Do you use social media while you are working?

I have heard of a couple of instances recently where childminders who use their real names on sites like FB have been pulled up by Ofsted for posting messages when they were supposed to be working.

One was able to prove the child with her was asleep at the time because she had a record in the child's diary ... but the other childminder couldn't prove it and she received an action and lost her previous grading.

Just a little warning... if you do come on the forum using your real name - or use FB and other sites during the day - make sure the timing corresponds with the children's sleep - and that you can prove it if asked :D

thanks for the heads up Sarah :panic:

But can Ofsted really tell us we cannot use social media during the day when we are working?

But can Ofsted really tell us we cannot use social media during the day when we are working?

The action was related to not paying proper attention to the children - a safeguarding action - so the childminder was bumped straight down to unsatisfactory - regardless of quality of provision.

Very tough imo ...

Surely this is madness!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank goodness we dont have Ofsted in Ireland.

Some days i work 7am till 6pm, during this time i would speak to people on phone, maybe flick through the newspaper, now and again a friend may pop in for coffee.................having said that no matter what i'm doing the children are my main priority. Luckily my afternoon mindees sleep from 2 till 4pm and on afternoons when i'm really tired i may put tv on for 30mins while i enjoy a much needed cuppa.

I use FB lots and often talk to my family in England while children are sleeping. I even contacted a parent via facebook today to let her know mindee had broken her new glasses.

Sorry but i think this is just going too far:mad:

Will they stop childminders chatting to friends in school playground next??????

Wow. :ohdear: So had the inspector searched for them on FB and checked their posts? :confused:

When both mindees were asleep today I checked my emails and FB and here (of course :thumbsup:) but it was only for 10 minutes WHILST I ate a sandwich and drank a cup of tea!

That is harsh. Sometimes children are happily playing by themselves and you have a spare 2 min. I think because it is so easy these days because of having smart phones you can check everything in an instant. I personally do not have fb any more and only check my phone for messages and emails when they are asleep. However if you lots of children and they do not sleep at the same time surely you are allowed a 5 min break to have a bite to eat and sit down while they are playing!

Does that also mean that you are not allowed to prepare meals or nip to the loo, as you are not watching children for every second.

Maybe Truss can give us all a cover cm so we can take real breaks throughout the day!

I personally don't go on FB unless the children are asleep but I would make a call if I needed to or check my phone as long as the children were safe and entertained. I don't know many other professions where you work 10 hours or more a day without a break.....it's illegal for a start lol!!!

The action was related to not paying proper attention to the children - a safeguarding action - so the childminder was bumped straight down to unsatisfactory - regardless of quality of provision.

Very tough imo ...

That is very tough, isn't it? How many things do we do that could take our attention away from the children? Not in a dangerous way, but in a way that means we're not giving them 100% attention? Is it specifically the use of social media that they're picking cms up on? How does that differ to sitting filling in cming paperwork while working?

Out of interest, was the action relating to a specific incident (ie. a child was injured while the cm was using social media), or just to using social media which could lead to an incident?

surely it will also come down to us only being able to mind one child at a time as sometimes we need to focus attention on one rather than the group? For example when a child misbehaves.

Out of interest, was the action relating to a specific incident (ie. a child was injured while the cm was using social media), or just to using social media which could lead to an incident?

I don't know Mouse - I can ask the question but the childminder who got the action is not a happy bunny and has disappeared off the radar at the moment.

I remember some years ago asking Ofsted directly at a conference if we could do paperwork while the children were playing and they said yes that wasn't a problem - so that's what I have always said in answer to posts on the subject.

In fact, I do a lot of paperwork alongside and with the children, involving them in planning and their Learning Journeys - often one-to-one while the others play.

I can see and hear them all and I don't feel it's an issue. I would certainly argue the point during an inspection... and provide evidence to back up my claim that children need to free play.

From what I gather it was the social media aspect - 1 of them as a result of a complaint - I don't have details about the other.

