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Geocaching with kids...


Brutosky4

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We have started geocaching recently (March 2014) and are really enjoying it. Right now my 2 sons (13 and 9) are too young to go caching on their own, but definitely old enough to know they enjoy it and plan to continue. Here's my question: we have been doing all of our geocaching together and under my username. As my boys get older and want to start going out on their own, what is the best way to do that. Do we create 3 separate (4 if you include my hubby who finally joined in!) accounts and log them for every cache? Or can they backlog entries when they finally create their own account? We're only at 37 now, but picking up speed. If they've been to, say 200+ caches before they create their account and start back at 0, that seems like a bummer. But while we are together, it seems like a pain to log 3 or 4 separate accounts when we are always together. Any advice is appreciated!!

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If you decide to backlog at a later date, mark the finds now -either by name, or get each a trackable for each person and 'Visit' the relevant trackable ffor each person to each cache found.

 

If backlogging in the future, just add to the log along the lines of: "Found with XXXXX, now have my own account".

(And log at the same date!)

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If you decide to backlog at a later date, mark the finds now -either by name, or get each a trackable for each person and 'Visit' the relevant trackable ffor each person to each cache found.

 

If backlogging in the future, just add to the log along the lines of: "Found with XXXXX, now have my own account".

(And log at the same date!)

 

Thanks for the reply! We actually visited Geocaching HQ just last week and we each received an HQ trackable. So, If I'm understanding right, your suggestion would be to activate one for each of my kids, then let the trackable just travel with us and basically be their "log" (by logging that their trackable "visted" the cache.)? Or at least have them maybe choose a "username" (but not create an account yet) and go ahead and have them sign with their username, knowing we may log it in the future?

 

Thanks again. I just recently thought of this dilemma and want to figure out the best way to proceed before we log many more caches!

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I would just stick with 1 family account and let them write the logs when they are interested. If they do find a cache without you and you go back later to find it, you can always log a 2nd Find. I've seen people do that.

 

Anything else is way too much work, IMHO. I don't know your kids, but I suspect they won't be finding a ton on their own. If they are still caching when they become adults, they can backlog things if they want or just start from scratch.

Edited by The_Incredibles_
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I suggest they open their own accounts now. Might as well start them off right - logging is part of the game. It will be really tedious later to backlog their caches, especially if they find quite a few. One of our local cachers created a team account for the family. A few years later, her son is off to college and wants to go caching on his own and under his own account. That was a big undertaking to determine which ones he was present with and to re-log them all.

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If you decide to backlog at a later date, mark the finds now -either by name, or get each a trackable for each person and 'Visit' the relevant trackable ffor each person to each cache found.

 

If backlogging in the future, just add to the log along the lines of: "Found with XXXXX, now have my own account".

(And log at the same date!)

 

Thanks for the reply! We actually visited Geocaching HQ just last week and we each received an HQ trackable. So, If I'm understanding right, your suggestion would be to activate one for each of my kids, then let the trackable just travel with us and basically be their "log" (by logging that their trackable "visted" the cache.)? Or at least have them maybe choose a "username" (but not create an account yet) and go ahead and have them sign with their username, knowing we may log it in the future?

 

Thanks again. I just recently thought of this dilemma and want to figure out the best way to proceed before we log many more caches!

 

Each has their own TB.

IF they want to open an account later (AND want previous finds to be listed!) using the TB will let you know who visited which cache.

There are ways to 'Bulk Log' in the future. It' can be hard work... :huh:

 

Options are:

Open accounts now, and make them log their finds NOW.

Open account now or later, and they log from when they want to log their own finds, without logging previous finds.

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I suggest they open their own accounts now. Might as well start them off right - logging is part of the game. It will be really tedious later to backlog their caches, especially if they find quite a few. One of our local cachers created a team account for the family. A few years later, her son is off to college and wants to go caching on his own and under his own account. That was a big undertaking to determine which ones he was present with and to re-log them all.

