Just Telling Our Story

Day care situation: An update

I know this post is overdue, and I am behind in my blogging. You’ll have to forgive me; last week was a mess of deadlines and other stressful times. But I’m well rested after a nice, long weekend, and am ready to tackle another workweek…

…but not before an update on the whole day care situation. This will be quick, because honestly I’m tired of thinking about the whole thing. But I wanted to give you an update, especially since that blog post has been one of the most popular hits on my blog since the beginning, and several of you have e-mailed me or posted comments of concern.

So here’s the long and short of it. First of all, our meeting lasted about an hour and 20 minutes, and the majority of it was spent by G’s teacher telling us how well they do everything and how they have so much work to do with about 25 kids going to the pool and park program. She also expressed her frustration that they have 20 boys and only 4 girls in the program and how immature the class is this year.

Yet, she said the letter she sent home with G a couple of weeks ago now was just a result of a very frustrating couple of days; G wasn’t being as bad as we had interpreted the letter to be saying. Apparently it wasn't any big deal now that they look back on it. He was just playing when he should have been sitting at the park program. And it wasn't just our son who was causing trouble. (Keep in mind they were threatening to kick him out of the park program and ultimately school if things didn’t get better ASAP.) Apparently, that letter (or at least some variation on it) went home with every child in the class that day. On the one hand, it made me feel better that our son wasn't being as bad as we had understood to be the case, but on the other, they should never have made it sound so dire if that were the case. The poor guy had been "grounded" for the first time in his life after that letter came home...and this was three days later that we had the conversation with his teacher.

My opinion is that having the director in the room for our discussion (at our request) really put G’s teacher on the defensive, and suddenly things weren’t as bad as she had made them seem. Ultimately, I didn’t feel like we had made a lot of progress with the whole situation, although we did come to an agreement on a couple of things:

• They agreed to put sunscreen on him before going to the park program. The fact that they have a lot to do was not a good enough excuse to me for them to ignore the health of my child’s skin for two hours in the direct sun every day.

• They say (I’ll believe it when I see it, though) that they will work on communication with us as the parents. We should have been told about behavior problems on Day One, not on Day Three, when things were to the point of getting kicked out (or so she led us to believe). Communication has been lacking with them from the beginning of G's time in that class.

• They will separate G and the trouble-maker kid, or kids, as it turns out. There’s apparently the one obvious Bad Boy and another that I didn’t know was a problem until our conversation.

• We’ll take him some aqua shoes to protect his feet from the four hours on wet concrete at the pool, hopefully avoiding any excessive blistering. We'll also take him some higher SPF sunscreen. (We had taken in 30, but until our meeting, the teacher said they just take one to the park and use it on everyone. She denied that statement when the director was sitting right there. She said I must have misunderstood her. Not possible, my friends. She said straight out that they only took one that day, and "I'm pretty sure it was waterproof." Not much room for misunderstanding that one.)

When we left there, I was feeling just OK about the whole thing. I was expecting to get some specific answers on a couple of things, and on some I did, but others I didn’t. Plus, I left there feeling even less secure about the days at the pool.

Why?

• There are only two adults that accompany the 24 kids to the pool. One sits under an umbrella up on the concession deck the entire time, leaving only one adult at the poolside to keep an eye on 24 kids. My son cannot swim on his own yet, and after last week’s trip to the pool, he came home very proud of himself that he had jumped into the deep end—even though he has on the bracelet that’s supposed to identify him as a shallow-end-only kid. Thank God he only jumped far enough that he could reach the wall and climb out. I honestly have frequent nightmares about my kids drowning, so you can imagine how this freaked me out a bit.

• When the one teacher that’s assigned to poolside has to go potty, there is no one watching our kids—except for the lifeguards. But if you’ve visited this pool, you’re probably like me and a bit less than impressed with the lifeguard situation. We actually pulled our son out of swim lessons at this pool a couple of summers ago because the high-school-age lifeguards were more interested in flirting with each other than teaching the kids how to swim—or watching out for their safety. At the pool in the summer, they seem a little more interested in working on their tans than watching for each and every little kid. They assume (perhaps rightfully so) that parents are watching the kids, too. Not so with this school group, it seems.

