No phones on ski trip

[AreTheyMad]

DD is going on a ski trip with school next week. We've just been informed they won't be allowed to use their phones during the day, only for an hour in the evening.
Would you be happy with your DC not being allowed to take their phones on the slopes?

I think it's mad, and I'm trying to formulate a mail which doesn't sound over protective pub! It means they can't call if they get separated from the group, check the map, if they injure themselves. What if the visibility is bad? Am I overreacting here?

I’d be very happy they didn’t bring their phones on the slopes.

Sounds very sensible. Why do they need phones on the slopes? If they want to take photos, buy a cheap portable camera. Trust the school - this decision will stem from years of experience.

YABVU.

The 1 hour phone time in the evening is enough for you to have a check in and is quite generous based on my kids’ experience of such trips.

Phones on the slopes will be such a distraction, some will get lost / damaged - the teachers have enough on their plates keeping a big group safe. Kids dont need phones to ski.

The argument that “we managed 30 years ago” is completely bogus. We all managed to do everything 30 years ago without phones. Should we all give them up now?

The bogus argument is thinking that not having the use of a phone for one thing is the same as completely giving up on using a phone.

I’d be delighted with the ban

I think we need to steer away from from the constant catastrophizing no wonder there’s so much anxiety in society

It wouldn't be kept in a pocket for the made up emergencies you have invented. It would be used to take pictures of how crap someone looked or when someone fell over and then shared. If kids weren't dicks with phones then we wouldn't need to ban them. I'm sure your child is a complete angel, but trust me, the amount of spiteful shit I trawl through on phones every Monday morning suggests most kids aren't.

This isn't about the safety of the kids.

Every time I see threads like this it's about the anxiety issues of the parents.

Then you get a whole load of bullshit about wanting to be able to track the children - again emphasizing the unhealthy attitude of the parents.

DH has taken a bunch of scouts on a hike before and then got contacted by frantic parents tracking their child and seeing them being 'out at sea'. Of course they've been safely on dry land the whole time. It's an extra stress that the leaders just didn't need and it's actually happened on multiple occasions though not to this extent.

Being in the mountains, phone signals can be particularly difficult to get or it can bounce around giving inaccurate locations. This is why guides are taught NOT to rely on phones and instead use old fashioned methods of locating where they are - such as maps and proper satellite GPS - because phone reliance creates so many more risks and dangers. Not least what happens if you are relying on it and you run out of battery.

The kids absolutely should be using old fashioned communication and meet up methods for this reason. It means they pay more attention to where they actually are. It means parents can't have a shit fit and pester the teachers because their child has gone 'off piste'.

Parents who insist on phones really need to examine what their desire for their child to have a phone is about. Usually it's about being over bearing and controlling or because they aren't addressing their own anxieties and it isn't a proportionate nor helpful response to the realities of the situation.

@AreTheyMad long gone are the days of school children being allowed to ski with their teachers like we did on ski trips in the 90s. Insurance will only cover them for skiing with an instructor - usually they do 2.5 hours in the morning, stop for lunch then do another 2.5 hours in the afternoon. A teacher usually accompanies each group but there will be an instructor too, often provided by the company running the trip.

I think you are overreacting. I also think it’s odd that you are allowing her to go on a school trip where you don’t have confidence in the staff keeping your child safe.

Not having a phone sounds very sensible to me. How on earth is she going to be getting lost on runs if she is with a group and doing as she is told. If you don’t trust your daughter to follow instructions and stick with the group then maybe she shouldn’t be going.

Its more dangerous to have a phone on a slope IMO.

Well done that school! A child won’t ever be on their own on a ski slope. Parents are utterly mad. Of course he will be fine with no phone! How did a child manage 20 years ago? Mine had great ski trips with the school and no one had phones.

I would seriously wonder what the child was doing if they weren't in sight of the resort the whole time tbh.

Which part of stick to the slopes is difficult to comprehend? If you can't trust your kid to do that then they shouldn't be on the trip in the first place!

I'm another skiier who uses her backpack for phones (unless I'm doing cross country).
Unless your DC is extremely advanced, they will be in ski school and even if they are the teachers will be counting them every 2 minutes.

My dc's school bans all phones on trips including the ski trip. Ds came back and said the no phones rule was brilliant and everyone interacted with each other all the time. This is from a screen addict. I must admit I was only worried about it from a boredom pov and that he'd have no music to listen to. He did say this was all he missed. You are massively overreacting. The teachers run these trips all the time and I completely trust them.

DT’s school didn’t allow phones to be taken on the trip. Wasn’t an issue.

YABU.

Another reason not to have phones is the ski tracking apps that record your speed. I can’t imagine how dangerous those are among a bunch of competitive teenagers.

Hardly any phone use means the children focus on skiing, the experience and their surroundings instead of taking selfies etc. Minimal phone use means less distractions. Good idea from the school here.

Surely on a school trip, there’s virtually no chance of students getting separated from he group for any length of time? The school will have risk assessments up to their eyeballs to ensure no one gets left behind.

Tell me. How did you 'unlose' yourself?

Oh yes. You say it yourself. A map.

How revolutionary.

So OP, are you still going to email the school? Unless you want to win the staff award for most unreasonable parent of the trip, I wouldn't.

Of course you don't have much time now to find an actual camera if you don't have one still!

Hmmm I’m mixed on this because when dd1 went her friends had to call her teachers because she fainted. But in general they really don’t have time to check phones and they can use them once a day for messages so I’d be fine so long as there was a plan for what happens if a dc needed help. At a big ski location there will be set people etc (using phones with ski gloves doesn’t work anyway)

Are they a very advanced group? I am guessing that if they are not doing ski school.
I'd be more worried if there was any chance of them going off piste or if the weather was bad.
I thought generally though that school trips catered to the lower end of experience.