Do you advise DC to walk around without headphones

[cityrookie]

Had a meeting with DD(12)'s teacher today who suggested DD listen to audiobooks on her way to clubs (bus and walking).

I've always told DD to have her phone away in her bag and not to wear headphones out and about because she needs to be aware of what's going on around her.

The teacher also has a 12 year old daughter so we just laughed at each other!

What do you tell your DC?

YANBU - no, put the headphones away when she's alone in town and on the bus
YABU - it's fine to listen to things walking around town

What a stupid thing for the teacher to suggest 🙃

Agree. It’s not safe and just encourages the idea that we’ve constantly be connected to media. Inbetween school and clubs, can she not just walk somewhere and take in her surroundings?

I think its fine to suggest when on the bus/ tube/ train but in between and when walking around I'd not want her to have headphones in.
Or if she's getting to clubs early and then waiting 20 mins? How did the suggestion come up? Did dd say she find the journeys boring?

Don't see the issue tbh. Surprised at replies so far. What is a 12 year old meant to be aware of while on a bus or walking on the pavement?

Compromise would be one earphone in, one earphone out. That's what I do when I run at night.

Another vote for one earphone here.

I don’t walk around with both headphones iYou can’t hear if someone is up coming behind you. Can’t hear if someone is alerting you to danger or calling for help.

Are you talking at cross purposes here.

On the bus and while waiting for a club. Great idea.

Walking around I'd do 1 earphone

But is there a bigger issue. Are you saying she can't read books because she has so many activities?

Or she's struggling with getting around places?

How much commuting is she having to do?

I think there's more context needed here to understand the comment.

Not walking around by why not on the bus/tube?

We've always told ds not to be totally plugged in, one ear bud at the most. You can tell the folks who are totally plugged in, they aren't aware of anything around them.

People around her, cars, possible muggers wanting her phone, they ride past on bikes doing this do she needs to hear them.

She has an 8 minute bus ride from school to main city station, then wait for the connecting bus and about another 7-8 minutes to her club.

She reads loads but prefers to read in another language.

She's on the bus a fair bit as we don't have a car, but it's all short journeys. Can have up to a 25 minute wait at the bus stop as the bus to our village is only every half an hour.

I've drummed into mine absolutely no wearing of headphones or iPods when walking. We live in a city and they need their wits about them. I'm fine with it on public transport or at a bus stop as long as it's just the one ear!

We all wear headphones in our family, there are greater dangers out there

One earphone means she could hear. Blue tooth headphones mean her phone can be away.

I used to try and stress not to wear earphones as it can so risky with cars and things like that. But honestly, I just let my 3 older children do it now as I trust them to still be aware. Also, my 2 daughters are music obsessed and would probably do it anyway. It is defo not unreasonable to not want that for your kids tho, it can be stressful!!

I encourage paying attention to what's going on around them but don't discourage headphones. I wear them all the time and can still hear what's going on around me.

Exactly, less likely to have your phone nicked

Surely crossing when its safe is the real issue

Why does the teacher find this funny?

We both found it amusing that we both have 12 year old DD's both doing sports clubs in the same city (albeit coming in on the bus from villages on opposite sides) and had each told our DD's the exact opposite.

I wear headphones coming and going to work. However I only pop them on when I get past a certain point (work in town centre) and I'm always aware who's behind me so would leave them off in certain cases or not put music on, I can hear a fair bit with/without music.

Yeah but they can't hear me

This.

Not only it's dangerous, surely a child can just relax while she's walking to/from activities.

Another vote for one earphone. Or the bone conduction ones that don't interfere with external sounds.

Aftershokz don't block your ear