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Obligations on parents to supervise their children

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Mikey C

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Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ldren-what-improvements-could-be-made.217491/

Turning it around slightly, there's also an obligation for parents to supervise their children.

I'm not suggesting that children have to be glued to their seats in monastic silence, but for other passengers in the carriage it can be annoying when some parents allow their children to treat the whole carriage as a playground while the parents are instead glued to their phone or watching something on Netflix. Dangerous too.
 
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Ianno87

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Turning it around slightly, there's also an obligation for parents to supervise their children.

I'm not suggesting that children have to be glued to their seats in monastic silence, but for other passengers in the carriage it can be annoying when some parents allow their children to treat the whole carriage as a playground while the parents are instead glued to their phone or watching something on Netflix. Dangerous too.

Oh yes, absolutely. If mine kicks off or won't stay seated, I take them to the vestibule (or toilet) while they burn it off.

The trick is to pack plenty of entertainment (YouTube being the ultimate fallback), with headphones of course.
 

Welshman

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Turning it around slightly, there's also an obligation for parents to supervise their children.

I'm not suggesting that children have to be glued to their seats in monastic silence, but for other passengers in the carriage it can be annoying when some parents allow their children to treat the whole carriage as a playground while the parents are instead glued to their phone or watching something on Netflix. Dangerous too.

I agree wholeheartedly with this.
From what I remember of my journeys as a child, my parents would talk to me and try to answer my questions re what was happening [even if they didn't make a very good job of it!].

I well remember a recent journey, where the adults accompanying the children simply sat in the opposite bay and ignored them for the whole journey, leaving them to run up and down the corridor through boredom. The children had started by asking some quite intelligent questions re things they saw of out the window, but were ignored. I would have loved to have gone over to them and tried to answer their questions and explain things to them, but had I done that I would have probably found the police at my door a few days later and my being questioned re safeguarding issues.
 

Ianno87

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I agree wholeheartedly with this.
From what I remember of my journeys as a child, my parents would talk to me and try to answer my questions re what was happening [even if they didn't make a very good job of it!].

I well remember a recent journey, where the adults accompanying the children simply sat in the opposite bay and ignored them for the whole journey, leaving them to run up and down the corridor through boredom. The children had started by asking some quite intelligent questions re things they saw of out the window, but were ignored. I would have loved to have gone over to them and tried to answer their questions and explain things to them, but had I done that I would have probably found the police at my door a few days later and my being questioned re safeguarding issues.

Kids can learn so much on a train journey about the world and other people that can't be done in a car. I'm forever grateful to my Dad for taking me out when I was little - it's only fair I pass that on to my kids.
 

Mikey C

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Kids can learn so much on a train journey about the world and other people that can't be done in a car. I'm forever grateful to my Dad for taking me out when I was little - it's only fair I pass that on to my kids.
At what age though? They won't be learning much as a baby or a 3 year old!
 

Ianno87

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At what age though? They won't be learning much as a baby or a 3 year old!

My 4 year old has been parroting types of train since he was 2. They soak up an amazing amount of information*. He still mentions specific things about trips I did with him pre-Covid.

Not just facts either - it's part of learning social skills with others too which starts off very young - basically as soon as they can propel themselves

(*When he was 3, boarding a 755 at Cambridge he blurted out, much to my surprise, "the bimode train is coming with its pantograph down")
 

AlterEgo

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At what age though? They won't be learning much as a baby or a 3 year old!
Yes they will. I have memories from the late 1980s of train trips when I was a toddler - and socialising children very young (and teaching them that public transport is an adult space requiring discretion and consideration) is really important.
 

Ediswan

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Yes they will. I have memories from the late 1980s of train trips when I was a toddler - and socialising children very young (and teaching them that public transport is an adult space requiring discretion and consideration) is really important.
All I recall from a 1960s trip to Guernsey as a small person is the railway bits. In no particular order:
* Weymouth Tramway
* A 15 minute stop at Bournemouth (?) for toilets and buffet
* The guard apologising that the locomotive had caught fire and a replacement was being arranged (followed by mutterings of b****y diesels from the older passengers)
 
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