Well I may as well not ever go for wee during my 11 hour day then. This is just ridiculous. I could fully see the point if there was an accident involved or something but not for someone grabbing 2 minutes to regain their thoughts or sanity!

I've checked and no, this is not an April Fool is it?

I'm gobsmacked! Whatever next. I sincerely hope there is more to this story, because on the face of it, its ridiculous logic. A minute taken to post a message or send a reassuring text to a new parent is no different to a minute taken to make a note on an observation.

I'd challenge, challenge, challenge, and I'll still be sending text photos of happy children to their parents DURING the working day. If I had face book, and if the parents wanted, I'd "post" those pictures too! Arrghhhh.

I don't know Mouse - I can ask the question but the childminder who got the action is not a happy bunny and has disappeared off the radar at the moment.

I remember some years ago asking Ofsted directly at a conference if we could do paperwork while the children were playing and they said yes that wasn't a problem - so that's what I have always said in answer to posts on the subject.

In fact, I do a lot of paperwork alongside and with the children, involving them in planning and their Learning Journeys - often one-to-one while the others play.

I can see and hear them all and I don't feel it's an issue. I would certainly argue the point during an inspection... and provide evidence to back up my claim that children need to free play.

From what I gather it was the social media aspect - 1 of them as a result of a complaint - I don't have details about the other.

I'm not surprised they've disappeared, poor thing.

I often email parents photos of their children throughout the day, which Ofsted loved at my last inspection. I take a photo on my camera, switch on my laptop, download the photos, find the one I want, figure out how to send it in an email, check it's sent, wait for a reply from parents...it takes time.

My cm friend takes photos on her phone & at the click of a button they're on her private FB page for parents to view...it takes literally seconds.

How can Ofsted love what I do, but label what my friend does a safeguarding issue for not paying attention to the children?

Unless they were invited as a friend or it was an open Facebook page, how the heck did they gain access to her page. If it was a private page it would be a total invasion of privacy. I have an iPad and can sit talk to children and. Look at different things. It's called multitasking. Like others have said where do we all stand in going to the toilet, preparing lunch and dinner, filling in paperwork, I had to Hoover the other day when during messy play they tipped rice all over the floor, should I have left it, causing a possible accident, as the children headed off into the playroom while I sorted it out. Absolutely bonkers, yet again. They are absolute control freaks, I have no idea why children are allowed to be brought up by untrained parents.....

They are absolute control freaks, I have no idea why children are allowed to be brought up by untrained parents.....

:laughing: WilshawTrussGove probably have plans to put a stop to this - bringing back workhouses, maybe? :rolleyes::p

Thanks for the warning Sarah - I am not on facebook but sometimes pop onto the forum if the children are playing nicely, I have my computer on all day as I fill in a daily diary sheet and try to write up observations as I see them (or at least add a little note hoping it will mean something when I get round to downloading the photos) I can't really see the difference - other than the forum is very addictive whereas surprisingly writing up observations isn't!

So when my little one aged three came today and told me she had posted a picture on my wall, was I not supposed to look at it with her and send a message back for her to open at home on mummy's iPad?
Ridiculous, children don't need us to be engaged in their play the whole time, they need the opportunity to play by themselves and with peers whilst being supervised, sometimes that involves getting the tea on, popping to the loo, answering calls, sending a text
It's not my way to be on and sending multiple messages whilst working, but I suppose that because I'm super busy at the moment.

Wow. :ohdear: So had the inspector searched for them on FB and checked their posts? :confused:

When both mindees were asleep today I checked my emails and FB and here (of course :thumbsup:) but it was only for 10 minutes WHILST I ate a sandwich and drank a cup of tea!

wow, impressive multi tasking:laughing::laughing:

I have the forum app on my phone and I check in sometimes once or twice a day, sometimes not, it just depends on how busy I am and what we are doing.
I am not really a facebook person, but one of my mums a while ago was surprised that I didn't use facebook, and made a point of saying that it was the quickest and easiest way to contact parents over the day, and that she was a bit disappointed that I didnt do that, as she would have been using it to contact me.
So I suppose you could argue a case for working with parents.
I personally think though that it is Ofsted going too far, maybe if they could prove that someone had been on all day, but then, surely some people have facebook running on their phone, my husband does, and how can you prove that you were not actually using it? I don't know how these things work, but most childminders wouldnt be abusing it anyway.

