New with question: multiple cachers in family

[rocksnbugs]

We found our first 2 caches yesterday, and I would like my boys to have their own GeoCaching names to log in. Do I have to set up an account for each of us, or is there a way to put us all on one account?

 

Thanks,

Suzanne

[+Polarbz]

I'm no expert but I think you would each need your own Geocaching accounts.

[+DaFunkyFrogs]

To have their own geocaching names, profiles and stats they would need to have their own account. If you all always cache together one family account is the easiest way to go. My husband and I cache under one account but we always cache together so our stats are accurate.

[+MommaLogan]

We are a family of 5 and are under one account. my children are small enough that they could care less about stats. Either myself or hubby is always with one or more of the kids.

 

I guess it depends if you care about the numbers or not. I care more about the family doing something together than how many each of us found.

[Neos2]

It depends on a lot of things. Do you think the children will continue to geocache when they become older and move away from home? Will they want to have a complete history of their caching experience from day one, or will they be satisfied saying they found some with you as a family before they got their own account?

They can go back later and log all the caches they ever did with you as a family onto their own individual account, but that's a hassle.

 

If they're young, will you end up writing their cache logs if they have separate accounts?

 

My husband and I usually cache together, but not always --and I want my account to reflect my finds accurately. Our logs read very differently sometimes, too.

 

There has been talk of designing a way to jointly log related accounts someday--but it isn't possible yet. Until then, you can do it whichever way you think will work best for your family.

[ao318]

I have 2 daughters ages 9 and 11. When we first started we signed everything under my name. We are usually together but I do cache every once in a while without them. After about 110 finds my daughters wanted their own accounts to have their own personal records. It took me a couple of hours to update their profiles with all of the caches we had found togther. If they ever plan on continuing the game on their own it would be best if they had their own accounts. I do all of their logging after they tell me what they thought of the cache.

 

Another thing that is nice for them individually is when they achive a milestone like 100 caches, you can purchase a coin with their name on it, the date found and the geocache. That's what prompted my kids to want their own profiles.

 

One other thing, I didn't notice if you are a premium member. I am a premium member and my kids are not. If you are one or become one and your children are not, you will not be able to log their finds on premium members caches without first doing a few things. You will need to open the log find window under your account, sign out and resign in under your kids profile, the log window will reopen and then you can log the find under their profile. When I do this, I always state in their log, "found this cache with my dad, ao318, today." I do this so the owner of the cache knows that the logs are from my kids that were on the hunt with me and do not delete their log and change their numbers.

 

I hope this helps.

[+Rattlebars]

You didn't really say how old the kids are. My grandson goes with me for setting and getting caches from time to time, but I only get to see him a coupla times a month.

 

I have set up an account for him and have logged most of his "back" caches. He's logged his own since.

 

However, right now he's more interested in being on You Tube ->

<-

 

I would suggest they have their own account if they are at least in grade school.

[crawil]

My son, now 13, wanted his own account after using the family's for almost a year. He had to back-log about 450 caches to keep his numbers current. He's now responsible for his own logging. If TPTB ever get allow family accounts, we would love it!