To think parents are not teaching any independence?

[MrBlobbysNuts]

A local parent group is in uproar because their precious secondary school children are apparently "too vulnerable" to get the bus before and after school without a phone (phones have been banned from premises entirely)

How is getting a bus for 15 minutes without a phone unsafe? Back in the day we just had ourselves and we survived. Give the kids cash and teach them to stop relying on phones to get around. The world is no more dangerous than it was 40 years ago, if anything it’s much safer!

Did you grow up without a phone? If you did, maybe you'd see the difference. If you always had access to a phone, then I can see how you can't imagine the difference. Especially if you did grow up in an area where there was always a phone box in close proximity, which I didn't have.

In the end, as long as our kids know how to sort themselves in sticky situations phone or not, that's all that matters.

We now live in a world where people constantly Catastrophizing
dome of the replies to thread on hear are ridiculous it’s always what if and extreme examples of what could of happened

were raising a generation that are scared of there own shadow

The bus pass is digital and on the phone.

So how will children use their bus pass without their phone?

I was at school 27 years ago and still had a phone just for emergencies when i got the bus to school.

I still can’t see the relevance. You didn’t have a phone ( I also had a period of being out independently without a phone ) I still do not understand your point. There is negatives to phone culture more so the access to constant internet than the actual phone function but this I can’t see being the issue.

I do think this generation is less resilient but I don't think anxiety is unique to any particular generation.

I remember marching in a parade back in the 80s. No political issues around it at all. My father with what I now recognise as an undiagnosed anxiety disorder and OCD made me carry coins in my hand the whole parade - in case a riot broke out so I could go to a phone box. No-one else's parents went to these lengths. I think that's pretty terrible because that could have passed on anxieties to us. Needless to say, there was no riot.

We also once managed without showers and washing machines, doesn’t mean we can’t have them now because Sue used to manage in a Tin bath in 1920

Nothing wrong with having a phone, that's not what I mean. I'm just meaning that an over-reliance on the phone isn't a good thing. Kids need to know what to do in case they don't have time to call or have to act very quickly. I'm glad my kids have a phone but I also want them to be able to manage without it.

I have to agree that i do judge parents who contact employers on behalf of their kids.

I think the smart phone issue is tricky only in the context of bus passes, as i believe it is cheaper for bus passes if you have the app. Which from a business perspective i absolutely get. So from that perspective, parents can’t win.

Our ten year old either has a 30 minute walk to school or he takes two metro trains depending on how he feels/what the weathers like. On the way home if the weathers okay he often goes to the park before he gets home.

All without a phone, he does have one, well he has two actually, one stays on charge at school over night and one is on charge at home as the battery is used very quickly with his hearing aids as at school his phone acts as a microphone for his teacher.

If he needs to phone us before he leaves school he can go to reception at school who will phone one of us. If he loses his travel pass he can just walk home. If something happens at the park he can just walk home and tell us.

The bus pass is virtual - it's on the phone.

Why are people ignoring this vital fact?

I'm a chair of Governors and in my school we introduced lock bags for phones. Parents actually campaigned against it even though the children could have their phones going to and from school, but not on school premises. I don't think they understand how much they're damaging their kids with this constant line of communication throughout the school day.

It will be smart phones that are banned. Not dumb phones. People don’t understand the difference.

Whilst I agree a lot of parents don't encourage enough independence, I don't think it's fair to compare to when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s as the world was built for people not having mobiles then. There were plenty of phone boxes for instance. There was even one pupils could use in my secondary school. Ok, maybe from a safety point if view that doesn't make a huge difference, but it is the difference between a child who misses the bus or loses their bus pass being able to let their parents know or not, or even just to ask parents if they can go to a friend's house after school / stay for a revision session or extracurricular. Without a phone it's very hard now for parents and children to communicate if a plan goes wrong or changes.

And generally adult life these days expects people to have mobiles and apps which they use for Railcard, tickets etc, and applying for jobs, so it's hardly preparing them for adult life to be stopping 15 and 16 year olds carrying them.

BT chargecard vibes. Or even reversing the charges (parents didn’t like this so always equipped me with chargecard). It wasn’t as if we weren’t in touch with our parents.

