Facebook, Myspace, Twitter. Step into the millennium and share your every thought, burp and flatulence moment with the world. What more could you want than every person previously in your Rolodex to know your every movement every second of the day. Ah, heck, who needs privacy anyway?
It amazes me how self-absorbed people are these days. Not a day goes by wherein I open up my Facebook account to learn of every detail of some one's daily happenings. Do I really need to know that you plan a trip to Wal-mart tonight because your socks have holes in them? Did you think it a good idea to post that you were drunk? Oh, yeah, you were drunk. Thanks for clearing that up. Nothing warms the cockles of my heart more than to know you were high on mudslides and you missed your child's sippy cup while pouring milk. Geesh.
Social networking sites are somewhat of a pet peeve of mine. I use my own sparingly but do admit to peeking into my account on a daily basis to occasionally get insight on lives lived that are far more exciting than my own. But, my number one reason for having, and maintaining a Facebook account is solely for surveillance purposes.
Whenever I enroll and new child in my daycare I immediately enter the parent's email address into my Yahoo account. The miracle of the Internet always seems to work it's mysterious magic and once logged on to my Facebook account I am notified that I have an additional "friend" that might be graced with access to my thoughts and actions. Of course, I always send an invite to daycare families. I have never had anyone deny my request but then again asking to be your friend is pretty passive aggressive. What you are really saying is, "hey, let me into your life. If you ignore or deny my request I will know you don't like me and that will lead to a whole lot of drama". Alas, they click the "accept" button and you are now privy to the number of squares of toilet paper they use for every wipe along with intimate knowledge of their marital problems. But who cares about that stuff? The best stuff is yet to come.
Having an avid Facebook poster as a daycare parent can be very useful. For example, I can not tell you how often I have logged on to Facebook on a Monday morning to learn that on Sunday a daycare child had revisited the contents of their lunch. Being the savvy, passive aggressive, yet contract policewoman that you are, you reply with, "Oh, poor baby. I hope he feels better soon. I guess I'll see you Tuesday". Ah, yes, Facebook is handy.
Facebook can also be a tool in relaying your thoughts, if even indirectly, to other daycare parents. I have one family who, despite all of their time off, refuse to ever stay home with their children. Everyone knows I have pretty strong opinions about parents who see the need for personal days but never once consider the same for their children. So, when I do get the occasional day when another daycare family keeps their child home I am certain to post something nice about them for all the world to see. My personal favourite stated something to the affect, "Judy is enjoying an easy day today but missing little Johnny whose parents are spending a special day with him. It is wonderful that parents take so much time to spend with their children". Rude? No. Passive aggressive? Most certainly!
As daycare providers sometimes we need to be inventive. As much as I might enjoy knowing that little Mary ate her boogers during nap time on Saturday I am much more interested in how your life away from daycare affects me while here. I'm not proud. I'll take any advantage when I can get it. And if that means sharing the odd trinket of information concerning my mundane life then so be it. The return on my investment is ten fold.
For concerns, advice or suggestions I welcome your email at judytrickett@yahoo.ca
22 comments:
Ah I loved this post Judy! I am an avid facebooker and it has come in handy with daycare parents. Everyone I provide care for is on my facebook. Most of those however really aren't avid users like I am so I can't rely on FB to learn important info I may need to know about their kids. I play farkle and farm town and a few word games and that's about it but it is so easy to send out a mass email to the parents this way and tell them, hey check your facebook, may days off for the school calendar year are in your inbox.
Oh, were we separated at birth?! Whenever I get a daycare email about a parent looking for care I immediately google their name, email and do a reverse look up on their phone number to find out where they live. Any info is helpful to sum up a possibly new client. And besides, they would do that to me to find out what I am all about. That is why you won't find Qwerty out there running up friends by the hundreds on Facebook - I am just there to observe. No one needs to know I spend nap time reading my favourite sarcastic blog!
Qwerty
QWERTY said:
"Whenever I get a daycare email about a parent looking for care I immediately google their name, email and do a reverse look up on their phone number to find out where they live. Any info is helpful to sum up a possibly new client."
OMG....I DO the reverse look up thing too and yes I DO google them! Teehee. Yep, seperated at birth! LOL!
Okay Judy, sadly I will admit that I will do a drive by after finding the address. All info is filled away into a mental database as I profile each set of parents. I can then taylor my interview questions around what I now know. I also don't buy it when parents come for an interview and ask for directions because I know they have already drove by too and I wouldn't expect any less!
