Mobile phone ban on overseas school trip

[anotherglass]

12 year old son is due to go on his first overseas school trip to Belgium later this month.

There is a strict ban on children using mobile phones during the trip.

Part of the trip will involve a period of up to 2 hours where children will be allowed to wander around an open, retail precinct - unsupervised. Teachers will not be far and kids will have cards - in the local language - to hand to someone if they are in trouble, during this activity.

Parents were not made aware of this unsupervised element of the trip, prior to making payment.

I am nervous not only about this element, but also the fact that there is a heightened risk of terrorists attacks during the period of the trip, which coincides with Euro 2016.

AIBU to insist on son being allowed to take his mobile phone on the trip?

[Andrewofgg]

YABU and so is the PP who said give him his phone and tell him not to be obvious. They need to learn that rules are there for a reason and that they apply to all. Your DS is not different.

Besides which he would let it be known in short order that he had it!

If teachers are firm and say No and confiscate any which appear the group can have a great time and benefit from being away from home and from phone!

[GloriousGoosebumps]

I'm surprised at the number of schools which ban mobile phones. Our DS went on a school trip to China the last academic year. 50% of the time was spent staying with a Chinese family and the other 50% staying in a hostel when they changed cities. There was no question of mobiles being banned.

As for the suggestion that youngsters with mobile phones will inevitably disengage from the trip and spend all their time playing games or on Facebook, that's not our experience. Some did, of course, use VPN's to post photo's on Facebook but there weren't so many photos posted that anyone would be concerned that that was all they were doing.

I can't see why having a mobile phone, per se, would make a child more inclined to be home sick nor can I understand the argument that we didn't have mobiles so today's youngsters don't need them either - the technology is now available and they are useful, particularly if they can't find a helpful local. Did you see the story of the 34 boys who were trapped by rising tides and used the torches on their mobile phones to guide three lifeboats and a helicopter launched during the air and sea rescue? Mobile phones can be useful in many ways.

I personally like the fact that mobiles given an additional method of obtaining assistance if needed.

[meditrina]

I expect the school won't have mentioned the couple of hours unsupervised because it's a totally normal feature of secondary school trips.

It'll make no difference to whether they are involved in a terrorist incident.

But if you are concerned, then your only option is to withdraw him from the trip, and not sign him up for ones in future.

And of course he shouldn't take a phone on a 'no phones' trip.

[BertrandRussell]

There is rather a difference between a residential trip to China and a day trip to Belgium!

[00100001]

It's not having the mobile that makes the child more homesick, it's talking to the parents that makes them more so. And if kids are chatting to parents and staff are unaware of how they;re feeling they can't help.

I was at Guide Camp once as a leader once, no mobiles allowed (pretty standard!) and one leader from another unit decided to let her guide phone home, the child was hysterical afterwards and Mum thought she was so upset she came and collected her. The other girls got homesick, but coped and 'got over it'.

The lifeboat rescue being a reason to have a phone is a folly. the lifeboat had thermal imaging cameras on it, so could actually see all the people without the need for the phones.

[00100001]

Also, if your son takes his phone, you shouldn't complain if it (inevitably) gets confiscated. Or if it got lost, damaged or stolen.

[allnewredfairy]

I think YABU and possibly a bit naive to think there wouldn't be some periods of unsupervised time on a senior school trip. These elements are well thought through. For example , on DDs trip to Yypres next week children will have to be in groups of no less than three, teachers will station themselves at certain meeting points and the area the kids can move around in is quite limited. I'm sure your son wll have a wonderful time...without his phone 😀

[AbyssinianBanana]

To all the "we survived without them I the 80s and 90s" comments - yes, you did but things were different.

There were public phone boxes everywhere, in case you did need to make an emergency call.

And people's perceptions and expectations were different. People were more willing to help a stranger because everyone knew you couldn't just call your parents or the police on your mobile.

These days, when a stranger (even a teen) approaches you asking to use your phone - you are more sceptical. Especially if it is a touristy shopping spot because of all the scams involving dialing an international number and petty theft you're warned about. And then there's a language barrier, too.

[Capricorn76]

But a cheap non smart phone so he can contact you but can't access the Internet. I wouldn't want my 12 uncontactable abroad.

[BertrandRussell]

"But a cheap non smart phone so he can contact you but can't access the Internet. I wouldn't want my 12 uncontactable abroad."

There will be teachers there you know!

