Ok folks, so how many of you have posted the “Facebook Alert!!” that Facebook is going to allow Google to index your profile?? I know about 38 people that posted it which is all fine and dandy, but it does cause a viral panic that isn’t 100% accurate.
Facebook posted this on the top of my Security Page when I went to review my already “locked down” profile:
“There have been misleading rumors recently about Facebook indexing all your information on Google. This is not true. Facebook created public search listings in 2007 to enable people to search for your name and see a link to your Facebook profile.”
Verify your profile indexing settings by clicking on Settings (at the top of the page) –> Privacy Settings –> Search –> then UN-CHECK the box that says ‘Allow indexing’.
The Allow Indexing button reads:Allow search engines to access your publicly available info and any information visible to Everyone
So in other words, Facebook is going to allow search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, whatever) to search PUBLIC INFO (i.e., your name, profile pic and anything else you’ve left unprotected). Facebook released an announcement a week ago about changes being made to your Privacy Settings, so this isn’t something they tried to “hide”.
Ok, so back to the point…hopefully you’ve already “locked down” your facebook profile so that only the PEOPLE you WANT to be able to view “that you don’t like when it rains because it makes your hair look bad” can see that and no one else.
Now…there are steps you MUST take to secure your profile. It seems that most profiles are already pretty secure, but when the latest Facebook New Privacy push came out a few days ago it did raise a few eyebrows of Security Experts.
a snippet and quote from the article:
A spokesperson from security firm Sophos says in a statement to Mashable:
“These could be the most important clicks you ever make on Facebook. If you don’t read carefully you could find that every post you make on Facebook, and your personal information, is visible to everyone in the world who has a computer rather than just your Facebook friends.
Let’s make this clear. If you make your information available to ‘everyone,’ it actually means ‘everyone, forever.’ Because even if you change your mind, it’s too late — and although Facebook say they will remove it from your profile they will have no control about how it is used outside of Facebook.”
SO ACT NOW!
I’m not going to scare you by posting that Google is going to index your Facebook profile (enough of your friends have done that already).
But I will say, “Make sure you review your Facebook Privacy and Security Settings and adjust them to suit your personal level of privacy.” I can’t stress enough that YOU have to ensure your privacy settings are how you WANT them to be set. It takes just a few minutes to get in there and review your security/permissions and figure it out. Start small…start with photo albums of your kids. Only let those people that you really know see your kid’s pics. That’s how I’ve set things up.
Now, I’m a rather OPEN person and social media junkie and I’ve pretty much locked down my Facebook Profile to allow only certain Lists (groups) to see different parts of my profile, photo albums, status updates etc.
HELP!! HOW DO I SET MY PRIVACY AND SECURITY???
Well there are a few ways to do this. First I would start off by creating a few Lists/Groups of friends. Take my example, I have lists named:
Business
College
High School
Kids (all my friends that have kids that we know)
Limited Profile (restricted profile settings)
No Status Updates (DON’T GET ON THIS LIST! HAHA!)
Friends (a growing list of close friends)
and more…
If you add a user to more than one Friend List, and those Friend Lists have conflicting privacy settings, the more restrictive of the privacy settings will always be respected.
So for example, you don’t want people to see your college photos except a select few college friends, you could customize the permissions for a specific photo album to only allow the select college friends to view. Or maybe you don’t want your business contacts to see your status updates, pics, etc. Just set up a Friend List for Business and set all the Privacy settings to not show to Business. It’s actually VERY SIMPLE once you get started.
CONTACT ME FOR HELP FEEL FREE TO ASK ME QUESTIONS ON SECURING YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE. You can post to my wall, or message me on FB or get me on Twitter @DaddysToolboxOTHER LINKS TO READ Facebook Friend Lists: http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=768
I always get a laugh out of watching this video from Man Stroke Woman, a British comedy show. And it’s perfect for this week, as I’ve come down with a “Man Cold” which is more like the flu. I’m all achy and running a low-grade fever. Nothing a few Advil can’t take care of.
