to be annoyed parents arent allowed to use their phones at playgroup?

[itispersonal]

I am a bit of a phone addict I'll admit but . ..

I was at my local sure start centre for a singing session with my dd (so don't use phone during this session) but noticed on the wall they had recently put up a sign to say mobile phones were not to be used by parents due to "e- safety".

I use to go to longer play sessions at the sure start and I would check my phone as it would be when Dp would be on their break/ lunch sort out arrangements for the rest of the day with friends/family etc.

Aibu to be annoyed at this? Surely I am an adult, me talking on a phone or using a phone isn't a paedophile risk! Though not entirely sure what a e-safety risk is. Think sure start struggle to get people through the door so putting this in place would make me think I'll go elsewhere where can have a seat to sit on, a drink etc.

I do try and support the sure start centre as think they provide a good service to children and parents, as well as other paid activities I go to with my dd.

And yes I do interact with baby as well and talk to other mums there. I suppose I just don't like being told what to do!

where i work parents are advised not to use their phones only in an emergency and NO pictures at all yabu the sure start centre are right we do see some parents sneaking onto their phones and ignoring their children but we ask to put them away

I left my ex for DV and DS1 was on the don't photo list at nursery. I was so scared ex would turn up if he happened to see any pics on the Internet. It was a long shot but the chance was there. It is a pain being unable to have a phone out at all at DS2's nursery (even a housebrick with no camera like mine) but I am very aware how crucial privacy is to some families so do not challenge it.

Live life stop living it from behind a screen

Now there's an ironic exhortation for mumsnetters if ever I saw one!

I stopped going to my SureStart centre because of this. It was my birthday. Only one other baby at the group. My mum phoned to say happy birthday and I was asked to take it outside - which I did no prob but ended the conversation and said I couldn't talk. Walked back into the room and sent my mum a brief text to say I would call in an hour and the SureStart leader stood over me, ordering me to put the phone away. I never returned.

What a shame.
If you had left your phone off for an hour, your mum would have left a message and you could have called her back. That would have saved all the unpleasantness and you could take your DC back there again.

Captain, I'm sure you can understand they have to have one rule for everyone and can't make exceptions or its unfair on others. I work in CCs and we do have quite the battle with some parents to get them to put their phones away

For some children, these government run places are the ONLY safe place they can go if they want to leave the house.

Government funding of these places is not aimed at those families with the means and funds to attend the private a time baby signing classes or to replace the nappachino at the local cafe. Their saftey cannot be assured there. If Sure Start centres stop catering for these disadvantaged clients, the Government will simply close em down. The rest of us basically hang off their coat tails to attend.

Sure start centres offer a rare safe haven for those families fleeing domestic violence etc to reconnect with "normal". Often these women(and sometimes men!) CANNOT take their children to the private sector toddler groups, clubs etc that abound, simply because their saftey cannot be assured. It's not just DV victims, some epileptics & children with sensory issues cannot cope with photography - again Sure Start centres offer a safe haven, that frankly the local park does not.

I've been "that" Mum who often had to drop what I was doing to rush to school to collect my SN son. I ended up having 2 phones - one for general life and one very payg £10 cheapy one for the school. Good manners decreed that my general phone was often switched because I was driving, at work, having coffee with friends etc. The £10 one was always on anytime my lil man was away from me. Sure start staff know who the families with the dying Granny are.

For anything else - ffs it is only 2 hours. 7/7 was a true emergency I experienced and ALL mobile phone signals went down for several hours. Phone addicts were not exempted from this.

Organising hubby picking up some cat litter on the way home is NOT an emergency. Get yersen sorted girl, add a bit of organisation to your Goddess bow sharpish and stop moaning.

I actively avoid any toddler groups where it's usual for other parents to use the activity as childcare whilst they sit down and do what ever, it's frustrating trying to get your own children through them without incident and making sure they play nicely whilst all the free range kids run riot.

Without a real emergency it's no hardship to put your phone away for 2 hours

i hate this no photo nonsense when i was a child my mom took hundreds of pictures of me and my friends and even people we didn't know yes i know it was before facebook but really anyone with their privacy settings set right no one else can see them but you and who you choose i hardly think perverts are turning up at the childrens centre to leer at the children and have a quick trouser shuffle these people are rare this over controlling behaviour is why im not bothering with these stay and play anymore its pointless

and everyone checks for text messages even the staff

i hate this no photo nonsense when i was a child my mom took hundreds of pictures of me and my friends and even people we didn't know yes i know it was before facebook but really anyone with their privacy settings set right no one else can see them but you and who you choose i hardly think perverts are turning up at the childrens centre to leer at the children and have a quick trouser shuffle these people are rare this over controlling behaviour is why im not bothering with these stay and play anymore its pointless

If you believe that, you don't understand how Facebook works.