• There is one major safety issue I don’t even feel comfortable blogging about, because I’m afraid it could honestly put other kids in danger if there were some perpetrator reading my blog. I’m dead serious. It’s a big, big issue in my mind, and one that has me trying to figure out how to get my son out of going to the pool with day care. I wasn’t aware of it until this meeting. If you’re curious, e-mail me, and I’ll talk to you about it outside of the blog. It’s just disturbing.

• The whole issue about me picking him up early the one day (before our meeting) was only met with, “That’s unsettling. It was just an unusually bad day.” That doesn’t make me feel any better. I felt like I could have walked up to any child in that group, taken him by the hand and left without anyone even realizing he was gone. “Unsettling” is an understatement.

So there you have it. Trust me, that’s the very SHORT story. Why does parenting have to be so hard? I have to work—and I like to work—and I need to know that when I’m working, my kids are in good hands. But are they?

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PS From a public relations standpoint, the day care could have done a better job at putting me at ease. I am still upset about the particular pool situation, not completely happy overall, and felt like I had to beg to get them to agree to give basic care (like sunscreen) to my child. I would have done things differently. But at least they made time to listen to us. That's at least one step in the right direction.

Getting ready...

We're getting ready for our meeting with day care (see the post from Friday, June 27). Chad's coming home early from work, so he'll help me stay level-headed and can help me remember the key points.

We're going into this with every intention of being calm and collected. We don't want it to be an us-versus-them situation. We just want what's best for our child. We want to make sure he's cared for properly—and disciplined appropriately. Wish us luck. I'll keep you posted.

It has occurred to me that this is quite a case study in public relations, actually. Chad and I are one public (consumers/parents), our kids are another (their product, essentially), and our relationship with the organization (day care) is what has been harmed. We'll see how they (and we) handle it.

Did Cathy Zielske visit my blog?

I just checked in for my daily review of blog readers, and I had a lovely surprise. I left a comment on Cathy Zielske's blog yesterday, and I think she paid my blog a visit! There was a referring address listed as her blog address. Yea!

In case you aren't of the scrapbooking type, Cathy Zielske is one of my favorite scrappers. She has a simple, very real style (and beautiful photos) that really speaks to me. Check out her books, Clean and Simple Scrapbooking and Clean and Simple Scrapbooking: The Sequel. They're two of my all-time favorite books...and I have a LOT of scrapbook-related books!

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On a different note, I've been blogging about all things personal recently, and I need to get back to posting some "professional" posts. There's this little issue with CBS' "Sunday Morning" commentator and legal analyst Andrew Cohen happening recently in the PR world. Seems Mr. Cohen has no clue what PR really is, and he's giving our profession a bad rap. I'm going to make time to comment on that one. It's a fire-starter. Even has the president of PRSA responding...twice...because it's such a blatant and ignorant attack on our profession. It's got me fired up — now I just need to find the time to give a blog post about it justice. Stay tuned.

More grammar goofs, just for fun

I just love articles and blog posts about grammar, so I wanted to share one today. I just got through reading (most of) a string of comments by MyRagan.com readers titled, "What grammar goofs drive you nuts?" (You might have to be a member of MyRagan.com to access this article.)

Here are just a few of the commenters' pet peeves:

• Everyday vs. every day—As one word, it's an adjective, as two it expresses how often.
• I as an object when "me" should be used—If in doubt, take out the "so-and-so and" and see if it makes sense. So, don't "give it to Chad and I, because "give it to I" doesn't make sense. "Give it to Chad and me." Me is an object.
• Literally vs. figuratively—It's not literally raining cats and dogs.
• Should of vs. should have—I don't know that there's ever a correct way to use "should of." I should have said that earlier.
• I could care less vs. I couldn't care less—The latter is correct. If you could care less, then there's really no point in saying so.
• It's vs its. You're vs. your. To vs. too—all of the good old standards from elementary English classes
• Myself vs. me—E-mail it to Susie and myself. Nope, e-mail it to Susie and me.
• Where's it at? vs. Where is it?
• Using apostrophes to make a plural word vs. just adding an -s or -es as needed—Had to laugh at this one, given my recent deal with Channel 6 and Weather and Traffic on the Sixes.
• Irregardless vs. regardless—No "ir" needed.
• Someone...their vs. Someone...his or her—Someone is singular. What follows it should be, too. (I submitted that one!)
• That vs. who—If you're talking about people, it should be who. People who live in glass houses...
• Good vs. well—I should have submitted this one! How are you doing? I'm doing good. Nope, you're doing well.

