It can be hard for parents to see their kids off to college — especially if said kids ignore their texts after they leave. That's what happened to Maryland entrepreneur Nicole Walters after her oldest daughter began her freshman year at a local school, Yahoo Beauty reports — but she found a hilarious way to resolve the situation.
Walters' daughter ignored her during her first day of class, finally sending a text at 2 a.m. reading, "Oh no, sorry, I was just out late." Then, Walters and her husband made plans with their daughter for August 22, but she ghosted them after multiple attempts at texts and calls. So, since they couldn't reach her digitally, they decided to take matters into their own hands and stop by in person.
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But this wasn't any ordinary campus visit. The concerned parents arrived carrying a missing person flier with a photo of their daughter's face. It read: "Is my kid being irresponsible? Tweet @NapturalNicole photo proof and get a $10 Starbucks gift card and a free pizza." They joked that they'd print out hundreds of copies if they needed to. They also brought along a less threatening item: some bananas to make sure she got potassium.
"She thought she could dip off and go ghost for three days," Walters says in a video taken after the visit, which now has 3.7 million views. "No you won’t. What you’re not fittin’ to do, while I pay tuition, is disappear for three days," she rants. "Out late doing what? Out late doing what? ‘Cause the campus bookstore is closed and the library is not 24 hours."
Walters' approach may be a bit overbearing, but it comes from a good place. "I adopted my daughters a few years ago and they didn’t have support, so they’re not used to adults who are consistently present," she explained to Yahoo Beauty. "I want them to know that 'out of sight' doesn’t mean 'out of mind.' ... We wanted to reset our daughter’s intentions and remind her that her past doesn’t have to dictate her future."