I Cringe Every Time I See This FB Page

[Malmom]

This is a girl in the next town over. Every time I see her post on local community pages, linking her FB page to advertise, I just cringe. It's awful- full of grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors. Can I post her link here? I want to message her anonymously and tell her to make her page professional. Even if I wasn't in the child care business, I still wouldn't be interested in sending my child there because it looks like she needs someone to teach her too! It's the first impression that she is giving people of her and her business, and its just not a good one. Plus she just looks like she's trying too hard to look like a good provider, if that makes sense. Posting tons of pictures every day showing what you are doing doesn't make you a good provider.

I know, I'm being petty. But it bugs me every time I see her advertising. I can't help but feel if she would make her FB page more professional, she wouldn't have to advertise every single day. Would you say anything to her?

[littlemissmuffet]

I post pics on my business FB page regularily - not because I'm "trying too hard" but because the parents like it. Yes, it is advertising for me in a way, but that's just a bonus.

I don't mind seeing atrociously unprofessional adverts/web pages for other daycares because it just proves I have very little true competition in my area Don't let it bother you.

Also, bad spelling/grammer doesn't mean she's a bad provider either!

[crazydaycarelady]

I think there are times when grammar does not matter but there are times when it DOES matter, like in business and printed material. Particularly these days when it so easy to correct.

I'll never forget when my niece sent out her wedding invitations and there were a couple of grammatical errors. Her dad is an English Language teacher. I am sure he wished she'd used spell check!

[lolaland]

Here's a very different perspective...

I think that for MANY reasons it’s important to find ways to show families what you’ve been doing with the kids (fb is a good option if families approve it):
- It’s with us that these children spend most of their days
- Our work is almost invisible when kids are so young and unable to give detailed information to the question “how was your day little Lucy?”
- It is very difficult to have a proper conversation with parents at drop-off/pick-up time
- The art projects or blobs of paint in a paper sent home, have no meaning to parents even so you put so much thought and love making it a very important part of a specific theme…

I also don’t see what’s the problem of trying hard to prove you are a good provider? When so many people have the misconception that home daycare providers are babysitters just in this for the easy money, I think it is a necessity to prove yourself if you want to set yourself apart from that general bad impression.

By the way ::…I did spell checked this answer of mine but there must be still many spelling errors in it! You see, I have been living in USA’s “melting pot” only for 8 years and spelling checks don’t correct all my errors.

[Willow]

Please don't post a link and please don't contact her to criticize.

If you don't like it, simply don't look. I think your judgments upon a fellow colleague aren't very nice and it's no one's job to be the spelling and grammar police unless they're specifically being asked for proof reading input.

Frankly, I'd rather a daycare provider be wonderfully creative, loving and unable to spell for beans rather a boring, crabby and crotchety English major who also designs perfect webpages in her spare time

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

If you don't like seeing it, why not go to her page and block her? You don't have to be her Facebook friend to block her. Then you will never have to see her on there again! happyface

[just_peachy]

Spelling and grammatical errors drive me BATTY!!!! It'd make me cringe to see that page time and time again too. I used to judge people by their use of the written language. Then I met my insanely smart and awesome husband 10 years ago, we got married, had 3 babies, and started texting.

I didn't know until we began texting regularly that his spelling and grammar is ATROCIOUS. Almost embarrassingly so. I joke that I never would have married him had texting been commonplace back then. :: I no longer judge based on those things.

That being said, I'm constantly sending private messages to my blogging friends about spelling or grammar errors. They always thank me! I bet a friendly note to this provider would be appreciated.

[renodeb]

Would you post it please? I would love to see! Do you know her? I have a very good friend who is also a provider. She asked me to look at her cl add. I finally did and was afraid to tell her what I thought. When I finally did she was so nice about. If you bothered by it others will be to. Maybe drop her and email and see what happens!
Debbie

[mamac]

There is a local provider that lists her ad on craigslist and every time I see it I wonder to myself who would actually send their child to someone who can't even spell her BUSINESS NAME correctly! I'd also love to send her an e-mail asking her what she was thinking. Also, if an ad is rife with spelling errors I would definitely be looking elsewhere to send my child. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who don't know how to spell. Drives me nuts....

