To think that if the school says no mobile phones to be teken on trip then everyone should respect that.

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

DD went off for her first school trip, she'll be back on Thursday. She is/was thrilled about the whole thing since she found out about it three weeks ago. I dropped her off at 7.30 this morning, saw her onto the bus, had a quiet grizzle to myself then went for a cup of coffee with another mum. She asked me how much cash I'd given dd, I said none, she didn't need it, she then asked about whether I'd topped her phone up for her. It turns out, she's given her son 100 francs (about 60 quid) and sent his iphone along with him. I am sitting here seething with anger which I know is unreasonable, but ffs, the school made some rules that, imho are worth keeping.

Oh, unless you're thinking that the bullet might be deflected by the phone, like all those stories of soldiers being saved by their prayer books, or cigarette cases.......

YANBU - and hear hear to Pisces, Goblin et al who also think YANBU. P's me off when parents ignore school rules they don't like. Also hate the culture of mobile phones for kids.

Hello Riven - I've seen lots of your posts, but we've never 'conversed' before. I completely understand why you'd want your DS's to have phones and imagine a school would understand that too - find it horrifying that the receptionist behaved in the way you described.

But I disagree with your statement:

"I'm sorry, children are people and if grown ups are allowed phones, so should children."

whilst I obviously do agree children are people, I also think that they need (even if they don't want) different things than adults, in particular they need to learn to live by rules, to understand that they aren't 'in charge'. This teaches kids how to live in a society, how to be respectful and also that they can't always have their own way. In addition it makes them feel secure as (I believe) kids need those boundaries.

ds took his phone on school trip to france for 5 days but was more because the kids wandered around euro disney and various towns in small groups no adults and sinc ehe had some medical issues and none of them spoke much french felt it was far saferif needs that he could call either a teacher or me to deal with anything

pocketmonster what would you class a child, though , for hotels etc its 12 for buses here its 15, forbooze and voting its 18 .Ds takes his bu he knows it is strictly for emergency use only

Have never known a school to allow pupils to take a phone on a school trip, for all the reasons listed previously. Many do not encourage them in school full stop.

Children, on the whole, do not need a phone on a school trip.

If a school has a problem with not passing on messages then that is a whole other issue which needs address differently, and if the school is really poor and it is a very specific situation I can see there may be grounds to appeal.

However, for most kids - phone not required, and just causes more problems for staff. All it takes is for it to go missing or get broken, and they'll be chaos, esp if caused by another child rather than the owner of said phpne.

YANBU

Scouts ban then at camp as they make parents panic! They had a case where a boy took his on a coach, was speaking to his mum when the coach entered into an area with no coverage.
Mum panicked thinking they had crashed and was busy ringing all and sundry to find out what had happened.

It is also, IME, common for children to do residential courses and not be phoning home during the time away. DD will be going on a residential for 3 nights next May, when she will be just turned 8y. No mobiles will be allowed - DD doesn't own one anyway - and it is very unlikely they'll be able to hone from their trip away, unless in emergencies.

YANBU. Children don't need mobile phones on school trips. If there is an emergancy than the teachers will deal with it and phone parents if ther is a need to. I do think they should be allowed to take a small amount of cash.

If my dd had been allowed her phone on her first residential trip, she would have spent every evening ringing me up and sobbing. As it was, she had a bit of a weep on her favourite teacher and was encouraged to join in with the others and eventually had a fab time.

If they have phones they use them as games consoles. If they haven't, they discover that there are things to do that don't involve screens.

I think the problem is that the majority of kids who's parents allow them to flout these kinds of rules, don't know how to use them respectfully and appropriately and rather than keeping them for emergencies use them in the way that has been described earlier in this post. Riven your son sounds very mature, and will be in the minority - unfortunately the rules are made to deal with the majority (people and situations)not for the exceptions.

Mine recently both did a school week away and told us before they went that they wouldn´t be bothering to phone.

They´re not allowed handys, but the teachers have a phone card for phoning home in the evenings should it be requested.

