Cautious Mom Picks Daughter up From Sleepover After Host Parent Took Away Cell Phone

Having your kid stay over a friend's house for a slumber party is a nerve-wracking experience. But if your kid has their own smartphone, you'll always be just one call away. Unless one of the parents hosting the party keeps taking your child's phone away.

That's what Bunny Garcia (@mrsnevalanded) said happened at a sleepover her own daughter attended. To make matters worse, the social media user explained that she barely knew the mother of the household, either.

She posted about her experience in a viral TikTok, speaking into the camera.

"Am I the a--hole for picking up my daughter from her slumber party because the mom kept taking her phone away from her?" she asks.

Bunny then goes on to explain what transpired during the slumber party that prompted her to drive over and retrieve her daughter.

"That made me very uneasy. The first time she took the phone away was while they were eating. And my husband and I talked, and he was like, 'It's probably their family rules.' I was like OK, whatever, I guess."

However, the TikToker went on to state that the mom presiding over the house where her daughter was having a sleepover also thought that her kid shouldn't have her phone on her either. "Then, around bedtime, the mom came for the phone again."

It was this second phone taking strike that made Bunny uneasy enough that she didn't feel comfortable leaving her daughter in someone else's home without having a phone on her.

"And that's when I was like, absolutely not, we're not doing this."

She went on the explain that mobile devices aren't just miniature entertainment slabs and communication contraptions that children can utilize in order to prolong their sleep or engage in endless chatter prior to bedtime. According to Bunny, especially for someone who is younger, they can help assist them if they're in a jam.

"Phones are so much more than just a device these days. They're a life-line, they're a connection, they're a reach in the dark and someone respond." Furthermore, she punctuated her stance by calling mobile phones "a security blanket."

It didn't sit well with Bunny that the mom watching over her daughter and other children at the sleepover didn't respect this stance. "And you're taking my daughter's phone for me in a house where all I did was shake your hand at your front door, and now ... my daughter's just locked behind your house, and I can't get a hold?"

To that, the TikToker said, "Absolutely not, absolutely not. And so we text the mom that we were coming for her, and then she responded with, 'Oh no she didn't say anything to me, is everything OK?' So I told her we're actually uncomfortable that you keep taking the phone from her."

Next, Bunny says that the mother attempted to explain her reason for doing so. However, in Bunny's eyes, this reasoning still didn't trump her prioritizing her daughter's safety and ability to contact her at a moment's notice.

The TikToker explained that it was a matter of respecting someone else's personal property.

"And she wanted to go on about how it was a miscommunication. The only charger in the house was in blah, blah, blah ... whatever. I don't care. This is not your device. You're not taking their stuffed animals away, OK? Don't take their device away."

Moreover, she added, "Her only connection to her parents, and you wanna remove that? Absolutely not."

Numerous folks who responded to Bunny's video stated that they agreed with her stance. One person penned, "Red flag. Their house rules don’t supersede safety."

Someone else on the application thought it was strange that the house Bunny's daughter was sleeping over in only had one smartphone charger in it. It's a claim they didn't believe was rooted in truth. "lmao, 'one charger in the house' that’s an even weirder lie to tell you guys," they remarked.

Another remarked that they wouldn't let their child visit that house ever again. "I’d personally never let my daughter go back over to that parents' house."

Which was a sentiment echoed by someone else who wrote: "That seems superrrrr weird. I’d go pick her up too."

There was another user on the application who said that they slept over at one person's house, who also had rules about phones at the table when they were all eating. However, the rules were much different. "I had a sleepover at a 'no phones at the table' family, and they just wanted it to stay in my pocket. never took my phone away ever."