Way to go Buddy! I’m so proud of my son for becoming comfortable jumping into a swimming pool!! Of course, I still freak out when I see him do it and go underwater for 8 seconds. But it no longer seems to phase him.
Today, both of our kids spent the morning and most of the afternoon over at my parent’s community pool while I did some work on my basement project and my wife did her things. I think it’s best this way since I tend to overreact to small things and get freaky when the kids don’t listen to me at the pool (or anywhere for that matter). I think if I was with them today at the pool my pre-K son wouldn’t have had the courage or confidence to jump in without someone holding his hands or catching him and he also probably wouldn’t have learned to swim with his face in the water.
I think my parents do a good job of watching and teaching the kids things at the pool and tend to me way more relaxed that myself and my wife. Probably since grandparents have already raised children (us) and no what to expect.
So anyway, I’m very proud of my son for what he accomplished today. He’s been going to 1 hour swim lessons with this Pre-K class every Friday for a few weeks and has been learning how to blow bubbles and the instructor has them do back float and then pulls the kids in the water. Guess this helps to build confidence!
Today my son wanted to show Mommy and me what he’s been learning and then some! I wish I had my camera to snap photos to remember. Guess I’ll just have to read my blog posts in a few years to remember this day!
My son has said a few words that just freaked me out.
And these words were not “shit” and “fuck” — those would have been nice!!!
What he said was “I’ll cut you in half” and “I’ll kill you” during his “no-nap, long-day-running-around meltdown” from 7:30-8pm tonight. And he was saying that directly at his sister since he wanted Mommy to put him to bed. My wife heard him say that an immediately asked him where he heard such words. His response, “[name removed] from Pre-K2 at school.”
Great!!!
Well the unnamed child is the same one that less than a year ago was talking about guns and stuff — and he was only 3 years old then! This is going to be A PROBLEM! And one that I am addressing with my child’s daycare immediately via email to the Director as well as on Monday morning with a phone call or face to face. Something like this needs to be addressed immediately by the school and a resolution to the issue by removal of the problem student and any siblings. Harsh? No, not at all…it’s a private daycare, one where I’m paying $1200 for both kids to attend. This situation calls for an immediate and appropriate response from the school’s director. If not, then I’ll have to go to the corporate office for satisfactory resolution….which in my mind is the immediate removal of the problem child.
Not only were these words just awful to hear…I also find out that the same child is making all of the boys in the pre-K room speak like robots or people with traceotomy tubes. Ok that isn’t anywhere near as bad as cutting someone in half, but still it’s an annoyance I, and my son, don’t need. My wife learned about the annoying voices while at soccer practice today. There is a child in the earlier soccer class, and that goes to my son’s same daycare, that came up and said hi to my son in that weird voice. My wife looked and said to the other child’s mom, “Your son does that too!??” And the mom said, “YES! It’s annoying and he’s learned it from another boy in his daycare class”…ends up being the same child that is alleged to have said the bad words and phrases.
Anyway…Over the past two weeks my wife and I noticed that our son just didn’t seem himself at daycare/school. I even emailed his teacher directly to ask her if everything was ok. She replied and said everything seemed to be ok and that my son was playing with all of his friends like normal. For all of you…my son is very affectionate, caring and considerate and while talking with my wife before writing this post we think our son was acting the way he was because of things going on at school. He knows not to say bad words and stuff and if he was hearing those things he might have felt out of place and unsure of what to do.
My wife finally got my son to calm down and like I said, he told us where and from whom he heard “cut you in half” (just say that like 3x to yourself and think about those words coming from your child’s mouth) it’s sickening. He’s never said anything bad like that.
Do any of you [other parents] reading this have any advice for me? Do you have children in daycare and pre-k that are learning inappropriate phrases or behaviors? I’m not sure what to do?!? Any thoughts?
Awesome contest over at Dad-Blogs.com where they’ve teamed up with Kid Creations to giveaway a kick-ass wooden swingset / playset to one lucky family (living in Chester County, PA). Oh please let it be me! Otherwise I have the long, drawn-out task this spring to build a playset for my kids. We already have 2 slides, the rock wall, but NO wood…like as in NO actual tower, landing, and swing bar. I guess I could always find a low hanging branch and bungee the rock wall and slide to it.