What ones drive you nuts?

My grammar sickness made the news!

Sometimes, the best thing to do is to laugh at yourself.

Take, for instance, my little light-hearted rant about Channel 6's Weather and Traffic on the Sixes graphic the other day. (I was stating that it didn't need an apostrophe in the graphic they use to promote the segment and that it drove me crazy no one had caught it yet.) As it turns out, a friend/client of mine happens to be good friends with Julie Pursley, a reporter for Channel 6. She brought my blog post to Julie's attention and called me a couple of days later to say that Channel 6 was going to cover it as a story. I honestly didn't believe her. I was eating lunch at Red Robin with my family when she called, and I truly thought she was pulling my chain.

Then, last Thursday morning, they really did do a piece about the "apostrophe controversy." It was done quite humorously, calling it an "alleged English error by the Good Morning Indiana team." They did it in investigative reporting style, even including the "criminal" punctuator (their graphic designer) in blackout fashion with the nickname "K.P.," just like you'd see when they feature an anonymous witness who fears for her life. Tom Davis, the traffic guy, visited his old high school English teacher to ask whether there should indeed be an apostrophe in their graphic. Thankfully, she agreed with me and said, no, there should not be an apostrophe. (The news team that morning agreed and thought they should change the graphic.) Remember, this was all done in fun. It was a cute segment.

They also mentioned my blog in passing, which was a fun little perk.

And the story was still going this morning - sort of. My husband called me from his cell phone on the way to work to share that he was listening to the Smiley Morning Show on 99.5 FM (ZPL), and the morning show crew got into a playful little debate about whether something someone said on air should be plural or singular. Paul Poteet (gotta love him!), meteorologist for Channel 6 TV, who also tag-teams with ZPL on the radio in the mornings, said, "Let me check with the station's (Ch. 6's) punctuation department!" Considering last week's punctuation fiasco, it cracks me up. This thing has just gotten a life of its own, it seems!

So, what's the moral of the story? I think just that bad grammar happens to the best of us! If an entire team of journalists can let a grammatical error go for weeks, maybe months, without being caught, I suppose we don't need to beat ourselves up when we catch a typo or grammatical error in a newsletter or on a Web page we've created. If nothing else, we should at least laugh at it. Way to go, Channel 6, for having fun with this goof. (Because I love how you handled it, we'll let it slide that the graphic was still not fixed as of this morning!) :-)

You've got to see the video! 6 News: Apostrophe Controversy

(By the way, have you seen any other strange typos or stumbled across any articles or online videos that have to do with grammar, spelling or punctuation? Please share!)

A 300-page phone bill?

First, watch this video.

What is your initial reaction?

I saw the video for the first time today at a PRSA (Public Relations Society of America, Hoosier chapter) luncheon about social media and had to share - not just for the humor side of it, but also as a chance to say something about social media.

Justine sent or received somewhere between 3,000 and 10,000 text messages that month (average for her), and AT&T sent her an itemized bill. According to our speaker today (who has hired Justine to do some organized social-network marketing for his clients), the bill cost only $97 for Justine, but it cost around $12 (and probably 12 trees) for AT&T to send it to her. Crazy!

But what's more interesting is that more than one million people have viewed this video online since it was posted seven months ago, tens of thousands within the first few days. More, it got national media attention dozens of times over, and AT&T even took action. Simply because of the power of social media.

Social media (basically media that exists and is powered simply by individuals communicating with each other on their own terms - think YouTube, FaceBook, MySpace) is becoming a very powerful tool for communicators. It's not just for teenagers or tech-savvy young adults. Companies are beginning to slowly understand its power and use it for their own benefit.

