To think parents are not teaching any independence?

I assumed it was 24 hour clock time- my teens knew about this as their alarm clocks were 24 hour ones but it's not impossible an older teen would need reminding once about it.

I'd assume column on a normal timetable with other times in would indicate it was a time and prod memory but may depend on how information was being presented to said teens. The bus apps we have do tend to present the data very differently to a traditional timetable in columns - more like train apps - next time and route number at that stop in list that clickable through for more information - so could be less clear what it meant.

Route numbers I know tend to be shorter or be mix of letters and numbers.

Do 😄

Other memorable posts were from parents complaining that they weren't allowed to use the student union bar whilst waiting for their kid to finish a lecture.

One who was driving their kid to lectures everyday and wondered where they could wait for them. Was there somewhere on campus where parents could wait for ther children to finish a lecture.

One who posted to say that they were driving to the university every other weekend to clean their kids bedroom in the shared halls flat and did anyone want her to help clean their kids room/do their laundry while she was there (no kidding!)

Oh and one parents who (reasonably) posted because the mother of another student in her daughter's flat hadn't gone home after dropping her off and was sleeping in her daughter's room on the floor! I think she stayed there for a week.

You couldn't make it up 😄

What does it mean? Sorry! Is it a time? So 19.47?

All children are different. They are not flawed for liking their own house better than anyone elses. My youngest was like that so we had every sleepover here. I would be more worried if he had wanted to "stay away" longer.

Yep, nepotism has always been with us.

Well my kids peers were some of the ones in that category - they've all headed off to uni with no issue or gone into workplace or college course with no issue. Many drive or get around on public transport for jobs. They seem perfectly normal adults TBH.

Ones not at uni and one without housing as part of job do tend to still be living at home in very early 20s - IL complain about that but that's a product of high rents and house prices rather than any desire to stay in parental houses from what I see.

There were life skills I didn't pick up till uni - I'd hope we'd better prepared our kids - plus tech means they are in touch with us mates and siblings very quickly and easily to ask questions these days and internte easier to access via phones than when I was there - had to get to a computer in library.

Would the phones be taken away when someone gives birth?

Just wondered about people without children 🤷‍♀️

A colleague’s NT 14 (nearly 15) goes to the childminder with 10yr old sister. Mine were getting the bus at 11 and staying home alone for a few hours.

Smartphone free childhood doesn't go far enough it should be smart phone free families.

Editing to say So many parents waste family time away doom scrolling. There is evidence carers speak fewer words to babies since smart phones.

DS is autistic and got on the wrong bus from an after school club once. He ended up in a town 14 miles away. If he hadn't had a phone god knows what would have happened as there were no buses at that time coming back.

I'm all for no phones in school time, but I would have wanted him to have a phone for the bus journey home from secondary school. He lives away from home, is doing a degree and working so perfectly independent.

Independence, confidence and resilience come from feeling secure and supported. People really seem to struggle to understand that.

Tend to find it's not the children that NEED the phone to travel to/from school, it is the parents that are insisting they need to be contactable. I'm not sure at what age these children, if ever, will be ready for independence.

What about in a secondary school with1200 pupils? Would it seem a difficult system then?

At school? OMG 😬

I'd struggle to pick an ideal age for free Internet access tbh, it would be difficult. Some people could behave with the Internet, some could not.

My DD's school has a really good system where lots of things are flagged and if you search you can't get access / a notification gets sent to the office and they'll come and get the child to explain 😅

Thank you, I had a gash on my arm and the back of my head but came out lightly compared to what it could of been.

I agree, things were bad even back then, you just didn't hear as much about it. My sister was attacked in the same area ( years apart ) at the park by a group of teens. She was hurt far more than I was. She didn't look like her when she came home. Luckily someone rang the police and the police came and helped. Coincidently enough, one of the officers lived down the road from us and was my friends dad

Oh God, I'm so sorry that happened to your DD. That's horrible, I hope she recovered from it,

My DD thinks I'm tight because I won't let her go to our local park with her friends. But I know from what happened to my sister... and Sophie Lancaster ( my childhood hometown/ I went to school with some of the boys who did it ) that parks are also a prime area for attacks

I suppose i was more meaning at the point of purchase, rather than replacing. If everything was not smart phones dependent (bus passes, food and school apps) im not sure most parents really would not buy smartphones as I think they'd still want the other features for out of school.

I dont think reading this phones and independence skills arent very linked.

Just some families allow a lot of social media time and others dont and banning phones from school won't change that.

Ah fair enough then. Not sure I fully agree with 18, but I can definitely see the argument for it.

Looks like 1 in 5 homes have only a phone to access the internet.

Parents have always helped their kids find work, it's weird you would think jobs haven't always been found through networks. This is just a different medium for asking the same question as has always been asked.

I’m glad you were ok.

I think people live with their heads in the sand about the past sometimes, it wasn’t that great. There was no social media and the local news wouldn’t be interested in a group of teenagers beating up another teenager so this shit stayed where it was, people didn’t talk about it, but now people do and sadly there have been many stories about Good Samaritans being killed which also makes people stop.

When my DD was in year6 she ran into oncoming traffic after getting upset by some bullies at the park. She was just getting use to going out on her own and with friends. She was hit by a car, luckily she wasn’t seriously injured but having her phone meant one of the adult who ran to her help could call me as she was in no state to give them information.

6% is no access to the internet. It's a lot more without a 'computer'. It is common for the phone to be the only device.

My daughter teaches ALevels at a local college. Students (more than one) aged 17 could not understand a bus timetable and asked what 1947 meant.

My 8yo (year 4) has just been in her first school residential she couldn’t wait to go along with every child in her class (year 3/4 kids). DD can’t wait to go on another residential in year 5 as she gets to stay away longer. Most of the kids have been on multiple residential with cubs/brownies etc..

This. Children/teens ought to be able to get a bus etc. without a phone (unless bus passes are only digital) but schools shouldn't ban them from having phones on their journeys because there are many many reasons why having their phone with them would be important as they go other places that straight home.

At my DD's school at the start of each lesson they all put their phones in a tray on the teacher's desk and get them back again at the end of the lesson so there's no using phones during lessons (or if they go to the loo during a lesson) but they still have them before and after school (and during breaks, though I'm less keen on that)

I worded that badly ..... no free unlimited access to the Internet like they do now, where they can access things they shouldn't.