Does that work??? Hmm, probably not safe, eh?
So if I don’t win the playset then there goes 7 minutes 38 seconds of each weekend to build one! My wife WANTS me to do projects like finishing my basement, or “hey honey MOVE that plant from there to here…no the OTHER here!”, and “can you plant me a garden”, and oh I forgot…”you can’t do this stuff during the day!” So….my kids will be 22 years old by the time I’m done and wondering why the Hell I built them a swing/play set!!
Anyway, Kid Creations is a manufacturer of wooden swing sets and accessories and located smack-dab in the middle of the US, as in Kansas. Good for shipping to the east and west, I guess. Which is perfect for shipping down Interstate 70 or whatever road is close by.
In any event, what a kick-ass contest to be running in time for spring and summer fun, barbeques, playdates, my annual Autumn Pig Roast, etc.
Why Kids Love Swingsets and my time as a kid
I’m not sure why all kids LOVE swingsets but they do. “PUSH ME!!!!!” “No!!!! Not that fast!” “Faster!!!!” oh sorry, i had a relapse back to a few nights ago… Well I might have an idea as to why they love it. When your kids are young they enjoy having Mommy and Daddy there with them, pushing, pulling and laughing with them. As kids grow up a swing set could be a way to boost a little confidence…i.e, jumping off at eight feet high!
I know when I was a kid we had one of those old Rusty-Pole-with-Metal-Chainlink-Swings swingset. We also had some rickety old metal-tetinus-causing jungle gym to climb on. But guess what? My friends and I loved it! Wherelse do kids learn to be afraid of heights? haha…I am and it’s probably because I used to swing fast and high and then jump off. Who didn’t!?
Ok, wow, I was just going to write a short paragraph about all of this, but then my fingers just kept typing and I got to remember my youth! cool! time to get some sleep.
Ha! I wish I meant that kind of “lucky night” (i.e., Business Time – watch video)…but unfortunately my lucky night isn’t about having sex…it’s about the evening I get to spend alone with my wife. Usually once a week my parents (mama and papa) take both kids for the night – picking them up from preschool and dropping them off the next morning. Do I miss my kids??? Not really…well of course I miss them…but I also love the fact that I get to spend alone time with my wife to talk about things, grab a nice dinner alone, and tackle house chores and projects that can’t get done when all four of us are home.
As for our kids, well they really do love going to Mama and Papa’s house (15 minutes away) and playing, watching movies, eating popcorn, getting a fun bath, you name it — they like it. And so do my folks! Sure, my wife and I are probably spoiled because we have my parents around to watch the kids one night a week — no…we are spoiled and WE LOVE IT!
For instance, tonight…my wife and I hit Wegmans (food store) after work to get food for the rest of the week and weekend. Then we hit Victory Brewing Company, Downingtown, PA for a good meal and beers, we had the Abbey 6 ale. Truly amazing ale! After dinner it was time to head home where we got to do our ‘own’ thing and then off to bed…yeah, I know, I’m lame and posting this from my bed right now while my wife is sleeping.
Ok, I know what some of you will say…but having two kids, sure takes the “energy” out of us and even on our alone nights we spend the time talking about us or fun things. Sometimes we even catch up on missed shows on the DVR.
Are you looking for something fun to do with your kids this weekend for an hour or so? Didn’t get your wife anything for Valentine’s Day? No worries…here is a great solution to both! (Image from RunnerJenny on Flickr)
Why not participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count? Yeah, that’s right, sit by your window or journey onto your deck (if it’s fairly warm) and count some birds. While counting have your kids draw some pictures of birds and slap some hearts on it. Give that to Mommy as a Valentine’s Day card.
I receive an email from Green Daily and the post was in today’s feed.
If you enjoy birdwatching or even just need a good reason to get outside, consider the Great Backyard Bird Count which takes place February 13-16. In the midst of the Valentine plans for the weekend, take a few minutes to look for some birds.