Justine's video is a good example of how social media can affect a company. It's a seemingly simple video on the surface. It was even taped at a local restaurant or hang-out on a simple point-and-shoot camera that happened to take video (according to our speaker today, Giovanni Gallucci). Yet within days, it blew up into a social phenomenon. Why? Because it was funny and curious, and because AT&T public relations representatives didn't react the way they probably should have when given the chance on national television. According to Gallucci, AT&T representatives got on camera saying, basically, "we give our customers itemized statements because that's what we do," rather than reacting by saying something like, "yes, we realize this is crazy, and we're going to do something about it to make it better."

A week after the initial posting, probably feeling the heat from all of the social buzz, AT&T sent Justine (what else?)  a text message saying her bill will no longer be itemized.

Ah, the power of communication.

Wayward commas, beware

I love this guy. No, he's not my husband, but no, it's not that kind of love.

I love what he's doing, because I think somewhere deep inside, I wish I had thought of it first.

His name is Jeff Deck, and this guy goes around the country fixing signs with grammatical errors. He actually carries markers, pens and Wite-Out (yes, that's right....I looked it up) to fix signs right on the spot. While I would hate to be the "victim" of his sharp eye, I think it's fantastic! He has traveled down the east coast, across the Gulf coast and now is venturing up the west coast, changing signs from grocery stores to busy streets in Hollywood. He documents everything on his Web site, www.jeffdeck.com/teal. That's TEAL for "Typo Eradication Advancement League." Cracks me up.

Typos in public places, I have to say, are rather irritating, but rather than point out a person's obvious mistake in such a way as to poke fun, this guy genuinely points it out and offers to correct it, saving these poor souls some unknown embarrassment in the future.

Here's one for you. Every morning I watch Channel 6 (ABC) as I'm getting ready for the day. And every morning, I cringe when I see its graphic for "weather on the sixes." Have you noticed? It's "Weather on the 6's" in big, bold, shiny, blue letters, every ten minutes for the duration of the morning show each weekday. It's mildly embarrassing for our friends, the journalists at Channel 6. It shocks me that no one has caught it yet. (There should not be an apostrophe; the sixes do not possess anything.) Drives me crazy! Perhaps I should gather some guts and give these guys a call. Jeff Deck would.

...
Curious? Check out this video from, ironically, ABC News.

Updated my Web site...finally!

It's funny; I know the importance of updating one's Web site frequently - both for the purposes of making and keeping it useful, as well as keeping it in good standing with the search engine robots (and therefore improving your rankings in search engine returns).

Yet somehow, I don't seem to stay on top of my own Web site like I should. It's one of those projects without a deadline, one that can be pushed to the end of the to-do list over and over again, until suddenly it's been three months since it's actually been an active project.

That's where I am today. I finally took some time out of my schedule and started updating my Web site, hitting the most pressing areas with the most improvement needing to be done. So, if you have a second, take a peek.

Here are the pages I've updated (to save you the time in wandering through old pages):

• Portfolio: Writing
• Portfolio: Design
• Portfolio: Advertising
• Kudos for Corie
• What do I charge

Yes, there are other areas that need work, but those will have to wait!

Maybe I need to outsource my own Web site updates to someone else, to ensure they're done in a timely manner. :-) How's that for pitiful? But hey, at least they'd be on someone else's more timely to-do list, deadline and all.

Hope for an eastside neighborhood

Yesterday, I sent a news release out for my client and former employer, the Indianapolis Parks Foundation. The release was a very positive announcement about another grant IPF received to help it revitalize a neglected park and neighborhood on the east side of Indianapolis, Windsor Village Park. But community reaction to the release startles me.

I was part of this fundraising campaign during my employment with IPF, before I left in late 2005. For me, it is an exciting project, because I think it will make obvious to many the impact a park can have on a community. Before ground broke for a new, 12,000-square-foot community center last December, this park was in seriously sad shape. The community building was tiny, dirty and not attractive - but it was an important centerpiece of this neighborhood. The community has its own issues, with a high level of crime, neglected and abandoned houses, and a dense population. But I was able to see firsthand how the residents there appreciated having a place to go and play cards, video games, table tennis or basketball, or have help with their homework after school. They didn't care that it was in disrepair (although, as anyone would, they would certainly have appreciated something in better shape). They need that park.