 

I agree that this might be the best approach with teens.

 

However, nagging/helping a 9 year old and 13 year old to log their finds is going to get old. Plus they might lose all interest in a year's time.

Edited by The_Incredibles_
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Each of my 4 kids (well actualy only the older 3) have accounts. They don't use them though. Each acount just owns a TB that I have in possession of my account. I dip them in each cache that they are with me. If they ever decide to do caching as a hobby on their own one day, they will need to turn the TB dips into cache logs themselves.

 

I had started by logging each account for each find, but that is a lot of work. I gave up.

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Thanks everyone!! My older one is really the main one I'd be concerned about. He is very much a "numbers" person and is already keeping his own notebook log. So for him to backtrack (and maybe miss) previous caches or to just start over would drive him nuts. And he's old enough (and computer savvy enough) that he can log his own, if it's that important to him. I think the TB idea for my youngest is maybe the way to go. He has more time and is more "go with the flow" so we can just see how into it he is as he gets older.

 

I really appreciate all the advice! I hadn't even thought of the TB idea :) And didn't want our numbers to get out of hand before we decided on the best way to move forward. Thanks again!!

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I suggest they open their own accounts now. Might as well start them off right - logging is part of the game. It will be really tedious later to backlog their caches, especially if they find quite a few. One of our local cachers created a team account for the family. A few years later, her son is off to college and wants to go caching on his own and under his own account. That was a big undertaking to determine which ones he was present with and to re-log them all.

 

I agree.....I opened an account for one grandson who was 2 at the time ( we write the logs for the ones he's found ) and another grandson just made 1 so I'll wait a bit for his.

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I'd suggest to open accounts for each one now and start logging now. I've been through this with my son (now 8 y/o) and my wife. Still (only) ~100 logs behind, it's a pain to go through to have the records straight and I sure wish, I had splitted the team account from the start.

 

The double logging I do now for my son until he's able to do it himself isn't much of work: he dictates the text most of the time, I just type what he says (only when he's too tired after a tour I do the log completely for him). However, my smartphone app ("Looking4Cache" on iPhone) supports multiple accounts logging for one cache on the same page, so this is rather easy.

 

BTW: yes, I log by smartphone - make an offline time mark or short field note on scene, then write some individual stuff at home. My average is 76 words plus those for my son. Smartphone logging isn't necessarily "TFTC". :)

Edited by Ben0w
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I'd suggest to open accounts for each one now and start logging now. I've been through this with my son (now 8 y/o) and my wife. Still (only) ~100 logs behind, it's a pain to go through to have the records straight and I sure wish, I had splitted the team account from the start.

 

The double logging I do now for my son until he's able to do it himself isn't much of work: he dictates the text most of the time, I just type what he says (only when he's too tired after a tour I do the log completely for him). However, my smartphone app ("Looking4Cache" on iPhone) supports multiple accounts logging for one cache on the same page, so this is rather easy.

 

BTW: yes, I log by smartphone - make an offline time mark or short field note on scene, then write some individual stuff at home. My average is 76 words plus those for my son. Smartphone logging isn't necessarily "TFTC". :)

 

Thank you for the advice. I use a different app right now and may need to check that one out. My older son has already created his account and is working on backlogging on his own. I like the option of being able to log multiple accounts from one phone!

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Something else you may want to consider (especially if your son is a numbers kind if guy) is that by the time he creates his own account some caches could be archived. I am not certain, but am pretty sure a find could not then be logged if the cache has been archived.

 

Unless the cache gets 'Locked' it is possible to log an archived cache.

But, be aware the owner might delete any logs added after it was archived, even if backdated...

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Something else you may want to consider (especially if your son is a numbers kind if guy) is that by the time he creates his own account some caches could be archived. I am not certain, but am pretty sure a find could not then be logged if the cache has been archived.

 

Unless the cache gets 'Locked' it is possible to log an archived cache.

But, be aware the owner might delete any logs added after it was archived, even if backdated...

