The Tot-O-Sphere, now posting at LiveJournal

We are now cross-posting Tot-O-Sphere News over at LiveJournal. You can find the site here: totjot.livejournal.com. We already post at Google's Blogger pages (right here), so now you you have three convenient places to catch the goings on at Tot Jot.

But who cares about catching Tot Jot news - you have Child's Tales to catch!

What parents believe

Seth Godin, a well known marketing author, had this to say about "beliefs":

"People don't believe what you tell them.

They rarely believe what you show them.

They often believe what their friends tell them.

They always believe what they tell themselves."

At Tot Jot, we say all this is spot on. And why would a parent's beliefs be any different? We don't think they are, which is why we built Tot Jot so parents could interact with those they do believe, on every notion of their child's life.

Believe in family and friends, and believe in yourself (as the top notch parent of a wonderful child). It's all about, as one blogger recently put it, collective wisdom.

Answering questions, and keeping some notes beforehand

Answering questions is easy - just follow the directions below:

1) Log into your Child's Tale
2) Click on "Unanswered" under the Questions menu
3) Pick a question to answer - click on "answer/edit" to begin
4) Let your friends and family know how great your child is doing
5) Click the "Save Entry" button at the bottom of the page.

That's it!

Note that once you answer a question, that answer is automatically marked available for your friends to see. If you would like to keep that answer private, just select "Private" under Security options on the update page, before you save the answer. You can also keep notes on that question without actually answering it, by clicking on "Leave a comment" on the unanswered questions page - you can always delete those comments later if you like - just click the "X" next to that comment when viewing it.

Thanks again!

The Tot Jot Team

Does Johnny often have a runny nose? How do you take care of that?

At Tot Jot, you are going to get asked questions like that all the time. Along with runny noses, we ask whether your child is teething (and how much they cried about it), whether he or she has built a sandcastle on a beach yet (and did they get sand in their diapers), whether they have been to seem a movie with you (and did they spill all the popcorn), and all kinds of other fun and interesting questions to help you be a more observant parent. Of course at Tot Jot, you get to answer all those questions, and you can also get helpful hints from the family and friends in your Tot Jot network.

About that runny nose thing...does Johnny have them a lot? Well here's what one doctor said about that.

We're your friend too, after all.

How to invite your friends so they can actually see your Child's Tale

We've recieved a number of recent requests regarding how you allow friends to see your Child's Tale. Yes, we know it seems a little confusing, but it is for a reason. Tot Jot has what is commonly termed "double opt-in" when it comes to giving access to Child's Tales.

Step 1: You invite a friend. The friend accepts by signing up. You receive email confirmation, along with their username.

But they still cannot see your Child's Tale.

Step 2: This one seals the deal. You enter their username into your Child's Tale friends list. You friend makes sure the child's name (or nickname) is on their viewing list (under Friends/Manage/Your "Friends"). Your friend can then see the Child's Tale.

For more information, please feel free to browse the "Friends" FAQs as well.

Why jump through two hoops? Because we love children, and we want to keep them (and their information) as safe as we possibly can. You never know when you might accidentally enter the wrong email address into an invite, or invite someone that you might have wanted to see a different Child's Tale (like inviting someone from your four-year old's playgroup into your two-year old's tale), so we give you step two as backup. Note that you can turn off an invitee's access to a particular tale by simply deleting that member from the Child's Tale friends list, anytime you like too.

Again, safety and privacy is the name of the game at Tot Jot.

Thanks!

The Tot Jot Team

Interesting surveys on bloggers and Tot Jotters

The Pew Internet and American Life Project just released a report that summarizes who and what bloggers really are. The results? Bloggers are under 30, very creative, and sociable; they use their blogs as tools of personal expression, and to meet new friends.

Tot Jot just did an extremely informal survey as well, targeting the moms and dads using the service. The findings were somewhat similar - Tot Jotters are ultra-creative and very sociable, and they love, Love, LOVE their little ones. They use Tot Jot to share every little thing going on in their children's lives with friends and family, as well as improve their parenting skills by observing everything kid-oriented (with the help of Tot Jot facilitator questions, of course). Simple excellent results.

Survey end note: Tot Jotters also 1) change a lot of diapers, 2) chase a lot of half dressed kiddies around the house, 3) do a lot of laundry, 4) suffer from intermittent sleep deprivation, and 5) love, Love, LOVE their children (oops, we already said that).

Question notifications now playing at Tot Jot

We know summer is a busy time for parents and tots. All those backyard barbecues, cross-country trips to visit the grandparents, as well as trips from the park to the mall (to get out of the heat). All the while, those little ones are growing up fast, and you are so busy you barely have time to breath. Tot Jot is obviously here to help - that's why we made it so darn easy. But if you've been having fun telling Tales (from scratch) about your tot, and forgot about those early development questions we send you, we're here to help even more.

We are now providing simple reminders via email whenever we put new facilitator questions in your Child's Tale. If you have more than one child on Tot Jot, don't worry - the reminders are customized for each Tale. You wil see what we mean when the first one hits your inbox.

As we've said over and over, we don't like unsolicited email, so your reminders will always be just that, reminders. If you are, however, keeping up with your facilitator questions and don't need a reminder, you can easily turn them off from the Comments link under the Manage Account menu, when logged into your Child's Tale. Again, easy as it could possibly be.

Thanks, and happy Tot Jotting!

The Tot Jot Team