College parent FB pages 10% useful 90% Cray Cray

[Anonymous]

But the 10% useful is so very useful!!

I've got one heading to Syracuse and I REFUSE to call him "My Slice" the way some other parents do....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But the 10% useful is so very useful!!

I've got one heading to Syracuse and I REFUSE to call him "My Slice" the way some other parents do....

I also have one heading there too and that term makes me cringe. My DH and I laugh constantly about the crazy helicopter parents on there. And, it's making me crazy and anxious that I haven't done any of the things on there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The annoying part about the parent page I’m on is how so many have not read any of the material from the school and just come to the FB page asking what is already available to them. The kids are beginning to get firm by saying look at the resource (it’s called different things at different schools obviously). Or parents who just now are trying to figure out how to get their student to/from the school because it’s not near a major transportation hub and are SHOCKED that this is handled by the school.

This. My kid's parents page at the beginning of each year is filled with the ridiculous then by mid year has more useful info. People constantly reposted the link to the same document about the move in process or the calendar before the fall term began. The schedule for the semesters was always a surprise to some parents and there was a link on the main page of the college FB page. Despite this, there were more good than bad.

There were too many posts from moms who wanted to show off pictures of their daughters that seemed inappropriate. I think some of those were fake posts they were so extreme.

My kid's college is huge and the parents fb page also has a huge number of people following it. The amount of very private information many of the parents shared, which often included their kids names and where they lived, was a bit of a shock. No one should be sharing specific medical diagnoses and medicines a kid is taking in a group that has so many members.

It was great for rallying help for a kid who was stuck. For kids who were having a hard time finding friends, parents found ways to help and some got their kids to stop by an visit the lonely. It was heartening to see how so many local families would help a kid in distress or for a kid who had problems getting to a doctor or to the airport when their own parents couldn't be there. Overall, it was a great group.

[Anonymous]

Ours go so bad when the parents wanted to form smaller groups based on the Greek house the kid go into or for each apartment complex.

Today it has been which school supplies to get and I got shouted down the two suggestions I said which is read your damn syllabus and go to class.

The window measurements to get the right length black out curtains has been answered again and again as an example.

At his school, there is not enough housing for upper classmen to live in campus and most want to be out of the dorm and not under the RA’s watch.

These parents would also freak if they knew how many of their snowflakes had fake IDs.

[Anonymous]

There is a lot of noise, but I found it very useful. We found doctors, restaurants, hotels, advice on parking. I’m glad I joined. I was hesitant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of noise, but I found it very useful. We found doctors, restaurants, hotels, advice on parking. I’m glad I joined. I was hesitant.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm on two parent FB pages. One is a high academic state school and the other is a small, Catholic school. The only complaints I've read on the Catholic school page are parents complaining about the food in the dining halls. Otherwise, everything is super positive and helpful. It's a smaller school and the group is not very big so maybe that's why it's a great resource.

The state school FB page is so entertaining - arguments about politics (reminds me of DCUM), questions easily answered by using google and helicoptering. During Covid it got really toxic - the school had really stringent restrictions (for example, no one could be in a dorm room except the residents of the dorm room - you couldn't even have your next door dormmate in your room.) There were parents who were calling out other students for breaking Covid restrictions. I guess their kid was telling their parent about classmates who were breaking the rules, and the parents would post the infractions to "encourage" everyone to follow the rules.

My favorite helicoptering post was when a parent wanted to know how to change the practice schedule for her son's CLUB baseball team. She was unhappy with what time and how long the team was practicing. My DS is on a club team but I have no idea when and how long he practices - the only time I hear about a competition is when he lets me know.

We had several parents post complaining about how frustrated their kids were about one club sport. Many kids were interested in it but no one was returning calls, kids showed up for sport but were ignored or were treated rudely. Most kids had already paid a fee to participate. After a few weeks of stories about kids wanting their money back, the mom of one of the team of students who ran the scheduling(a paid position) for the sport showed up and dressed down everyone for complaining. The group was for her child and her child's friends and they were the priority. It was a college club sport not a private group. The mom was both scary and funny.

[Anonymous]

If you have it in your home feed, it will make you hate FB. If you go to the group and search for info, you'll most likely find helpful info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours go so bad when the parents wanted to form smaller groups based on the Greek house the kid go into or for each apartment complex.