By counting the birds, you’ll be teaching your children about nature and possibly how birds migrate — and if your kids are 4 and 2 yo like mine, you can teach them to count and learn their colors. Have them count the birds on the ground, the birds in trees, and even the birds flying. Try to determine which bird is bigger than the others. By doing all of this and interacting with them you may spark an interest in nature in your child which I always think is a good thing! I’ve done similar nature activities with my kids last fall…when I took them on a “nature hike” in our backyard. We looked for bunnies and I even showed them “where the bunnies live”. It was just a brush pile in the woods behind our house. But they sure thought the bunnies lived there — in that EXACT spot.
So if the weather is nice in your neck of the woods…why not get outside, breathe the fresh air and teach your kids a little bit about the birds and the bees…well there won’t be any bees in my area yet…whew! I can hold off on that conversation for a long time!
Good God, kids have so much energy. They don’t stop moving, squirming, or fussing. And mostly, they never tire out and want to fall asleep at night. If you don’t know, my children are 4 and 2 1/2…so you know how things are going if you have similar ages.
Right, hectic at times!
I need to write tonight (now this morning). I think it helps me deal with the struggles I go through with my “Groundhog’s Day” life. Same thing day in and day out. Same mornings, same evenings, same old thing.
Ah, the beautiful morning…la la la LA la la laaaaaa!
Ok let’s start with the morning. It’s 5:45am and my son decides for some crazy reason that he is”bored” in bed and wants needs to wake up. Who’s name gets screamed? “MOOOMMMYYYY!!!!!”. Who has to go in to his room? RIGHT! The author of this post, me, Daddy! I’m not going to ask “why is that?” because it won’t do any good. It’s been that way for over 4 years. My wife just loves to sleep. I an early bird (and night owl), probably why my kids are so messed up with sleeping.
At least lately I’ve been having my son stay in bed until 6am despite his concerns that he thinks it is boring. GOOD! I want it to be boring. I am also having him color pictures which he loves to do, which makes him stay in his bedroom (I’m in here now typing this). And right now I’m thinking that after his pictures we’ll go downstairs and do ‘adult things’ like fold the laundry. He’s going to love that? Who cares! It’s a morning adult task — and those are what Mommy and Daddy do when we wake up in the morning. I will refuse to turn on the TV like I’ve done many times in the past. He just needs to learn to sleep in until 6:30am at least. Without sleeping in my son gets tired in the afternoon, his “batteries” wear out and takes refuses to nap at home on the weekends. This has an ill effect on our evening and bedtime routine. He is sometimes a real bear to get to bed, going into a meltdown just after dinner. So parents beware, kids NEED to nap/rest on the weekends. Or at least have quiet alone time, time to recharge. Definitely makes the night time more fun for all. (because lately I have zero patience for meltdowns and whining).
Ok so that was my mornings…now let’s learn about my evenings.
Our kids both attend a great daycare school and he pick them up around 5:30pm and therefore get home around 6pm. Yeah, it’s not the most ideal situation, but we’ve gotta work and that’s just how it is. We’ve accepted it. So by 6pm, they are usually hungry, sometimes a little snack in the car helps with the hunger pangs. Sometimes nothing helps and that hunger turns to them arguing. They BOTH want the attention of either Mommy or myself, whomever picked them up from school. Ok, that is natural for them to want to share their day with us. I love to hear it too! But not both at the same time. Recall, ages 4 and 2 1/2…so the battle between then ensues and my head is ready to explode. Yesterday I had enough and just cranked the music up in the car — and I mean loud! It was the Cha Cha Slide song. They both love to listen to it and try to stomp their feet while strapped into the car seat. Of course the song only helped for so long. Soon after the next song came on, my son’s new favorite (Beautiful Girls buy Sean Kingston — don’t ask…he must like the beat…) things went bad, fast! My daughter started to sing along but didn’t get the words right…so that made my son go ballistic. I had to pull over and stop. That didn’t help. I had to get out of the car. That didn’t help. I then (honest to God) smacked his cheek very lightly to get him to stop. It did. He was being extremely disrespectful to me at that moment and it’s been a thing of his to yell at mommy and me when he’s upset. Anyway, I feel bad for doing that but I need a way for him to learn he cannot CONTROL us and I know that i need at way to not let his control me or my wife. Otherwise I’ll be crazy in 9 years when he’s a teenager!!