We have been told by our local authority that we should not be using social media sites during our working day. sometimes during my working day i don't see another adult in person and at times 5 minutes responding to a message on FB or having a quick look on here keeps me sane - if i do use my smart phone during the working day it is when i'm sat in the same room as the mindee who is playing safely independently or with my son, or whilst i'm making a cuppa, while mindee is asleep or whilst pushing the kids in the pushchair in the park - at no time are they in danger as a result of me taking 5 minutes to multi-task.

wow, impressive multi tasking:laughing::laughing:

The best kind! I'm not so keen on housework multi-tasking. :laughing::laughing:

Some people have really strong views over phones whilst working!! I'm a nanny and was let go by a family as she saw me pushing her child who was strapped in a buggy safely whilst I was on phone!! At no point was her child in danger!! I did however kindly point out to her that she had rang me just the day before to pick up ketchup on my way back from the park, where her child was running free!! I see nothing wrong with checking in to sites when kids are safe, as someone else says, this can be the only contact with an adult all day!! Luckily I got a very nice family after that job, and am now with another family who are just as lovely!! Their mum is very happy when I send her a pic or two throughout the day, in her words "it makes her day!!"

Kxx

I use Facebook but only comment on 'closed' groups. I won't post anything 'public' during my working day as I have parents as friends. Paperwork or social media, what is the difference? It's just petty nit picking and we are not children!

:laughing: WilshawTrussGove probably have plans to put a stop to this - bringing back workhouses, maybe? :rolleyes::p


I hope you are wrong! But nothing surprises me anymore with this government of fools! :panic:

My own children often play games on my facebook account whilst I am working. May have to reconsider this now :( It never ends does it?

I am potty training three 2 year olds. Have just sent messages via facebook to the mothers of two of them with some very positive news (wont go into detail lol)

Guess in Ofsted's eyes that was wrong thing to do

I have a friend who facebooks her mindees' parents throughout the day with little updates & photos. It takes next to no time on her phone.

I share the same information with my parents via daily diaries. I often have 4 to sit & write at the end of the day. Each one can take 10 minutes. If I want to add photos I need to down load them from my camera, chose which ones I want, print them, cut them out & stick them in books. I can be sat writing daily diaries for an hour at the end of the day.

How come Ofsted seemingly frowns on her way of doing it, but is fine with mine?

I would say, my children are perfectly well supervised. I am in the same room as them, I am fully aware of what they're doing ;)

Oh for goodness sake. We work 10hr days with no breaks, surely we are allowed a little time to live.


I'm on this forum now while my four play together as I need some blinking rest. I'm not a robot!!!!
At no point are they in any danger
This has made me cross

I assume these childminder friends of yours are going to argue their corner. It takes longer to update each parent individually by text than it does to upload a pic from a phone to fb for all parents to see, or on instagram or twitter etc.
Unless your friends were doing innapropriate or unrelated things on facebook, or spending long periods of time on it then ofsteds argument is invalid and will be easy to deal with.
Social media is a great tool for working in partnership with parents during the working day, and is a great way to get the kids involved with ict, and improve their CAL, as well as other skills, so I suspect that this is not the whole story. My kids love updating our facebook page and will ask if they can do so during activities, they would be gutted if I made them take a nap so I could do it secretly.

Her profile was obviously not set to 'friends' only then - no-one but my friends can see my fb activity and yes I go on in the day when the kids are engrossed in free play. Madness !

thanks for the warning Sarah. I always use forum when children asleep/during quiet time. now I have blackberry I do check my e-mails via my phone during the morning though.

