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Co-President's Message By Wendy Sachs INA Co-President

I have two unrelated thoughts I want to share.  Both are on my mind so I need to talk about them now.   Social Networking and Facebooking!  What a fantastic way to get connected, stay connected and feel the sense of a long-lost friend being just a keystroke away. But, and there is a BIG "BUT"...there is a time and place for it. I am hearing way too much about people texting/emailing/tweeting while driving and while at work. The idea it just takes a minute to do is not the point. Well, actually, that is the point. It takes more than just a minute. The problem occurs when all the minutes are added up. It takes time to glance, read and then keystroke a message. Multiply those seconds by the number of messages sent/replied to in one instance...I guarantee it will be more than 60 seconds. Not only do those minutes become hours, they become distractions. Take the scenario of the nanny who glances down to read her messages, while "watching" her charge on the monkey bars.  She can't read just one message; she must open/glance at all to see if there is something of interest. She quickly responds and so what? Well, she misses the fall or worse yet, she misses the snatching. Driving could be more devastating. So please everyone...disconnect during work hours and reconnect during expressed breaks or after work. And while I am on the subject....Think twice about your Facebook posts. Before including pictures of yourself with your charges on your Facebook page, ask for the express permission of your employer. Better yet, tell your employer you will not post pictures and suggest that to be a stipulation of the job for future nannies. Further, your employers have Facebook pages, too. I am beginning to get calls from parents complaining about their nanny posting messages on Facebook at the time they were supposed to be actively engaged with their charges. Employers are getting to this information in quite innocent and circuitous way. This almost cost a very good, well-paid nanny her job. We are bombarded with information; I know I can hardly keep up. Please think about the time and place for texting, Facebooking and tweeting, though. Wendy