Btw... the name of her daycare is "Shinning Stars".

[MissAnn]

This is a girl in the next town over. Every time I see her post on local community pages, linking her FB page to advertise, I just cringe. It's awful- full of grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors. Can I post her link here? I want to message her anonymously and tell her to make her page professional. Even if I wasn't in the child care business, I still wouldn't be interested in sending my child there because it looks like she needs someone to teach her too! It's the first impression that she is giving people of her and her business, and its just not a good one. Plus she just looks like she's trying too hard to look like a good provider, if that makes sense. Posting tons of pictures every day showing what you are doing doesn't make you a good provider.

I know, I'm being petty. But it bugs me every time I see her advertising. I can't help but feel if she would make her FB page more professional, she wouldn't have to advertise every single day. Would you say anything to her?

Shew! The first thing I did was to look at what state you are in. Good thing, it isn't me! I don't living in Kentucky.

[snips&snails]

Btw... the name of her daycare is "Shinning Stars".

Not sure whether to laugh or cringe!!!! Didn't she have anyone who could tell her???

[melskids]

My 16 year old son has a learning disability that even spell check can't help.

That doesn't make him any less good at the things he DOES do well.

Just sayin'.

[Unregistered]

I agree with the OP. We have a provider in our town who cannot even spell the name of our city correctly on her Craigslist ad. Drives me batty, too.

The provider might be loving and kind, but you also have to wonder how she/he can teach kids how to read or spell if she/he cannot themselves. I would wonder how they speak. I don't always spell correctly, but at least I try to present my ads in a professional way.

We have a local gal who's daycare is supposed to have 'Angels' in the name and instead it is 'Angles' . 'Little Angles'!!!!

[Starburst]

There is a local provider that lists her ad on craigslist and every time I see it I wonder to myself who would actually send their child to someone who can't even spell her BUSINESS NAME correctly! I'd also love to send her an e-mail asking her what she was thinking. Also, if an ad is rife with spelling errors I would definitely be looking elsewhere to send my child. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who don't know how to spell. Drives me nuts....

Btw... the name of her daycare is "Shinning Stars".

Lol well that is one potental daycare name I will not be using then- I plan on having the word 'Star' in my daycare name too.

Anyway spelling errors in advertisements do bug me a bit because if you are trying to come off as professional you always want your final drafts to be proof-read. Just like with any business that sells good or services you want the final product to be the best it can be. And if I were a parent I would want the provider to be able to speak properly so that my child doesn't pick up unusual vernacular or bad grammer habits, espesually if they are going to be my child's main caregiver for 8+ hours a day. Since it is someone in your area that provides a similar service to you, I think I kinda understand the frustration because not only is that the image she is portraying of her own business but also the image she may be portraying of other providers in her area as well- it can come off to some as they don't need to be well educated for this career which could lead people into comparing it to "babysitting". But then again for all you know English may not be her first language- most languages have different speaking patterns than English; or she may speak really well but has problems getting what she wants to say into print- some people are very verbal but don't do well with computers or with writing/typing. And as another person said just because she doesn't have the best language doesn't mean that she isn't a good child care provider. Maybe she posts those pictures because she likes photography too. Though if her pictures includes the faces of the kids (not sure if they do or not but if they did) and if I were a parent and there was new pictures of my kid on FB every day on an a public page I would get annoyed, even if I signed a paper that my kids could be used in advertisements- it's called confidentiallity, if it was a secure page only for DC parents that is different.

If I were you, I would just ignore it and not do anything unless she asked you for help. If the parents choose to take their children there after seeing those advertisements, then those are most likely not the type of parents you want in your program anyway. Just continue to advertise your business and make sure to spell check and proof read everything before posting it in public and insure that you are being procieved as a professional; technically she still is your potential 'compitition'.

[AmyKidsCo]

I think people ARE judged by their spelling and grammar.

IMO if you're putting together professional materials - webpages, brochures, business cards, policy handbooks, forms, emails to parents, newsletters, etc - you NEED to make sure spelling and grammar are correct.

However, I think that in "casual" usage - texts, forums, FB posts, etc, where you're typing quickly or abbreviating - it's not such a big deal.

That's my 2c.