Now, they're about to be the lucky recipients of a giant, brand-new community center. There will be a computer lab, education space, fitness area, game room and indoor gym. Outside will be a new playground, basketball court, picnic shelter and walking areas. The IMPD is expected to have a more regular presence in the neighborhood, too.

I think this community is in for a shock. I think residents will be shocked by how good it feels to have a community center that is just for them - a place where they can go for free and take advantage of a lot of great amenities and park programming that hasn't been available to them before. It has been proven in qualitative research by various groups that parks, trees and walking trails reduce the pressures of living in economically challenged neighborhoods like Windsor Village. They foster a sense of community, increase the feeling of safety, decrease violent behavior and have a positive impact on local property values.

This community desperately needs to feel these positive benefits. And it excites me to think about it actually taking shape. When the community center is completed in November this year, I want to go back. I want to see the kids whom I met a couple of years ago and see what they think about their park now. I want to watch the change happen. I want to see the increased pride in the residents. I want to see the neighborhood improve.

The true impact of parks has always been sort of invisible to me. I haven't ever witnessed a park's transformation, nor watched a community transform with it. I have to say, it truly excites me. This is why I love being associated with not-for-profit organizations. They're doing fantastic things in the community. And I want to be a part - somehow, even if in a very small way.

But back to my original point. The release was sent out yesterday, and the Indianapolis Star picked it up for their e-newsletter, the PM Update. It was a very short piece (just a few paragraphs), but I was surprised by the reaction of the community to it. Here's the link to the article. Make sure you read the comments left by others.

People overwhelmingly were not supportive of the donation to the Parks Foundation for use in this neighborhood. People were saying the area should be bulldozed and that the money would be better used elsewhere. This saddens me, because I would have given our residents more credit in the care and concern department.

Why the negative thoughts? Why can't we be excited for this area and see that change is good? It's clear the area needs improving. Giving the residents a place to be proud of, a place to gain empowerment from and a place to be the hub for improved morale in the area can only be a positive thing, in my mind.

I liked what commenter CLP (and, in the interest of full disclosure, yes, I know who this is) says about place: "Place matters to residents, businesses and investors. Place is an economic and visual indicator of a community's vitality. Successful community-building cannot occur if there is an absence of a place that is meaningful to those who live there and respected by those outside its boundaries. ... The place that matters for the families of the Windsor Village Park neighborhood is Windsor Village Park."

I would challenge the other, more negative commenters to think positively. Be happy for this area. Improving this area can only improve people's lives and improve our city as a whole. That's ultimately what it's all about.

A new view of the mayor

I have to admit that I have not been overly impressed with recently inducted Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard's professional speaking skills. Overall, to be honest, I haven't been impressed with him much at all.

But today his campaign communications manager, Debra Taylor, spoke to the PRSA Hoosier Chapter members at our monthly luncheon, and I have to admit that she changed my mind. I still am not impressed with his speaking skills, but I can relate to the fact that it's just not one of his best qualities. We all have those parts of our jobs that we don't do as well as we'd like. Taylor helped me realize that this is just one of those things for him. (It's unfortunate that this is such an important part of his job, but according to Taylor, he's really working on this.)

Inside, according to Taylor, Mayor Ballard is simply a genuine, concerned resident of Indianapolis, trying to make things better for the city. Like a good public relations professional, she focused on his strengths during her presentation -- his genuine nature, his ability to listen and his true desire for improvements in the city. It gave me hope.

I hope that we all get a chance to see those positives on a more regular basis. I think former Mayor Bart Peterson was exceptional in the charm department. I was always impressed with him. I even had a chance to meet him a couple of times during my employment with the Indianapolis Parks Foundation, and I can tell you that he was as pleasant and genuine as they come.

Now, it's time to see that from Mayor Ballard. I'm hopeful for you, Mayor.