Most of the schools in our town make the students buy Faraday pouches for their phones, which I think is a great idea.

I wouldn't like DS1 to have no phone for the journey home though as if for some reason the bus wasn't running it'd be about a 2h walk home!

Our local secondary has now announced a complete smartphone ban from September - not allowed onside at all (brick phones are OK so parents can still contact if necessary)

To answer a few questions raised on here:

• Parents/Children can contact home by ringing reception/ringing from reception to pass on urgent messages.

• Parents can track their children without a smartphone, if they really think it necessary.

• Children will have physical bus passes and pay by cash, bank card or money uploaded to their bus pass.

For everyone saying using the missed bus/ phone box reason, why wouldn't they just go back to school to phone parents?

The secondaries I know of have a range of policies some zero smartphones at all, some only allow Nokia style phones, some allow smartphones to help kept in bag and some actually use smartphones actively in lessons.

Since I have heard of them coming into force 2/3 I haven't heard of any serious incidents after missed buses etc. What is a problem however is kids arranging meet ups after school which have led to fights, filled children in situations and posted it online making fun of someone, recording and mocking school staff online.

I wouldn’t want my kid getting the bus without a phone. Nothing to do with “not preparing them for the world” - being prepared for the modern world means taking your phone with you when you get public transport. I’d hate to get a bus somewhere without my phone, why should kids have to do it? Bus doesn’t show up, can’t google whether there’s a problem with the bus company, they lose their bus money, can’t call and ask for a lift, a fight breaks out at the bus stop, they’re hurt and can’t call for help. Some of these kids will only be 11-years-old. When I was a kid in the 90s, there were countless times i needed to call my mum when I was out in town on my own - cos I’d missed my bus, I’d lost my bus fare, someone had nicked my schoolbag etc. I used a pay phone - which were on every street corner. If I didn’t have any money I could reverse the charges. That’s not an option for kids these days. You wouldn’t want to travel to and from work on public transport without your phone, why should kids have to do it?

One school I know of has lockers that the phone goes in at start of day and is retrieved at home time, seems the best way forward especially as lots of kids go on to activities/clubs etc and may need a phone.

We managed these situations before phones. We asked for help at the school office, who would give us bus money to pay back. A fight - we left the area and asked for help from an adult. At 11 too.

I think the reliance on calling for help so someone can come and rescue you is helping undermine independence. Is this why kids seem to have an extended adolescence these days?

I've had university students call me for things like they can't hand in their essay due today because their mother didn't remind them to do it. Parents calling about things themselves. When I was at university, I had to go front up to the lecturer myself and no-one was managing things for me.

It would be a 12 mile walk home for mine!

But it isn't totally self help, it's relying on the adults around you. Many adults won't get involved. Laws have changed, a lot of taxis are on a app and won't take children under 14, or if alone. Taxis were local, with local offices. I commented on the thread about using your front garden, there were always adults about and they'd help. The one neighbour (that tended to be us) with a house phone would actually take a call on knock on the other neighbor's door. There was no data etc laws, information was shared. Neighbours knew each other, there was people about. I've seen buses refuse children when their pass isn't working, they aren't supposed to, but do. We didn't pay bus fare under 10. There were more buses, there were ambulances. As said, there were phone boxes, with reverse charge call. There were police about, police stations. Shops would even let us go to the toilet. Train stations and public transport had more staff. I've intervened a few times when an adult man has been saying inappropriate things to school children. If kids can get out phones to film things, it does mean that the police have to respond. The police were fobbing off children being sexually harassed outside a school until they filmed it happening. It tries to be said that every generation reports things getting worse, but things aren't as safe, or helpful/supportive as when we were children. Throw in a black boy, who already looks like an adult and people are even less likely to help. I should have added that most of the primary schools and high schools of mine and my children's youth have closed, we didn't have to travel like today's children do.

My son's school is already smartphone free and he catches the bus to and from school daily. Bus passes are on a card. No issues at all. They are allowed a non smart phone for emergency calls. He never even bothers to take it.

I think it's fantastic. I really like that he gets the time to and from school with his friends where they are not stuck to a smart phone.

I don't know how many miles but I had 10 minutes walking and an hour on the bus before and after school. If I missed the bus, I sat at the bus stop until the next one came along.