Daycare centers are places for the littlest of kids to stay and have fun when their parents can’t leave them at home. We’ve all been there – dropping your toddler off at daycare because you have to go to work, and don’t have another person to watch them. Whatever you’re doing must have been important, so most people definitely understand.
Not everyone can be blamed for being unable to stay home with their kids. It’s just the way things are. You need to work to feed your kids, and you can’t do that and stay home with them at the same time.
Thankfully, most people understand the situation parents are in, so they know people do this because they love their kids.
Now, we reach the part where we talk about more specific circumstances to consider. This sign, photographed by Texas resident and mother Juliana Mazurkewics, has made quite the rounds for just that. The point it raises – and the way it phrases it – is definitely attention grabbing and has people talking.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10212659087937911&set=a.1058819956534&type=3
“You are picking up your child. GET OFF YOUR PHONE!!”
Being straightforward is best, I guess. This very blunt, straightforward delivery of the message stole Juliana’s attention immediately, and she had to snap a photo.
It really made the rounds, amassing over 2 million Facebook shares and catching the attention of several news websites too.
"GET OFF YOUR PHONE!!!!" #Daycare stirs up debate with #cellphone sign directed at parents. https://t.co/suui07u4aN pic.twitter.com/oVLuM9aRTw
— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) February 2, 2017
It argues that parents shouldn’t be on their phones when picking up their kids from the center.
The reason being that this is the age when kids need positive interaction and commendation from their parents. Imagine your toddler excited to show you a drawing they did at daycare, only to find you disinterested and staring at your phone.
Sign posted at Texas daycare tells parents get off the phone & pay attention to their kids during pick up.https://t.co/1VVQjugroo pic.twitter.com/PQgrhZiX1d
— NEWSTALK1010 (@NEWSTALK1010) February 4, 2017
Here’s a fact that bears repeating : these toddler and preschool years are vital years for your child. Every reaction and sign of approval from their parents matters a great deal. Their first time experiencing their senses of achievement, hard work and much more begin here.
So it’s easy to see why the person who wrote this sign feels so strongly about it.
“We have heard a child say ‘Mommy, mommy, mommy…..’ and the parents was paying more attention to their phone than their own child. It is appalling.”
Look at this sign a Texas daycare posted for parents always on their phones when they pick up their kids! 👏👏👏👏👏 https://t.co/EnuoLrYMmR pic.twitter.com/mWoOBOsjee
— CW33 TV (@CW33) February 1, 2017
While the choice of the word “appalling” is a bit bold, you can at least empathize with the message. If I saw an enthusiastic child trying to get their parent’s attention, only to get the attention stolen away by a phone, I may very well react the same way. Although granted, there is a great deal of subjectivity involved.
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, it’s good to maintain some nuance and objectivity.
https://www.facebook.com/WDAMTV/photos/basw.AbpU9o3QMmDwUEhi83wlbDGDzCAM8D6SZvuRwWVC37tYbnqFBSTq3ZKXORD0No4433tGu3nmGGdYccqmAF_rAsavck8REVZVEtpoJVSK_60LyQND87-FLZYg-2VxIhNCoRPvKiuR3nqeJC4IYUko-edK/10155097613789875/?opaqueCursor=AbrXJkFGieWtwxIGafkHfH2GJtaP5Wn8pdOTkhjg_vmQgQCKPmkqze2E4MX1mCvCyirXjQJFeI6x7yODPwFFliUMS2QnL0MDKU57r08K_sRlYm8iwgpNkJ98br4B9lpXh8nWGjEQM6XbTf_dIsm3mIqedet-eBUkUbzWZdb9cqdIop9Ja9d8QZLijiNx5_e98NTro9IkOY7In_c7TDAn4KMqGZykqn-GOOxaCYm7fUFHlj6JXr9Puiz9nK604_E0aDpLWGG7ObmgAdHiUOdjoH8OhwDeEV71R1lNzDxI6g7yiFes-8ug3P0o46_il08hzIWerep98X1yfhDLnSBv8YERpNAYYZQpH6X0lfcIseJCepEunHmdamSl183-Hvnfl6-AuMMK34gTL_BeMPpATXy164QyVLFE98QN9G7kg3NnDPswgxe50lVEUysm-m2w2Cba1H_zIlJFv3Cq4nEr-3oLXRLJVdMxFjDbMlqjNTyM98QYftH97tdyoqpo3T3CXBluOSBHA3iXTQmrvPRIa0GppEVa7lwgF3QdPtP6S7I0IZ9GLNhkZJs1zpAz9KM_7MWZJn1vfCq19fplUgzlOPowwZp_k5ObbUjg_MD9xXDxPLqGC8BjPFr46zjmnM0mKUo7i34BHmVJT66RUByW32sKbDHJcActAIEi2CCPzcKhfQXzAw9LIzsEE4_b5-OJg7r7h6avcDcdmvExO3nhVA2Pf8R72R-akEmXmiQ3y6rab1o7IBPBevEN7bnJSGlqOau8gz52Luh82M4eTCYL2y_0k2fkePM10d0mU3wpo6O7KU7gxJRVhFRylHQGaYEumbnH_GmiSXIlEAShZ1wv9v3wa4NQZfBrv8YtjzsV7lF-ivjFehvSvsndoNKK_aj-UCzCm1-AFNj_zbBPo9cBOELAX8YEwuKNi1SIdHhVcyLQt38-qDd6idEKQuoXf_w9b-M
When you read strongly-worded opinions like this, it seems like a natural human reaction to agree with it. After all, if someone is this bold and emotional about something, they must have a point, right?
Obviously, this isn’t always the case. There’s always a few more circumstances to consider, and that’s precisely the thing that many of the reactions to this image pointed out. For example, no one seems to consider whether there’s an important reason a parent may be on their phone.
In fact, blogger mom Constance Hall of Australia wrote a long, equally bold and scalding response to the sign.
https://www.facebook.com/mrsconstancehall/photos/a.1028239657220859/1393456127365875
“I picked my kids up from school the other day, my husband was at work.
But like always, I was there.”
She starts off by mentioning that she has regularly been in a situation that the daycare sign talked about. This gives her a golden opportunity to present another side of the story – something people rarely get to see or hear.
This mom blogger hit back at a daycare sign telling parents to get off their phones: https://t.co/KoxbBmQOR1 pic.twitter.com/9z0N1LHacn
— Us Weekly (@usweekly) February 7, 2017
“I was reading an email that reminded me that I needed to pay a bill and then responding to my husbands text message and then as my children ran out of the class room screaming “mummy mummy”
And she makes a heck of a good point to consider.
“I shoved my phone into my into my mouth to hug them because I had no free hands due to the fact that I had just walked a kilometre with 2 skateboards in my hands so that my kids could skate down the hill home from school.
Yet after all of that, you would call me “appalling” and insinuate that I not happy to see my child.”
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10212453094548205&set=p.10212453094548205&type=3
In summary, telling people to value interaction with their child more than their phones is a totally fair and valid point. Although it’s not fair in the slightest to assume that people can’t ever have an important reason to check their phones even when their child is trying to get their attention.
Thus, there are two valid points raised here. It’s true that you should be mindful of your role in your child’s vital developing years. Though it’s also true that one should think about all the circumstances first before going at someone’s throat for not doing what you do.
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