I-pods aren't the only culprits, long involved conversations on the mobile phone while pushing the children along and can I include hand held games while the children are trying to get mummy's attention? My son's ex-partner was sometimes so engrossed she missed the bits of conversation her little daughter was trying to talk to her about and she was not a particularly demanding child. If in the circumstance that a child is asleep on a bus or on a long train journey then yes fine. When mine were small, walkmans were just beginning to be around but I found there were so many other things to think about before setting off that the last thing I would have thought about would have been packing that as well or wiring my ears up with it.

The comment about children should be seen and not heard is a bit archaic, and in any case 9 times out of 10 the children playing up the most are with mums who are not very good at listening or communicating with their children anyway.