CHAMPION THE PLEDGE
Welcome to Wait Mate! You just signed the pledge and you are keen to empower more families to join the Wait Mate community. Your voice is so important in fuelling momentum for the pledge at your school and beyond. We want to support you in your local outreach, which ultimately benefits your child. Here is a quick start guide for championing Wait Mate in your school community.
START SMALL
If taking this issue to your entire school community feels overwhelming, that’s okay! We recommend you start small. Grab a friend or two and ask if they have heard of the Wait Mate pledge. Share with them why you have signed it and ask if they might be interested in helping bring the pledge to your school community.
SPREAD THE WORD
Once you have a wingman, it’s time to spread the word. Or if you’re a fearless leader, just get going on your own! You may wish to start just in your child's year group or tackle the whole primary school. Here are a few possible communication channels:
School WhatsApp group: If you are part of a year level WhatsApp group at your school, use the text here to send a message to all parents (feel free to personalise it!). You can also follow this up with a poll to gauge interest in pledging now or holding an event to find out more. You can reach out to parents with kids in other year groups to share the same message on their year level chats.
School email addresses: If you have access to a school directory or class list, use this email template to share information about the pledge. The quickest and most effective way to get an active pledge is to email all the parents from your child’s entire year to raise awareness of the Wait Mate pledge and connect platform and reasons to delay smartphones. We recommend when sending the group email to blind copy all of the parents (see email template here.)
Parent body/ P&F: If you don’t have access to a class list or directory, or don't have contacts with kids in other year groups, ask your parent body to help you share information about Wait Mate. Let them know that you are willing to champion this effort; all you need is their help being a communication channel for information and events. If your parent body is interested in a higher level of support, they also could rally your community by sending pledge updates to the school community periodically. You can contact us for an indication of pledge numbers in your school to get a sense of the uptake on a regular basis.
School leadership: Check in with your school’s principal or wellbeing team to share the Wait Mate movement and see if they would be willing to distribute information about the pledge in official school channels (to ultimately support parents, reduce pastoral care requirements in school hours and enhance the wellbeing of students). Depending on how your school communicates with families, this may include an email, newsletter update, school portal article, printed posters on key noticeboards or flyers in school reception. We have copy for a suggested email to your leadership here. Wait Mate cofounders are glad to meet with you or your school leaders to see how we can support your efforts, don't hesitate to contact us!
Having trouble: If you are hitting walls with the school and the parent body and don’t have access to the school directory, start with the people you know! Rally your friends to reach out to their circles as well about the pledge. Of course, not everyone you contact will be moved to make this decision. However, you will be amazed by the number of people who will respond with a “Thank you—I am so glad I am not alone!”.
MEET IRL!
Parents in your school or wider community might have questions, concerns, or barriers they need to voice before diving into the Wait Mate pledge. They also may wish to discuss broader technology challenges beyond smartphones. Many may prefer the warmth of face-to-face conversations to share their thoughts and ideas. That’s where Wait Mate gatherings come into play—an opportunity for parents to unite and strengthen their voices together!
We recommend planning an event at your school inviting all primary school parents to come together to listen to a mental health and wellbeing expert (many schools have these in house such as a school psychologist / wellbeing team) to raise greater awareness around the concerns of smartphones as well as tips and tricks to manage these in this digital era. Along side these school speakers or a guest speaker, we would be thrilled to support the conversation by joining in and introducing Wait Mate to your school community. Be in touch and we can help support you in planning an event (we are volunteers and do not charge for this!). If we can’t be there in person, zoom events can be effective too.
Check out Screen Sanity for planning a broader event about kids & technology to start the conversation at your school. Again, we would be glad to support this type of event by presenting the Wait Mate movement as a potential solution that relies on the collective action of your community. Costs for Screen Sanity events or external experts can be covered by parent tickets or the school.
SHARE WITH YOUR SOCIAL CIRCLES
A quick way to spread the word about the Wait Mate pledge is through social media posts and your professional network on LinkedIn. Share the good news today about the Wait Mate pledge with your family and friends by easily downloading one of our social media post templates. Be sure to tag Wait Mate too so we can re-share! View resources to share.