DD school trip in 2 hours. Woke up to a lot of ranty msgs from another parent

[BackwardsGoing]

Who has just twigged that the kids are not allowed phones for their 2 nights 3 days away.

School has communicated this in emails, letters and F2F meetings for most of the year.

Ranty parent (RP) wants all parents to stand in solidarity against the no phone rule. This morning. While the kids are getting on the coach!

AIBU to say this is (a) bonkers (b) far too late and (c) bonkers.

BTW children are year 6 / 10-11 yo and the school has promised regular updates via Facebook.

I haven't seen any other direct replies, just "wtf" from other parents to me.

Approaching school, I can see her car...

We will naturally expect an update

I would have just put 'nah, I'm good thanks'.

Ridiculous woman. Why is sending a child on a trip away when she hasnt even bothered reading the letters?

There's always one.

The no phones thing is a sensible rule at that age otherwise you have small things being text home and blowing up when a simple 'speak to teacher' would have done and also it's really hard for kids to enjoy a bit of freedom if they've got a parent buzzing their phone every 15 minutes. Then add in that the children end up having a great time with each other and aren't glued to their phones and there's some poor worried parents at home feeling sick with worry because they haven't had a reply in 3 hours.

You'll probably find that most parents aren't interested in making a scene.

Bonkers!

Dd1 who is autistic went on a week trip to benmore with her P7 class (we’re in Scotland so equivelant to op child’s age) and she was fine without a phone.
I trusted the teachers to contact me if there was an issue. They put photos up on the school website and a daily blog.

Wonder if this mum will follow through with causing a scene this morning ?

I’m not sure why primary school kids need phones? Mine don’t have them and manage just fine. They walk to school without a phone! How terrible! I don’t know how they cope.

Bet she doesnt. A very most she will probably try and have a quiet and polite word with a teacher.

99% of the time, this type dont really go through with it though.

I hope she doesn't stir things up at the bus. It will upset all the other children. They need to be waved off by smiling happy parents

I would reply

Get a grip and fuck off.

......

I’ve got no time for idiots like that.

I used to go on school trips as a helper and the rule on day trips that each child bring no more than £5 to spend at the gift shop or for extra food/sweets etc.

One one trip one of the girls in my group showed me her little purse and her mother had given her a £50 note! People are dumb.

I have two pupils currently doing world challenge in Vietnam for a month (16year olds) who are not allowed their phones.

Absolutely bonkers. Fingers crossed there’s no scene at drop off

They walk to school without a phone! How terrible! I don’t know how they cope.

I am 37. I had a mobile for getting to a from school. So did a couple of my friends. Not many.

But it's not new.

Oddly my daughters secondary school, bans phones at all. In year 7 She was walking to meet me at my sons school down the road from her school and never showed up. I called her school and the first thing they asked is 'have you called her phone?'.

Obviously my answer was 'no because you dont let her have it'

She turned up, in my sins school receptions chatting to the staff. Could have killed her I was so relieved and she always has her phone with her now. Even at school where is banned. It's just turned off all day.

So if my son starts taking himself to primary, I would give him a phone. Unlikely as it's a 25 minute drive away now.

Bonkers. There’s always on parent isn’t there? The one that disagrees with a rule, I’m sure the child doesn’t even care if they have a phone or not?

My kids didn’t have phones until high school, they don’t need them.

Wonder what she'll do?!

Drop off complete. Mystery solved.

On the way to school I asked DD if any of the kids had talked about bringing their phones. There had been some chat about sneaking them but all kids decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Except one kid, RP's DS was adamant he was bringing his.

I am so not placemarking. Madness.

The first time DD2 was allowed to take her phone on a trip (year 7), she used it every night after lights out to send homesick messages. It was horrible. And actually, she wasn't all that homesick at all - just tired and emotional.

Two years on, she has admitted that this actually made her feel worse and it was better when they went on the next trip, where the venue had no mobile coverage.

Oh well. I'm quite sure his phone will enjoy a little holiday in the teacher's bag.

Sorry hit post accidentally.

So her insistence was driven by her DS who had apparently thrown a massive tantrum about the rule and she panicked.

This is not like her.

Anyway I caught the tail end of the HT having a kind but firm conv with said child ending with "you don't HAVE to go on this trip.

RP and RP's DH were agreeing with HT. RP wasn't making eye contact with the other parents so I didn't speak to her.

We're the mean kind of parents who haven't given our 11yo (yr6) DS a phone.
He has an iPad at home and can use that but we discussed it with him and we could see no reasonable reason for having a phone at this time. (They aren't allowed them in school or on school trips or scout trips)
We have said we will revisit in the holidays in preparation for secondary but again they aren't allowed them at school or on trips.
Although it's a tough stance it causes less issues for us and we have discussed it at some length with him and come to a conclusion together. He would still like one but also can't see the point of it atm.

I think holding off having a phone is a great thing. My daughter has one in secondary but she travels for 30 mins on a bus so if she missed it/got stuck or for whatever reason needed to contact us she could. In our situation I don’t feel the need for my primary aged child to have one, certainty not a smart phone. All I hear is endless problems with bullying/internet access/addiction to phone...the list is endless. I totally get no phone rule on trips and wished my secondary child hadn’t been given one on her recent French trip. If the school updates on social media or via email that should be enough. If there’s a problem school will deal with it.

Not all year 6 kids have phones and many have hand me down ones - school is completely right, a few days without tech is a good thing!

My dd (Year 7) has just come back from a week's residential trip, no phones allowed! The activity centre where they were staying in Cornwall has a blanket no phones policy and woe betide anyone who sneaks one in!

I think it's great. It's good for everyone to manage without their phone for periods of time. As for contact with your child - you either trust the school to take care of your child or you don't. And if you don't, then don't send them on the trip. If there are any major emergencies, school staff will contact parents. We don't all need to be in constant contact all the time. And it's quite refreshing not to be sometimes frankly.

Sounds like it’s that one kid (there’s always one) whose parent is unwilling to say no to them even when the rules are clear.
I hope your child has a great week!

My Y6 has been walking to school all year and didn’t have a phone until Easter - at this point it’s only used to send a quick message to whichever friend he wants to meet up with as he’s far too young for social media yet. School dont allow phones to be taken into school or on residential either.