Today it has been which school supplies to get and I got shouted down the two suggestions I said which is read your damn syllabus and go to class.

The window measurements to get the right length black out curtains has been answered again and again as an example.

At his school, there is not enough housing for upper classmen to live in campus and most want to be out of the dorm and not under the RA’s watch.

These parents would also freak if they knew how many of their snowflakes had fake IDs.

Heh. My dd was on the club soccer team for her U last year. I seriously got invited to an "X University Club Soccer Parents" group on Facebook. Silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours go so bad when the parents wanted to form smaller groups based on the Greek house the kid go into or for each apartment complex.

Today it has been which school supplies to get and I got shouted down the two suggestions I said which is read your damn syllabus and go to class.

The window measurements to get the right length black out curtains has been answered again and again as an example.

At his school, there is not enough housing for upper classmen to live in campus and most want to be out of the dorm and not under the RA’s watch.

These parents would also freak if they knew how many of their snowflakes had fake IDs.

Heh. My dd was on the club soccer team for her U last year. I seriously got invited to an "X University Club Soccer Parents" group on Facebook. Silly.

Do they have a calendar where you can sign up as weekly Snack parent?!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain why parents remain in the groups after their child has graduated?

When my kid started at FancypantsU, parents from the previous graduating class stuck around for a year to provide institutional memory/background, then left so the next batch of parents could talk about commencement, kids' first year after graduating and what might have been a good idea in college, etc. But my kid graduated this year, and we were told to scram. So scram I did!

The admin’s of ours daughter graduated in May and she won’t step down.

I don't understand that at all. OK, I do. This was the highlight of her parenting life (until the kid gets married, and wow that's going to be something). I'd already unfollowed the group, though I was still a member, and was just looking in once a week. But IME, if you wait a week, the question you're asking will generally get answered by one of the True Believers.

[Anonymous]

I just can’t leave the parent group of my recently graduated student. It’s like a car accident, I just have to look. I find it brings me more laughter than any good comedy on tv.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours go so bad when the parents wanted to form smaller groups based on the Greek house the kid go into or for each apartment complex.

Today it has been which school supplies to get and I got shouted down the two suggestions I said which is read your damn syllabus and go to class.

The window measurements to get the right length black out curtains has been answered again and again as an example.

At his school, there is not enough housing for upper classmen to live in campus and most want to be out of the dorm and not under the RA’s watch.

These parents would also freak if they knew how many of their snowflakes had fake IDs.

Heh. My dd was on the club soccer team for her U last year. I seriously got invited to an "X University Club Soccer Parents" group on Facebook. Silly.

I was invited to the "UW-Madison Class of 2026 Engineering Parents Group". Yup, apparently that exists. Because apparently the general parent FB group doesn't offer enough opportunity to helicopter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But the 10% useful is so very useful!!

I've got one heading to Syracuse and I REFUSE to call him "My Slice" the way some other parents do....

My kid's school's group calls their kids "goats"--does anyone have a Goat living in xyz dorm? Which meal plan is your Goat picking? My kid has forbade me to call him a goat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours go so bad when the parents wanted to form smaller groups based on the Greek house the kid go into or for each apartment complex.

Today it has been which school supplies to get and I got shouted down the two suggestions I said which is read your damn syllabus and go to class.

The window measurements to get the right length black out curtains has been answered again and again as an example.

At his school, there is not enough housing for upper classmen to live in campus and most want to be out of the dorm and not under the RA’s watch.

These parents would also freak if they knew how many of their snowflakes had fake IDs.

Heh. My dd was on the club soccer team for her U last year. I seriously got invited to an "X University Club Soccer Parents" group on Facebook. Silly.

I was invited to the "UW-Madison Class of 2026 Engineering Parents Group". Yup, apparently that exists. Because apparently the general parent FB group doesn't offer enough opportunity to helicopter

I posted above that our kid's college parents FB page is not cray-cray. Mostly, parents of first-years asking for advice on logistics of move-in and transportation for breaks. I also found it helpful that a parent of a junior wrote in to ask about what graduation weekend is like (I wish I'd had that kind of info before our two older kids graduated from another school). And, as a non-engineer who found the whole engineering academic program and job hunt/grad application experience mystifying, I would have definitely signed up for an Engineering Parents group. Trying to learn about and understand your kid's experience doesn't sound like helicoptering to me.