kids and thats hours and hours just spent standing around waiting for children to finish when they could be off having fun.