Hey guys!

So you may have noticed some cool (interesting? insightful? compelling? hopefully all of the above) blogs in your KidsLink feed.

We hand-picked each one to bring you not only what’s popular in the parent space online, but writers we feel lend support to the mind-blowing experience of raising tiny humans. It’s a tough job, yo (and we’re so thankful to have the opportunity).

Because some of you have expressed interest in having a more custom feed, we are working to accommodate that request, and are even considering other ways to improve the experience.

While we work on refining the feed, we wanted to highlight what you currently see, as well as take a poll of what you would like to see.

Currently, we feature

We think that’s a pretty cool roundup, but know it could be better as new writers and content curators are always entering the scene.

Who are we missing?
Who are you reading these days? 
Who are you following? 
Who do you love?

Big, small, funny, serious, local, international…we want it all.

Tell us and you just might see it appear in your feed soon.

P.S.  As a thank-you for your feedback, we will offer a $100 Amazon gift card on 2/6/15 to one lucky user who fills out this very short form.  As in, one question.

Thank you! Here’s to growing together in 2015.

Protecting your children’s digital legacy is our primary goal at KidsLink, so we’ve created this printable infographic that we would l-o-v-e for you to print and/or share wherever you feel it might have the most impact.

Because “64 percent of parents upload pictures of their children to social media outlets at least three times a week,” we want to help by spreading awareness of the ways we can protect our families when we connect online.

Download this flyer to distribute (2 per page because we’re green like that), or feel free to share the single graphic via email or social media by clicking our social media icons above and below this post.

Thanks for helping us protect current and future generations across the globe.

Do you know how movements start? With a vision.

And, most likely, lots of coffee.

Our vision?

A private social network that allows you to share with family, friends and organizations without compromising your children’s digital legacy.

Your pictures. Your moments. Your life. Shared your way.

Our #shareresponsibly movement needs momentum. That’s where you come in.

Through January 31 . . .

We will give you a $5 Starbucks gift card for each person you invite who downloads and signs in to KidsLink.

We will also give them a $5 Starbucks gift card for signing in.

Invite 10 friends to KidsLink?
They all sign in?
You get a $50 gift card.
They each get a $5 gift card.

See?

Movements. And coffee. It’s a beautiful thing.

Sincerely,

Titania Jordan and the KidsLink Team

Wait, what? You don’t have KidsLink yet? You better get on that. 🙂 Join the #shareresponsibly movement now. Click here to download and request an invite.

No endorsement by Starbucks is implied in any way; KidsLink is simply providing a gift paid by KidsLink in exchange for spreading the word. The maximum gift amount to any one person is $50. Limited to US residents who invited new users to KidsLink from within the My Friends or My Fam tab of the KidsLink iPhone app (an “In-app Invitation”), or who signed up and into KidsLink as a new user via an In-app Invitation during the promotion period of 1/17/15 to 1/31/15 at 7pm ET, but only where permitted by law. KidsLink reserves the right to end the promotion early upon electronic notification to this web page. No purchase necessary. Gift cards will be delivered electronically within two weeks of the conclusion of the promotion to all qualifying people who have electronically confirmed their email address no later than 2/10/15. Contact support@mykidslink.com for more information.

(Photo credit)

A few months ago I reconnected with an old nanny of mine. She was the first nanny I hired to watch the kids when I went back to work and was amazing. For some reason, when she was our nanny, I never thought to friend her on social media. A part of me was worried she would think I was kind of a stalker. I mean, who wants to be friends with their boss on social media? I didn’t want to risk crossing the boss/employee barrier.

Eventually I friended her after she was no longer with us, and along with the hundreds of pictures of her 6-month mission trip to Africa that ultimately ended her tenure with us, I found about twenty pictures of my kids.

Pictures I had never seen before.

She was always great about sending me the cutest pictures of the kids eating ice cream, playing with bubbles in the backyard, smiling from ear to ear…but these were new to me and exposed to her world. They were along the same lines, the familiar smiles, the adorable faces but just pictures I hadn’t seen.

Plus, they were on the interwebs.

I work in social media. I get it. I know the allure of posting the all-too-cute pic of the most adorable kids in the world (ahem), but these were MY kids. I felt like I had total social domain over them. And here was someone posting pictures on social media to all of her followers (NONE OF WHOM I KNEW) without my permission. I stopped myself there though. Had I ever told her not to do this?

Thinking back, I hadn’t.

