TikTok content creator, @watchingalicia, also Alicia Hodge, has had her parenting skills called into question by social media users after she posted a video of her taking her 5-year-old daughter to a 24-hour daycare in Houston, Texas.
In the video, the young mother drops off her child at the daycare at about 10pm to pick her up less than two hours later.
@watchingalicia 😅😅🤷🏾♀️ #fypシ゚viral #fyp #girlmom #daughter #momsoftiktok #parenting #momlife ♬ original sound - Me!
“Alright, this is a short video of me dropping my kid off at the 24 hour daycare at like 10pm,” said Hodges.
According to Hodges, though the daycare is marketed as a 24 hour service, the daycare staff reinforced that it closes at midnight.
“Now they advertised that they be open 24 hours but they actually don’t, they be open until like 12 and it’s fine because I literally picked her up at 23:55 after telling them that she won’t be here that long.
“But it was cool because there was like 20 other kids there and they had like a glow in the dark party,” said Hodges.
The mom also said that dropping her daughter off at a daycare centre at night was a win for both of them as it gave her a “break” and the child enjoyed going there.
The video has received over 1.2 million views and 70.9K likes on TikTok with users on the platform divided on whether the service was an advancement for civilization or a threat to the safety of the kids in question.
One TikTok user, @broserrr121212, commented: “People be leaving their kids anywhere 💀,” and Hodges responded with a video asking the user to support her businesses so she won’t have to drop off the child off late at night.
Another user, @cheyorwhatev also Miss Thang, said: “I’m allll for mothers getting breaks...but dropping off ya’ll babies off at daycare at 10PM to go out when that baby need to be in bed is insanity. Working? Okay...but to go out?!”
But a mother, @drking5466, disagreed, saying: “I used a 24 hour daycare when I pursued my masters degree and it literally saved my life.”
Whilst @arig1984 said: “My only concern is that if ppl are dropping off to go out for cocktails - how about safety driving back home with the kiddos after drinking.”
And @raisingself also Samantha Sophia, said: “Folks don’t understand the privilege it is to have time flexible community you can trust as parents. This is so important.”