But Riven - on a school trip, how could the teachers let every child just use a phone whenever they liked? So many would take advantage of this to start with - texting whilst walking run a museum instead of listening, phoning friends when they should be doing xyz, etc.

For most children a phone is not, and should not (IMO) be something they have to have with them all the time.

but what about trips whe ethe kids are allowed to go of in groups without a adult .Only reason I let ds go was that he had his phone otherwise since linit of the kids french was can i ahave bread and cheese what on earth ment to do in a emergency .

Am also talking schoolday trips to as kids get older

phoenix sorry wasn't ignoring you, just distracted by a 5 year old that keeps finding reasons to get out of bed!! I think with school trips and phones, its whilstever the child/young person is in the care of the school. These rules usually stop in the 6th form or at 6th form college anyway - DSD went to France when she was doing her A levels and they were allowed to take their phones - but then by A level more of the 'kids' are doing them because they want to not because its mandatory so the behaviour tends to have changed and the kids are more independent.

yes, of course it's differen t when older kids are going off in groups in forrincountry. That is obvious.

well said seeker

wot RustyBear said.

It's utterly impractical to allow kids to use mobiles as they want. Quite a lot of my students would like to use their mobiles to play games or listen to music rather than participating in my lessons, for example.

IME kids are fine with the fact that schools have 'no phone' rules, home & away.

They try to sneak them, obviously, & so would I have done! But they understand the rule & the reasons for it.

When I've done residentials, there's always been an emergency moby number for parents to contact. Always some parent ringing nightly to see if we've tucked their 14 year old into bed & sung him to sleep, too...

OP's friend was being a prize twonk & in the OP's shoes, I'd be quietly relishing the thought of friend's entire dorm using all that lovely credit to ring their mates back home...

It is helicopter parenting at it worst! It encourages the fussy
neurotic controlling concerned parent who will be on the phone all the time, checking they have put on the sunscreen, cleaned their teeth, had enough to eat, not fallen out with their friend and are not homesick. The value of the whole trip is that the DC has independence (in a controlled environment), they have to look after themselves and sort out their own problems. They have a great time and lots of stories to tell when they get back-not a blow by blow account while they are doing it.
The staff have done full risk assessments and understand that DCs are not used to being away on their own and the aim is to make it fun! They will be sympathetic. The DC might well feel a bit disloyal to say they are having a wonderful time if anxious mum is having a hard time without them.
Staff will deal with emergencies. When my DS cut his hand on Scout camp I was very grateful that I found out after he had been to A&E and had it stitched-it would have been very upsetting to have him on the phone when dripping with blood and over 200 miles away! The staff dealt with it. (I am also very pleased that they even let him use a knife again).
It is a real character building experience-spoilt by mum on the end of a phone! A parent's job is to gradually let go and a residential trip is a good place to practise.

Can't we just leave all the blossoms and take the ones who want to have an adventure away from home?
I hate wading my way through all that flannel and fluff, and you brought it all back picesmoon.

DD's last school trip letter contained the advice

"Mobile phones are not encouraged"

So when I put my foot down about mobile phones, cue a tantrum because all her friends were taking theirs.

Then DH (pernickety lawyer) weighed in on DD's side, explaining that the school rule didn't actually say "Do not bring mobile phones" which would have been a clear ban, and the way that the school phrased it meant that mobile phones were tolerated but use of them discouraged.

So I was overruled. But on the trip, a group of girls did get into REAL trouble for taking their mobile phones. DD was one.

My thoughts are that you've done the right thing. Don't get irritated by people breaking rules. They might have misinterpreted. If they haven't misinterpreted, then they are willfully breaking the rules and their dcs might be in trouble when found out. If not in trouble then, well you have the moral highground.

If I was Brown Owl Rubysreturn I would have an ultimatum-she goes without a phone or she doesn't go. I could do it, because I wouldn't go to camp and they would all miss out. Brown Owl is giving up her free time for no pay-if you don't trust her to sort out an emergency then you shouldn't send your DD to Brownies in the first place.