Seriously.

most parents taking photos of their children want their children no one elses just theirs good grief am i the only person who can blur another child out of a picture

How naive.

Deaky, that is supposing that everyone has their facebook settings as high security - most people really don't and you can't rely on other people being vigilant.

If you'd read the thread you'd know it's not about perverts secretly taking pictures. It's about safeguarding children and women who have escaped DV and who don't want pictures spread around the internet on the off chance that someone recognises them. It has and does happen and the consequences are far reaching for those people. So do the decent thing and think of others.

deakymom presumably you don't realise that on FB profile pictures and cover pictures CANNOT be made friends only.

If you don't believe me set up a fake profile and search yourself. Profile and cover pictures and any comments attached to them are there for ANYONE to see.

I only have a fake FB account and have never posted anything on it, but I am appalled by some things I see, and how much I can learn about people just by browsing around.

Ok, quick scenario

You have gone to your Sure Start centre (or wherever), and you take a picture of your DC on your mobile. You stick it up onto facebook. Your privacy settings are set for friends only, so no harm, right?

Your DSis is a friend on your facebook, and shares the picture with her DH, saying look how cute DC is. No harm still?

Pic is now on BIL's page, open to a load of people you don't know or expect to see the pic, but it's just your DC, so no harm done.

There's another DC in the background of the picture, you'd hardly notice him, but he's there. He's adopted/fostered/hiding from an abuser. Someone on BIL's page spots and recognises him. Secret's out.

"Live life stop living it from behind a screen - there's an ironic exhortation for mumsnetters if ever I saw one!"

I don't MN on my phone as the screen is too small. I use the laptop.

"anyone with their privacy settings set right no one else can see them"

Only those doesn't know how to hack into FB. Unfortunately some dubious people do know how to do so and I am not prepared to take any chances.

I learned that one of my neighbours is a huge pothead who likes guns.

Privately run children's nurseries & toddler groups etc don't cater for the same super vulnerable clientele, so anyone who objects to the sure start photography rules can just go elsewhere as they have that choice.

I've shocked myself as normally I loathe and despise all these nanny state rules that have crept in over recent years. (Lunch box police, unauthorised absence fines for attending family funerals, overpriced uniforms, HV role changes etc, etc). However this may be the ONLY new rule I've seen in a long time that actually makes sense, and have been really suprised at how selfish some posters are given just how young and vulnerable the little ones at Sure Start are.

If nothing else the kids that attend Sure Start stand a miniscule chance of learning not to wreck every other patrons meal when they go to a restaurant as adults .

Your laptop has no screen, bunbaker?:) I don't live my life behind my phone, but I do live it quite a lot behind a laptop!

bochead "Privately run children's nurseries & toddler groups etc don't cater for the same super vulnerable clientele, so anyone who objects to the sure start photography rules can just go elsewhere as they have that choice."
Not strictly true, I've worked in private settings for years and we have had many vulnerable children attend, more so now that we offer funded sessions for 2 year olds as well as 3 and 4 year olds.
Of the 50 children that attend our setting, 4 are very vulnerable due to fostering/ adoption/ domestic violence. There are also children of people whose jobs put their families at risk of criminal activity(eg police, lawyer).
That's more than 10% of the children( and only those are only the ones we know about, some families don't share any information for like this for whatever reason), so safeguarding is something we take very seriously.
Private nurseries do not just cater for the well-off working parents.

I had a real emergency once when ds had an accident in school when he fell, smashed his head and was unconscious. He was blue lighted the hospital and was quite poorly. I cannot imagine how I would have felt if no one had been able to get hold of me for an hour or two.

My phone is on all the time and if anyone tells me that I have to turn my phone off to meet some rule then they can Fuck off.

I will put it on vibrate and leave it in my pocket.

Ds could have died that day

bemused whilst it must have been awful for your son he was taken care of by the school. I don't understand this obsession that we all must be instantaneously contactable at all times. Parents managed without phones. My son was about 12 before I finally got one when my office provided one.

In any case what is being banned here is sitting playing with your phone. I'm assuming body searches aren't carried out so you could still have it in your pocket on vibrate as long as you went outside to use it.

The explanations given make a lot of sense and frankly not being able to play with your phone for an hour is not a hardship/infringement of liberty.

Some parents (im one) dont want pictures of their kids to go online id go mad if I found a pic of my dd on someones facebook etc. Who gives them the right to show other strangers what my child (or/and me) are doing. I do think its ok to take picture of ur kids at group but to make sure its just your kid in the pic.