Facebook and Parents

[mamaof4]

Would you be facebook friends with your clients? Why or why not?

[Sunflower]

Nooooooooooooooo way :laugh:
I am not `friends`with the daycare parents, nor do I wish to be.
I make a big point of keeping the relationship professional and of keeping my private life private.
I would not be facebook friends with clients just as my family Doctor etc would not be with his clients.
How I behave during daycare hours and after daycare hours are two very different things lol
Now that being said , I don't have anything to hide BUT I need to keep my home and social life separate from my daycare life !
I can not control what my facebook friends say or post and it could be awkward to have daycare parents see that stuff:D

I do however have a facebook page just for my daycare families where I post all the daycare pics.

[fruitloop]

Nooooooooooooooo way :laugh:
I am not `friends`with the daycare parents, nor do I wish to be.
I make a big point of keeping the relationship professional and of keeping my private life private.
I would not be facebook friends with clients just as my family Doctor etc would not be with his clients.
How I behave during daycare hours and after daycare hours are two very different things lol
Now that being said , I don't have anything to hide BUT I need to keep my home and social life separate from my daycare life !
I can not control what my facebook friends say or post and it could be awkward to have daycare parents see that stuff:D

I do however have a facebook page just for my daycare families where I post all the daycare pics.

Exactly this!

[mom-in-alberta]

I am with a couple of them! But I totally get why someone wouldn't want that. Sometimes you need to keep that division between personal and professional.
My personal life is fairly tame, lol, and somewhat boring. So I am not worried about them seeing anything untoward. And if they did, I should hope that they understand that I am a real person, not a childcare robot!! Sometimes I go out with the girls, have a few drinks and a good time. There will not be any naked pics of me, or anything else I wouldn't want them to see. Just as I will not judge what I may see on their profile, I should hope the same.
And on the other hand, being friends with them has given me a little insight into their lives too. I don't think being facebook friends means we are "friends"-friends. It has proven a good way for me to communicate with some people, as well.

[sunnydays]

I probably wouldn't as I agree with what some of the others have said about keeping the relationship professional...frien dly, yes, friends, probably not. It is too hard to deel with issues when the arise if the client has become a friend. I barely use my facebook account and don't post pictures or many statuses, but I still wouldn't add them as friends...it just blurs the boundaries too much.

[Sunflower]

I am with a couple of them! But I totally get why someone wouldn't want that. Sometimes you need to keep that division between personal and professional.
My personal life is fairly tame, lol, and somewhat boring. So I am not worried about them seeing anything untoward. And if they did, I should hope that they understand that I am a real person, not a childcare robot!! Sometimes I go out with the girls, have a few drinks and a good time. There will not be any naked pics of me, or anything else I wouldn't want them to see. Just as I will not judge what I may see on their profile, I should hope the same.
And on the other hand, being friends with them has given me a little insight into their lives too. I don't think being facebook friends means we are "friends"-friends. It has proven a good way for me to communicate with some people, as well.

The problem with me is I am judgmental, I admit it lol..and I know that most people are. For examplem say I did go for drinks with the girls and parents saw the pics... then say Monday I have a rough time with their child and I inform them of this. I could totally see them saying"oh, she had a big weekend, now she`s tired and taking it out on x".. kwim ?
I don`t want to know ANYTHING personal about them so I can continue to view them as my daycare parents and nothing more.
I am only friends with my actual friends on facebook though... people I see often and family. That's it... no long lost friends from high school etc.

[Skysue]

I am with a couple of them! But I totally get why someone wouldn't want that. Sometimes you need to keep that division between personal and professional.
My personal life is fairly tame, lol, and somewhat boring. So I am not worried about them seeing anything untoward. And if they did, I should hope that they understand that I am a real person, not a childcare robot!! Sometimes I go out with the girls, have a few drinks and a good time. There will not be any naked pics of me, or anything else I wouldn't want them to see. Just as I will not judge what I may see on their profile, I should hope the same.
And on the other hand, being friends with them has given me a little insight into their lives too. I don't think being facebook friends means we are "friends"-friends. It has proven a good way for me to communicate with some people, as well.

I am but only with past clients so i can check in to see how there little one is doing! P.S Facebook is not private as many future employers can pay a sevice to look at our home pages!

[Sandbox Sally]

Nope.

