A mother has sparked a debate after revealing she uses Apple AirTags to track her children when they’re out in public.
Vada Stevens is a loving mom from North Carolina who shared a “parenting hack” on TikTok only to suffer a backlash with critics telling her she was treating her kids like animals.
Sharing her advice with other parents, the woman revealed she keeps tabs on her two children, aged two and four, by tracking them via Apple AirTags when they are out in places like malls and supermarkets.
“I saw a TikTok about a mom who puts Apple AirTags in bracelets on her kids and I thought it was the coolest thing,” the mom wrote.
“You can find them on Amazon and you can track them and make a beeping noise and you can train your kids to come when they hear the beeping noise.”
The mom also demonstrated how this works in practice by making her daughters’ bracelets beep, prompting the kids to run into the room and ask their mom why she had called them.
While some viewers were more than impressed with the method to keep children safe in busy places, others compared the idea to animal training and shock collars for dogs.
“Kids are not animals stop tracking them with tracking devices wtf dude? Just look for them normally!!” one angry viewer wrote in response to the video.
“Be a real parent and don’t treat your kids like a hunting dog in training,” another said.
A third suggested: “This has to be a joke.”
Some viewers, however, branded the idea as “brilliant” and “potentially life-saving.”
“Nothing wrong with using these bracelets in public in case of need,” one person said.
“This could help many kids from going missing,” another insisted.
Vada has since spoken out about the parenting hack and revealed the reason why she relies on AirTags when it comes to tracking her children.
“I am extremely paranoid about everything safety. I thought the bracelets were genius. My two-year-old doesn’t pay attention and runs off so if she happens to get lost, [the AirTag] is a perfect way to find her,” she told Today.
“It just takes one second to look away from your kid and they’re off in a crowd somewhere.”
Dismissing criticism and negative comments, the mother concluded: “In this day and age, you can’t ever be too protective. People think I’m a crazy mom. I’m doing this to prevent my children from ever being taken or lost. I’m going to do my best to know exactly where they are.”
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