 

Good information I hadn't considered! Not sure about my younger one, but my oldest would definitely be frustrated if one of his caches was un-loggable or if it got deleted. Thank you!

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We have a separate account for myself (Papa Ski) and my boys (TheWeeSkis). Typically the boys always are all present when we find caches, but they aren't always their when I find caches. I figured if they decide to split their account later, they can duplicate the list, but at least I've kept it accurate until then.

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Me, my husband, and our 8 year old son often geocache together. When we find a cache, my husband and I usually log the cache on our iPhones and our son will log his finds on his own account when we get home. His logs usually consist of TFTC, but sometimes he will type a sentence or two.

 

The thing that bothers me is how do we all have premium accounts? Is there such a thing as a family premium account? Or is it simply a matter of needing to make the personal decision of spending $90 per year so that each account has its own premium access.

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The thing that bothers me is how do we all have premium accounts? Is there such a thing as a family premium account? Or is it simply a matter of needing to make the personal decision of spending $90 per year so that each account has its own premium access.
There is no family premium account, or any other kind of group discount for premium accounts.

 

But why would you all need premium accounts? Basic members can log PMO (premium member only) caches. So if someone in the family has a premium account and you all use the same information to find a PMO cache, then you can all log it.

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The thing that bothers me is how do we all have premium accounts? Is there such a thing as a family premium account? Or is it simply a matter of needing to make the personal decision of spending $90 per year so that each account has its own premium access.
There is no family premium account, or any other kind of group discount for premium accounts.

 

But why would you all need premium accounts? Basic members can log PMO (premium member only) caches. So if someone in the family has a premium account and you all use the same information to find a PMO cache, then you can all log it.

 

Can you? Because my son has a non-premium account, and when he goes to the cache page of a premium cache that we found together, I don't see a log button. Just a list of all the features of a premium membership.

 

PS, our family is following a suggestion I read on the forums. I bought a trackable for each member of the family, and we are going to dip each person's trackable into each cache they helped to find. That way we can share one account, but still track who found what. That cost us ~$50 (not counting one that we got for free), whereas premium accounts for everyone would have been $300 per year.

Edited by michellepluseight
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The thing that bothers me is how do we all have premium accounts? Is there such a thing as a family premium account? Or is it simply a matter of needing to make the personal decision of spending $90 per year so that each account has its own premium access.
There is no family premium account, or any other kind of group discount for premium accounts.

 

But why would you all need premium accounts? Basic members can log PMO (premium member only) caches. So if someone in the family has a premium account and you all use the same information to find a PMO cache, then you can all log it.

 

Can you? Because my son has a non-premium account, and when he goes to the cache page of a premium cache that we found together, I don't see a log button. Just a list of all the features of a premium membership.

 

PS, our family is following a suggestion I read on the forums. I bought a trackable for each member of the family, and we are going to dip each person's trackable into each cache they helped to find. That way we can share one account, but still track who found what. That cost us ~$50 (not counting one that we got for free), whereas premium accounts for everyone would have been $300 per year.

Email sent.

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But why would you all need premium accounts? Basic members can log PMO (premium member only) caches. So if someone in the family has a premium account and you all use the same information to find a PMO cache, then you can all log it.
Can you? Because my son has a non-premium account, and when he goes to the cache page of a premium cache that we found together, I don't see a log button. Just a list of all the features of a premium membership.
This thread explains various ways for basic members to log PMO caches:

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=267682

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When my family started I instinctively started an account for each individual - the kids have their own email addresses so why not. It wasn't until I came across the stats for teams that I realised there could be some advantage in grouping all our finds together.

 

Where others have noted that they're all together when they cache, we cache in different combinations of family members and I find that it's a more accurate record of what each of us has been doing. For instance DS 9 has 37 finds but DS 12 has 28. Yes, I do have to nag a little to get some of the logs written up but as they get older and go out with their own buddies on caching adventures, it's best that they're caching-independent of me early. :sad:

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