I posted a little while ago about a potential dc client googling me. I know people google people, and I have even googled parents that I have corresponded with, but I would never TELL them about it! ;)

Anyhow, this woman was very judgemental, and I had photos from a zombie pub crawl thingy that she found, and she dared question me about it. Right then and there, I decided NEVER to be facebook friends with clients, and immediately set my home page to a very private setting (I also told the potential client to get stuffed lol). Again, nothing to hide, but NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS. I contacted the host of the pub crawl page and asked him to remove my name from the photos too. Sucks that we have to do this, but in our profession, we ARE judged based on first impressions...sigh.

[Nifer]

I have only added one parent to my 'friends' list. Two other parents I was actually friends with before taking on their children. But as for my other family and in the future I will not add any of them to my list. Mainly for all reasons already mentioned. I too have a page for my daycare where pics are posted as well as field trips, etc.

[canadianjule]

I have two accounts - one for friends and family and one for the daycare that is closed and only open to the parents with children in my care. They love seeing pictures of what their kids have been up to all week. I don't like to mix business with pleasure :)

[Play and Learn]

Only have one parent on fb, but she is a friend first before ever considering opening a home daycare!

But would never add parents on my fb. They can search for my fb group page, but not giving that out as public info.

I do however, tend to fb creep my daycare parents and dance school parents.

[mom-in-alberta]

I do however, tend to fb creep my daycare parents and dance school parents.

:laugh: I love that you admit you're a FB creeper....lol. I am too, on occasion. ;)

[FS2011]

I specifically have a daycare profile and a daycare like page where parents can communicate with me and I can advertise. I made the mistake of liking my daycare page from my personal profile and one of the parents tried friending me. I then ignored it and tried to act like I don't use my personal page lol, then she tried to add me again! Ugh, I caved the second time but put her on limited profile. Now she can only view certain things. I'd like her off completely but Its gone to far now, we message and comments on each others pics. Ugh lol oh well live and learn!

[Sandbox Sally]

I wanted to add to this thread that I did in fact become FB friends with a daycare parent, and the result was unpleasant. I said I'd never do it, but she got engaged and wanted to show me the pics; she mentioned that she'd add me that night so I could look.

Well, a couple of weeks later, my kids were away for the weekend, and dh and I decided to hit some pubs downtown. When the mother showed up on the Monday, I mentioned to her that I think I caught her daughter's cold. She said, "or it could be the result of all the beer you were drinking this weekend". :blink: Yipes. I changed settings so she can no longer see much of anything I post.

NEVER AGAIN.

[mlc1982]

I don't think the parents need to have access to our files. I think sometimes they forget that we are normal people too off hours and we can sometimes go and have some beers, or have a good time doing other things. Yes, we have kids and run a day home but that's not our complete life.
I have set up a group on my fb page where I can add pictures or communicate with parents. The thing is I haven't told any parents about it yet ..lol. I almost don't want the affiliation that much that I'm thinking of just setting up my own blog page to show parents what we do sometimes.

[momplus6]

I have one set of parents on my FB(both of them mom and dad) I consider us pretty good friends as well though, we trade kids for the weekends, they've let me use thier tent trailor. Of course things could go bad but I'm way to laid back to worry about that. They know I go out and party, so do they, so not really worried about them being in shock about that. Sometimes I've been out with the kids and end up dropping thiers off and end up going in for a beer, so don't think I'll run into problems there. I wouldn't add any of the other ones though.

I am a chatter though and do have pretty big conversations with a few of my parents. We also attend Birthday parties(well my son does he is old enough to be dropped off). Most of my parents are pretty awesome, things happen and there isn't much you can do about it, so I try not to stress about them screwing me over. Last month I got a 100$ bonus so that was pretty great and I felt appreciated.

[mammamia]

I've added the parents' I've become really good friends with-ones I know share common interests. However, especially being a huge vaccine awareness advocate, I don't need the added hassles of explaining myself to certain parents who work as a doctor, nurse, or super provax, pro medication moms who would judge or not understand. So I don't add them.

[VictoriaChildCare]

I have past parents on my personal facebook account, but like many of you I also have a dedicated fb account that is private for my daycare parents. I have actually turned down a parent's friend request with 'oops wrong account, add "this" one instead'. The line we walk is already so thin, it's best to keep private life and work separate.