I don't see how using fb/forum is any different from making a phone call whilst working. Today I called the GP to make an appointmnet - that won't be allowed soon. That said, I'm more careful with FB and rarely even like or comment during the daytime as I'm conscious of how it will be perceived even when kids are sleeping. :panic:

From the messages I am getting I have clearly upset some members and that was not my intention.

Childminders used to be seen as 'baby minders who sat children in front of the tv while they drank tea'. We have worked very very hard to throw off that image.

We don't want to become 'people who play games on fb while the children have accidents' - especially if the press get hold of it. That wouldn't do our reputations any good at all.

I have a friend who won't leave her house until she has watered her crops on some FB game or other - not a cm but let's not allow that to happen.

I think we need to take a measured approach here... and to be aware of what we are doing when we are working... and to be careful how we are perceived... and not shoot the messenger :D

While I agree it is ridiculous that we are being penalised for using social network sites every now and then, when I look at it from the view of a parent it doesn't sit well with me if I'm honest.
If my daughter was at a cms at I saw that she had played 'candy crush' or posted a conversation to a friend I'd be asking 'where was my child while you we're doing this?'
Before I get my head bitten off I'm not saying that we shouldn't post on facebook, it should be infrequent as it really would look bad seeing six or seven updates a day. There is a difference in posting on facebook and sending a text to update parents as Facebook is a social media site, i.e a site to socialise- that's probably where the difference lies as Ofsted will see it as such. We are being paid to mind children not to chat on Facebook after all, however innocent the intentions, and I think the original post was right to warn us that our actions may be monitered online just in case xx

I can see both sides of this, after all there are always going to be people that take it to the extreme but these are the cm's that already give us a bad name unfortunately.

I have been on fb and the forum during my working day, it would generally be if the children are sleeping but there are times when they are playing happily that I have been on too.
I would never do it when I was unable to supervise the children or if they could put themselves in danger.

I am very aware of anything I put on fb and if ever I have updated my status when working it is during sleep time, on those occasions I always start it with - sleep time, a little bit of rest for me, or words to that affect.
We live in a small village and it would do no good for my reputation if I was seen to be using social media all the time...

Well I must be a horrible childminder , because I do lots of things whilst im childminding

I reply to emails , cook meals , do paperwork , read , talk on the phone, I even go to the toilet !!

Im confident that the children are perfectly safe in my care and I give them enough attention

But I do worry that we are being made to feel that we have to interact (I call it interfere) with the childrens play too much

Yesterday the children set up a coffee shop and happily played and interacted with each other for over an hour , and today in the garden they transferred every grain of sand in the sand pit to the playhouse using tiny buckets and this kept them amused for almost an hour.

They prefer it sometimes when I dont talk to them , it means they talk to each other more and thats when they have their best ideas :thumbsup:

As I said in my initial post, I do hope there's more to the story than meets the eye, because if Ofsted really are down grading for the reason given, then quite frankly I think we're right to be upset! I agree that we have a reputation to protect, and I thank Sarah for making us aware of another possible pitfall, but I also think that it's unacceptable that I might lose a grading I worked hard for simply and solely because an inspector says I can't post on a social media site during my working day.

Rant over! :)

I'm genuinely surprised that so many childminders don't see it as a problem. I don't have a smart phone anyway, but I would feel very guilty if I turned my computer on while I'm minding unless the children were asleep. As a parent, I would not be happy if I knew that my (hypothetical) childminder was using the internet whilst caring for my children, even though it is something I do when they are at home with me! Slightly hypocritical perhaps, but if I was paying for childcare my highest concern would be quality care for my children, rather than the childminder's social life. I would agree with others that it doesn't compromise supervision or safety, but I do think it can compromise quality of provision. I know I'm a much better parent when I resist the urge to turn on the computer until the children have gone to bed! The problem with the internet and social media is that it can be addictive and the minutes soon add up. However, I can understand using it in a daily diary/learning journal type way.

I am surprised that Ofsted would go to the trouble of searching through someone's Facebook posts though... surely they have better things to be doing!