I never thought to have this conversation with her because it hadn’t occurred to me that it would be an issue. Last time I babysat for kids that were not mine “social media” didn’t exist. People didn’t walk around with cameras attached to their hands that gave them the ability to capture every minute of every day. Devices meant not only for taking pictures of every minute detail but also for sharing that with hundreds of their friends at the touch of a button. It’s too easy these days. Moving? Tell all of your friends (ALL of them) in 30 seconds. Find out your pregnant? Who needs to make phone call, just post a cute pic of some baby shoes with a “coming soon” sign and people get the idea.

This was my first nanny ever. I was learning as I went. Apparently I had forgotten to have a conversation with her because I didn’t realize one needed to happen.

Getting back to the pictures. They were all innocent with captions like “how awesome is it that I get to watch these two cuties all day?!” They were great pictures, but I just felt weirded out that all of her friends were looking at pictures of my kids (AND LIKING THEM!) and I had no idea who any of these people were. I rarely posted pictures to MY own social media about my kids and I know each and every one of my friends. I got in touch with her and kindly asked her to remove the pictures (just for privacy reasons) and she totally obliged with an “oops! I never even thought about that! LOL” response.

Going forward I know I’m going to have to talk with anyone who watches my kids about social privacy, and guidelines about even just taking pictures of them in general.

Have you ever had to talk to a caregiver about taking pictures of your kids and social media privacy? Do you have existing guidelines with your kids’ babysitters/nannies etc. about social media posting? We’d love to hear them on our Facebook Page.

One of the most awesome parts about living in Atlanta is the fact that we have some of the best local radio stations in the world, including 104.7 The Fish.

Each year, they grant thousands of Fish Christmas Wishes, and we are so honored to participate in that program this year.

For each KidsLink download using code FISH, we will donate $5 to the #FishChristmasWish program, now through December 25th, 2014. 

It was so much fun to finally meet Kevin and Taylor in person, and we are still beaming about the nice things they had to say about KidsLink. Take a listen.

Thank you so much to 104.7 The Fish, and thank you to all of YOU who continue to support our mission in protecting and empowering families both here and across the globe.

Raise your hand if you want to venture anywhere in public on Black Friday.

Yeah, us neither.

Instead, have fun with our app and be entered to win one of 10 awesome prizes!

Cash is great, truly. But, when you give a mom or dad cash, chances are they will use it to buy something practical. Like groceries. Or gas. Or lawn bags for ALL THE LEAVES.

These are not exciting gifts.

Aaaaand that’s where we come in.

We want to reward the people who are working so hard to raise our nations’ next generation of scientists, dancers, teachers, app developers, professional athletes, and artists. Parents deserve a little reward for being ON 24/7/365, and since your kid’s piggy bank isn’t going to cut it, KidsLink wants to cover the difference.

We are going to give one lucky user one luxury gift per day for 10 days, starting on Black Friday. Get excited. Get pumped. This is going to be great. We’ve always wanted to feel what it’s like to be Oprah, so, here we go. Except we aren’t giving away cars…yet.

All you have to do is download, sign up, and use the app.

Upload a document to the vault. Add a moment. Create a profile. Invite some friends. Be footloose and fancy-free with your heart emojis on your friends’ posts. Whatever. You choose.

Sit back, relax, and watch our Facebook page for winner announcements because this is going to be fun.

10 days of fun, to be exact.

P.S. Like to win things? Earn extra entries by doing the following:

• Comment on our Facebook post
• Share our Facebook post 
• Share our giveaway on Twitter and tag us (@kidslinkapp)
• RT our giveaway (here’s the link)
• Invite some friends to join you on KidsLink
• Pin the giveaway image above to one of you Pinterest boards

Good luck to all of you!

DAY 1 WINNER UPDATE (11/28 TORY BURCH): Jeni R. B. from Mt. Pleasant! 

DAY 2 WINNER UPDATE (11/29 NORDSTROM): Shannon M. B. from Atlanta!

DAY 3 WINNER UPDATE (11/30 SPAFINDER): Mara M. M. from Atlanta!

DAY 4 WINNER UPDATE (12/1 CANON): Erin S. from Sandy Springs!

DAY 5 WINNER UPDATE (12/2 APPLE): Sara M. from Tampa!

DAY 6 WINNER UPDATE (12/3 THE RITZ-CARLTON): E. Binney from Duluth!

DAY 7 WINNER UPDATE (12/4 DRYBAR): Ikeya A. from Nashville!

DAY 8 WINNER UPDATE (12/5 THE NORTH FACE): C. Thompson from Greenville!

DAY 9 WINNER UPDATE (12/6 ANTHROPOLOGIE): Amanda L. from Nashville!

DAY 10 WINNER UPDATE (12/8 LULULEMON): Mary R. from Mt. Pleasant!

Congratulations! Please email titania.jordan@mykidslink.com so we can mail your gift!