Facebook

[ttremble88]

For those whom have Facebook, do you add your daycare parents? I got a friends request from the mother of 'that' child. You know the one that gives you a headache from the time that they arrive to the time that they leave. My 'that' child comes in the form of a 9 year old boy that talks back and constantly lies.

Anyhow, even though I do not post anything specific about my daycare or the children on my facebook, other then cute things that are said/done (not mentioning names), I am not sure if adding families is a good idea.

Just wondering how many of you do/don't.

[mimi]

I don't. I just don't want to mix my work business with my personal business.

[dshtebazile]

I do not have any current families on my Facebook, but I do have 3 past families on there. It's nice to continue watching past children grow through photos and keep in touch with old clients. I wouldn't feel comfortable having a current family on mine though.

[5 Little Monkeys]

I don't add current or past families to my fb. I keep my business and personal life separate. I don't post any names or things like that but I might have a comment like "whooo, can't wait for the weekend!!!" and I don't want any parents thinking I'm anxiously awaiting the wknd to get away from their kids lol. Or if a child is having a difficult transition and I post "bring on the wine!" I don't want them seeing that either LOL. This was taught to us when I took some ECE courses and it's just always stuck with me.

My personal life has nothing to do with dc so therefore they don't need to see my fb. I've had one mom ask me what my fb name was because she couldn't find me (I keep my settings high) and I just explained to her that I don't add dc families and she was fine with that and totally understood. Shortly after that I changed my fb name to something parents would never know and I now block all of the parents just to be extra cautious. Fb is always changing so I will occasionally go in and make sure my settings are still set high.

[Dreamalittledream]

I'm the odd man out here. I have a 'secret' (settings are very high) group for my Daycare families in which I post daily pictures, info. etc. When I created it I knew no other way than to have to add the families to my personal Facebook account and link them in. I honestly have no qualms about it. Nothing to hide in this house. In fact, I think it helps new families really get to know us; our personalities etc. I will say I am very cautious as to what I post so that it maintains a level of respect for whomever may read it (be it my fellow church members, daycare families, children on Facebook...). I read a quote somewhere about how lucky my generation is that we didn't have Facebook (& the resulting pictorial evidence) during our crazy teen years...so true!

[5 Little Monkeys]

dreamalittledream... how true!! My girlfriends and I always talk about how we were lucky that fb didn't exist when we were in high school haha. I have nothing to hide and I am who I am but I don't want to have to watch what I say on fb (altho I guess to an extent I do anyways but that is just due to respect). There are times that I wish I didn't have some family members on there either hahaha

[cfred]

Guess I'm the freak in the bunch again. Yep...I'm FB friends with all of them. And still friends with all my old ones too. I like that we're all friends outside of work. We're all coordinating for our next Mothers' Dinner now and I appreciate that everyone wants to attend and shows genuine enthusiasm. It's nice The lines between professional and friendship relationships are very blurred. And oddly...none of them ever questions my practices, fees or policies. I kinda love it!

[mickyc]

Nope! I created a separate page for my daycare that parents can "like". On there I put pictures of all our art/crafts. I want to keep daycare separate from my friendships although it is hard sometimes when my daughter is friends with their children and we get invited to parties etc. I don't think there is any need for a parent to have access to my facebook.

[Judy Trickett]

No. Not on my personal FB page. I have a separate Daycare FB page for the parents.

[Samantha33]

I do. I don't have a cell phone for texting and that is how we communicate a lot of the time. I have nothing I want to keep from them and they have nothing to keep from me so it works well. I never post about my day or the kids. If it's been a rough day I tell them at pick up. My parents past and present have always understood there are challenges with children. I also tell them about the good days.