A mum was shocked to see the playgroup her child attended had put up a sign telling parents to “get off” their phones.
Juliana Farris Mazurkewicz, from Houston, US, took a photo and shared it on Facebook on 27 February with the caption: “Posted at the daycare today!”
The sign read: “You are picking up your child. Get off your phone. Your child is happy to see you! Are you happy to see your child?
“We have seen children try to hand parents their work they completed and the parent is on the phone.”
The sign continued: “We have heard a child say: ‘Mummy, mummy, mummy’ and the parent is paying more attention to their phone than their own child.
“It is appalling. Get of your phone!!”
The photo posted on 27 January was shared 1.2 million times within just six days and there were more than 9,000 comments on the photo.
Some people found the sign offensive.
“Some parents have to work and some meetings intertwine with the pickup,” one person wrote. “They will pay attention when possible but they shouldn’t feel bad for being on their phones.”
Another wrote: “I am shocked a daycare provision would post this and I don’t like the way they word it. They don’t know what’s going on with the family or why the parent is on the phone.”
Others commenting on the photo, both parents and non-parents, agreed with the daycare’s sign.
“A child is more important than a phone,” one person wrote. “This is harsh but true and the words need to be said.”
Another wrote: “This is so true, parents forget how excited children are to show them work, they need to put phones away and pay attention more. We all do.”
The original poster, Mazurkewicz, later spoke about the phone and told Kare11: “I think that it needed to be said, that it’s a good reminder to all of us.
“The daycare is awesome, they are very loving and obviously have the best interest of the children in mind. Their business IS our children.”
What do you think?