Joshua in his classroom the first day of school

Joshua started 5K last week, with Connor entering 4K. Over the summer and especially in the weeks leading up to the start of school, Joshua was very excited. For the past 5 years, he’s gone to the same day care center so he knew all the teachers and had lots of friends there. This was a new adventure – a new school and he didn’t know anyone. Joshua is big on routine and schedules so I completely understood his hesitancy as, for the first time, he didn’t know what he’d be doing every day.

As we live three blocks from school, I have the opportunity to walk to and from school with him every day. I cherish these two small periods of time with him every day and was very excited to walk with him on his first day. The closer we got, the more apprehensive he became. And, of course, the first day of school is nothing short of chaotic which did not help matters. People wandering everywhere, lots of noise and very overwhelming to him.

After meeting his class in the multi-purpose room, we walked with him down to his new classroom. Out in the hallway were hooks with a child’s name above each one. Joshua found his, hung up his backpack and sat down to wait. Once we got inside the classroom, more chaos ensued. Needless to say, leaving him there that first morning was a tad traumatic. He cried and didn’t want to let go of me, and I managed to keep it together until I was out in the hallway. Then I cried as I walked the 3 blocks back home.

All day I counted the minutes until I could walk back over and pick him up. I restrained myself from walking past while they were out to recess or lunch, knowing that if he saw me, it would make things even worse. Finally, it was 5:00 and I went to pick him up. He was very happy to see me, but it was like pulling teeth to have him tell me about his day. He did talk excitedly about art class, but my heart broke when he told me that at recess time after lunch, he sat by himself and cried because he missed me. I still get teary thinking about it.

Now it’s a week later. He still doesn’t talk much about school and I have to ask a million questions to get just a few answers out of him, but he seems to really like school. He’s slowly getting to know his classmates and is making friends. It’s easier to drop him off, too – he’s satisfied with a hug, kiss and three squeezes of his hand (he knows that means “I love you”). I’m hoping he gets to the point that he was at day care – having so much fun that he doesn’t want to go home at the end of the day.

I’m really looking forward to what he learns this year, what homework entails and figuring out what he likes and dislikes about school. I never minded school but my husband does not have fond memories, especially of his early years. I’m hoping Joshua does not follow in his dad’s footsteps but instead loves school. Time will tell. In the meantime, it’s off to bed as we have a busy and exciting day tomorrow!

The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized how dangerous this idea would be. Say the class is on a field trip and the teacher “checks in”.  That lets every pervert and sicko out there know where a group of small children is currently located.  Ditto for promoting center events like the Summer Picnic or the aforementioned carnival.

So perhaps the option is a closed community, accessible by password only and parents have to be invited?  Cool idea but I realize daycare centers are strapped for resources, this wouldn’t be in their budget (the cost to build and maintain) and the teachers really don’t have time during the day to do live updates of events/activities.

So what’s the answer then?  How to businesses like this become active on social media to attract new families and keep parents of existing “students” up to date on activities and happenings?  I will say my daycare center took a step in the right direction when they offered the ability to receive the monthly newsletter via email instead of hard copy (which we took advantage of). So what’s the next step for them?  Any ideas?

After a series of phone interviews, reference checking, etc., an offer was extended and I gave my notice to Pinstripe to joing ClearEdge.  My friend and former colleague, Barry Diamond, was shocked that this whole thing happened without meeting Leslie in person.  That’s where we’re at now, though; no longer are in-person interviews necessary.  As a side note, ClearEdge‘s entire team is virtual so that culture of using technology to communicate and stay connected is second nature (and a perk of the job, I might add!).

Interestingly, I was entertaining one other job offer while deciding about ClearEdge, and there were also two other employment opportunities that weren’t at offer stage but were moving that way.  And in all 3 of those cases I had been pursued.  Two of those other three were referrals – someone suggested me for the position and one person found me on LinkedIn after doing a keyword search.

So when people ask if social media is a waste of time  and/or how could anyone possibly find a job that way, I like to tell my story.  It all goes back to the same basic principles of using social media successfully – 1) don’t just show up, participate!  Become a thought leader on a topic; 2) share relevant information, don’t just ask others for a job or a favor – you have to give to get; and 3) constantly build your network. You never know where that next great opportunity will come, either personally or professionally.

So tonight as I was putting him to bed, he said to me “Mommy, I have a secret to tell you.”  I leaned over so he could whisper in my ear and here’s what he said, “I’m not going to the dentist tomorrow”, followed by a giggle.  We’ll see how this goes.

As I think about it, I think it’s people like me he wants to reach. People who are busy but realize how important physical activity is for health (both mentally and physically); people who want to get exercise out of the way in the morning; people who need to change up their workout frequently; people who want a challenge.  So where are those people and how do we reach them via social media?  Food for thought, indeed. I’ll keep you posted.

Fast forward to today, December 2.  For the second time this week I made a call to the adjuster I originally spoke to on the phone. When I called yesterday, I was told she had been on vacation since November 19 and no one had done anything with the claim since that time but she assured me she would reach out to the other party that day.  I heard nothing by noon today so I tried to call her again. This time I got her voicemail message which indicated she only worked until noon today. Given that we’re coming up on a month since the accident happened and my passenger door is still unable to be opened, I was MAD.  So I went onto Twitter and tweeted a message using @amfam to explain my displeasure. Within an hour I had a response from someone at American Family, apologizing and asking if I would send details to a specific email address.  I did that and within an hour I also had an email response. Within 45 minutes of that email, I received a voicemail from someone at American Family who said she would call me again tomorrow first thing.

So kudos, so far, to American Family, to listening to the chatter on Twitter. And kudos for having the processes in place to do something from that point forward. Now we’ll see just how quickly they issue the money so I can get my car fixed.  Stay tuned…..