Ok, we’re home and I need a beer. Dinner was good and bathtime was good. Good!!! Earlier crisis forgotten.
Bedtime, yay!!
Noooo. Bedtime battle! I typically put my daughter to bed which was always an easy task until about 2 months ago. She’s starting to not want us to leave the room. Yeah, I know…that is common for 2 year olds and up. They start to realize we are not there in their room. But why does she cry??? Let’s investigate.
Does she seem afraid?
Heck no! My daughter says to me with a laugh, “Monster get my toes…better cover up!” So what do you think? Afraid? No way…just a stall tactic. I won’t be fooled.
Is she screaming to get attention?
DEFINITELY!!! Even after a bath and fun times asking about her day and then 3 books, she still wants “One more book”. If I hear that “One more time” I’m gonna freak out. Now wait….I’m not being a grumpy old Daddy. I’m being reasonable. I’ve tried the “one more book” sob story many nights…and it turns into my reading her what equates to a whole shelf of books and lasting until 9pm.
So my thing is to enjoy about 30 minutes with her and then read three books, whichever books she wants. I try to read the last book in her bed, the others I read on the floor or chair. Then I let her pick a song for me to sing, like “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”, “Baa Baa Black Sheep”, or “ABC’s“. Of course, last night I got half one through Baa Baa and she switched to ABCs. I just kept going with the flow and made a longer medley of songs. This is her way of keeping me in the room longer.
But after repeated warnings of “Daddy is going to bed now” I finally stand by the door as she’s crying out my name and slip out with a “Goodnight Sweetie, I’ll see you in the morning”. I then stand outside the door for a few minutes and soon the crying becomes wimpers and then nothing. I’ve peaked in after 10 minutes to sometimes find her sound asleep and other times she is still up reading books to her stuffed animals. I don’t mind if she is reading until 9pm. It’s good for her to learn to fall asleep on her own. My wife and I messed up with our older son, he still needs us to stay in his room. Things are getting better with that…some day things will be all good.
I found the below information on FamilyEducation.com:
Now, what about the screaming? Is she tired? Since she falls asleep in five minutes, it seems unlikely that her screaming is because she is not tired. To encourage a regular sleep pattern, try waking her at the same time each morning. At this age, one afternoon nap of no more than two hours should be sufficient.
If you stay in her room or extend her bedtime ritual, she interprets her screaming as successful. It would be better to leave the room and ignore her crying (though it may get worse before it gets better). (From Family Education web site)
Closing
I write my true feelings to share with others. If I did something bad I’ll mention it. Sure, I try to find humor in what I write, but this stuff is real. If you’re a new parent I want to give you my issues, my fun stories, and any ammunition you may need to battle similar situations that I’m facing. Good luck to all the Dads out there.
If you have similar situations let me know. I could also use some help from time to time and appreciate your comments and feedback.
Wow this wagon is pretty sweet! Look at it!! It is the latest from Radio Flyer… the Cloud 9. I bet it is like being on “cloud 9″ with the bucket seats, MP3 player, 5-point racing harness, and that’s not all! Parents can also track temperature, time, distance and speed all using a digital handle. That is insane! But at the same time, really cool! I would have liked to have seen a motor for helping to pull up hills! And where is the hidden beer cooler for sneaking into parks and beaches… haha.
I just finally sat down to see how to connect my 4 yr old’s new Leapster2 to the Leapster web site and create his profile…
But as I’m typing this, looks like more than just my son got a Leapster this Christmas. I’d say a whole lotta kids did due to the error I’m getting on Leapfrog’s web site. Site is down, probably from all the parents and kids attempting to connect to it!
Maybe I’ll try again later…
We’re sorry!
Our site is experiencing technical difficulties. 13:40 CST: Continuing to diagnose the technical issues. We will update this page every 30 minutes.
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