Qwerty
"Profile". LMOAROFL!!!! New term everyone....
DAYCARE PROFILING!!! Hahahahahahaha!!!!!
OT, but has anyone ever checked an individual's public record online? My husband was checking out the court update on a fun hit and run incident he was on the receiving end of and I threw the name of a past parent out at him.
Holy moly. She had a record that rivaled the phone book. If I had checked that out before she pulled the "I'm a single mother with a new job, so I can't pay you until I get my first paycheck" sob story on me, I would have seen that she already owed a center $400 in payments and a couple thousand for rent, that she had been sued for. She was a lesson learned (one of my first "clients"), but I wish I had thought of it beforehand.
We checked another mother who we had issues with, and lo and behold, another long record.
It's not facebook and I guess I can't subtly manipulate my parents actions with comments (which is an excellent idea by the way) but I guess I could ask them if I'm going to find anything out when I do a pre-enrollment background check. Woohoo internet.
Anonymous....how does one do that? Do you have a website address or something. Please share.
YES! Please DO share!
Found out one of my parents was deported from another country for working illegally....Thanks for that google =S
Boy, do I feel left out of the loop. I can't get the knack of facebook. I signed up a long time ago and never did anything with it because I couldn't figure it out. So yes, please let us know if there is a website or someplace we can go to Daycare Profile LOL.
I tried to google them but didn't seem to work???
I too would like to know how to check out possible families.
Kimmar
facebook and reverse look ups are a great way to check out other people's daycares as well. I keep an up to date list of providers by grabbing numbers off bulletin boards, numbers on online sites and reverse look them up, find out what neighborhood they are in and then I can refer people to them unless I find out they are no good, then their name doesn't stay on my list!
It's anonymous, sorry it took me so long to get back.
We used the website
http://www.judici.com
But it's just for Illinois. We followed a link from our county court website though, so I don't know if other states have a similar set up. All you need is their name and birthdate. I wish their was a way for providers to communicate with each other that didn't violate some sort of professional ethics. I think there is a bold line between gossip and helping someone protect themselves.
Hope that helps
I don't need Facebook...two of my four kids are my nieghbours! I am privy to just about EVERYTHING that goes on on a daily basis. I know when the parents are home and if the children were up and playing outside until 10pm on a sunday night. I know when one set of parents had a bunch of friends over for a 'fire' that includes plenty of wobbly-pops being consumed. I have the kids tell me who came over this weekend...I don't need facebook! LOL
I do have another 2 parents on FB but both are careful as to what they post, so not much help...but still an insight as to who they really are!
Another great post Judy.
dmansmommy
I would rather not have my daycare parents as friends on facebook. I sometimes post that the kids are driving me nuts and that I may need a drink at naptime. All tongue in cheek of course, but I'd hate for one of the parent to see that!
I dont put my dc parents on my facebook either,... that is Not Miss Daycare, thats the other lady who lives in my body. Laundryduchess
I don't have the parents as FB friends either. No thanks. FB is for my FRIENDS and stupid stuff that I waste my time with.But I also do reverse search other dc providers with ads on Kijiji so I know where they are. I also had one parent give me her custody papers and told me the dad was "no good" and not to be around the kids. I was a little worried as I had no idea what he looked like but she said he was known to "hang around" other providers. My husband jokingly suggested checking our local police's most wanted page and HE WAS ON THERE!! Google is crazy useful if you know where to look.
DH is a realtor and we always look up property info when we get a potential client =)
I've sure learned a lot about my daycare PROVIDER since she friended me on facebook! Every 3rd word is f*ck, sh*t, JC, etc. So I knew exactly who to blame when my little 2.5 year old came home the other day and exclaimed to me proudly "JESUS CHRIST!!!!!"
I'm surprised that a provider would friend a daycare parent on facebook, and then proceed to be such a potty mouth! Going on about getting drunk with her friends, etc. Like seriously!
Quote:
Anonymous said...
DH is a realtor and we always look up property info when we get a potential client =)
Are you sure that's legal??? I thought realtors were bound by a privacy code. I didn't know realtors could legally look up property information that is not realted to a sale.
Querty? Do you live in Canada and 411.ca is where you go?
Having a facebook, myspace or twitter account is a very helpful marketing and informational tool these days when running a daycare. It creates a more established line of communication between you and your clients and allows you to get your business across to your clients peers and web connections
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