[BertrandRussell]

I do feel sorry for that square in Ypres........

But I suppose they sell a lot of chocolate, which makes up for invading hordes of English teenagers!

[BertrandRussell]

On the trip I went on, I have never seen anything like the look of horror on the teachers faces when we got to the square and there was a funfair in the middle of it. The usual practice of letting the children go off to have a wander and buy chocolate while the teachers sat in a bar and kept an eye on them from a pavement table had to be rapidly reassessed.........

[Capricorn76]

I know there will be teachers there. I'm not a helicopter parent but I really don't like the thought of not being able to contact my own child abroad. I'd get them to hide the cheapo phone and send me texts on the morning and evening before bed. I wouldn't be able to sleep properly otherwise.

[Noofly]

DS(14) is just back from an exchange trip to Taiwan. All devices, including phones, were banned. We were given the option of allowing phones, but the teacher in charge of the group suggested that trips had gone better when phones had been banned and we agreed as a group to not allow them.

It was absolutely fine. We were lucky in that the host mother sent me emails and photos every few days so we could see a bit about what DS was up to, but DS didn't miss not having his phone/tablet at all.

[Noofly]

Slightly more alarming was when DS flew to Panama by himself when he was 13. He did have his phone and tablet then but there was no internet connection at his grandfathers so we were dependent on the odd trip to the golf club for FaceTime chats.

[lostincumbria]

I'm not a helicopter parent

By insisting you can't sleep without hearng from your children twice a day, despite them being on a trip that is professionally organised and risk-assessed, I'm afraid you are.

[mouldycheesefan]

Murphyschild, Cape Town iS not one of the most dangerous cities in Africa😂, unless your son spent his school trip in one of the shanty towns (unlikely).

[mouldycheesefan]

Op, when I went on school trips, mobile phones were not invented. Yet we all somehow managed to even get through a couple hours unsupervised time without them. If you think that your son cannot manage a couple of hours with his friends in a shopping centre without teacher supervision then request that he remains with the teachers.( He will love that😂. )

[itsbetterthanabox]

Why is he not allowed the phone? Have they explained?
That's ridiculous. It's the kids responsibility to look after it. They aren't toddlers.

[PacificDogwod]

YABU.

For all the reasons mentioned on this thread.

It does our children good to a. not always be contactable and b. to learn that there IS life without mobile devices

[BertrandRussell]

"know there will be teachers there. I'm not a helicopter parent but I really don't like the thought of not being able to contact my own child abroad. I'd get them to hide the cheapo phone and send me texts on the morning and evening before bed. I wouldn't be able to sleep properly otherwise."

I think you have just defined helicopter parent!

[GloriousGoosebumps]

0010001, I take your point about it being the contact with parents rather than the mobile phone which can make for home sickness, but by age 12 / year 7 our DC had been on a couple of school residential trips to Outdoor Adventure places and a trip to France so being away from home was no longer a frightening prospect. He was one of the little so-and-so's who went off without a backward glance.

I didn't realise that lifeboats had thermal imaging (d'oh!) never the less, having the torch facility must have helped, even just on a psychological basis.

I still say that mobile phones are an additional method of obtaining assistance if needed.

[NiceSegway]

All electronics including phones are banned on all school trips my children have been on. It was great to see my year 10 son and his friends all sitting in a circle playing card games while waiting at the airport on his last trip. If I didn't trust the school to look after him without him having a phone on him I wouldn't have let him go.

[ThenLaterWhenItGotDark]

The reasons have been explained upthread. Mobile phone addiction is becoming a sad reality. I have kids in my classes who literally get jittery if they don't have their phone in their hand, whether or not they are using it.

Phone gets pinched, (because a group of obviously foreign excited 12 year olds aren't seen as easy pickings in tourist areas at all at all...... ) and one of the teachers has to a) deal with the sobbing b) take Junior to the plod and fill in 587 pieces of paper c) speak to Mammy and stop her getting on the next hovercraft d) LEAVE the rest of the kids who didn't get their phones pinched while she does so.

I do the opposite and bring kids to the UK in the summer. Past experiences have dictated I now put in the blurb that they will be given their phones at certain times. They CAN have them on the excursions, but they lose them, not my circus. (this is after classes being disturbed by Italian mammies ringing at all hours to check if Junior had his scarf on etc)

It doesn't matter what any of us thinks, anyway. The school have said. You don't want to follow the rules, keep him in the helicopter.