Help find an askme: a system for keeping track of young kids at a party?

December 31, 2013 8:43 AM

A while ago, someone posted a question asking for help working out a system of keeping track of fairly young kids at a party or gathering. I can't find it.

I think the idea was that adults would take turns being in charge using like a tracking device or something, so that other adults could chill and not worry about where their toddlers were. Maybe there was a pool, too?

My memory of it is that people were pretty respectful but were very blunt that it was not a great idea, and that parents were unlikely to participate. If I recall, the OP didn't take those comments well. I've considered that the OP may have had it deleted but I don't specifically remember that.

posted by peep to MetaFilter-Related at 8:43 AM (24 comments total)

And by a while I mean maybe 1-3 years ago.
posted by peep at 8:44 AM on December 31, 2013

This one? http://ask.metafilter.com/127964/Best-way-to-track-five-kids
posted by Ouisch at 8:50 AM on December 31, 2013

Thank you! Yes that's it. I used several different combos of search terms that did end up being in the question and it never popped up, weird!
posted by peep at 8:53 AM on December 31, 2013

I did a Google search for "site:ask.metafilter.com keeping kids safe around a swimming pool" and it was the 7th result.
posted by Ouisch at 8:55 AM on December 31, 2013

Happy New Year, MetaFilter!
posted by the quidnunc kid at 9:01 AM on December 31, 2013

Are you #1 yet?
posted by Ouisch at 9:33 AM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

This is a question I've had: is the instruction vote "#1 quidnunc kid," where #1 is a signifier of the kid's status as first in grar, first in beanplating, and first in the hearts of 10,000 highly articulate nerds; or is it "vote #1" quidnunc kid, and if we have a preferential voting system, are there recommendations for preference distribution that I should be aware of?
posted by EvaDestruction at 9:54 AM on December 31, 2013 [7 favorites]

Eva has just blown my mind because I've always read it the second way but see that the first way makes sense, too.

Or it could be that our quidnunc kid is a harbinger of the #1 quidnunc kid like John the Baptist foretelling the coming of Christ.
posted by winna at 9:57 AM on December 31, 2013

or is it "vote #1" quidnunc kid, and if we have a preferential voting system, are there recommendations for preference distribution that I should be aware of?


I've always read it that way, but never considered the ramifications that I'd need to fill out my additional votes.


This November, vote #2 EvaDestruction!
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 10:16 AM on December 31, 2013 [7 favorites]

All I know is that MeFi democracy is a failed experiment, according to my new school of philosophy called "Dark MetaFilter". The "Dark MetaFilter" theory states that the Enlightenment which gave rise to MetaFilter's professional white background was a mistake, because actually a parallel "Dark MetaFilter" exists in which MetaTalk is, like, THREE SHADES more grey. Imagine that, IF YOU DARE!
posted by the quidnunc kid at 10:42 AM on December 31, 2013 [16 favorites]

(Also, I love you all and hope you have a great New Years' celebration. So vote #1 quidnunc kid.)
posted by the quidnunc kid at 10:43 AM on December 31, 2013 [15 favorites]

I always figured we were voting to determine which quidnunc kid was #1, #2, etc. Thought there was a couple dozen of 'em at least.
posted by komara at 11:41 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

There'll always be only #1 quidnunc kid in my heart.
posted by Curious Artificer at 12:25 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've never actually attempted to make any sense of it, just taking in the gestalt which is quidnunc kid comedy without ever assigning any meaning to the "#1" at all. Okay, maybe I've inferred a "vote me to be primary" meaning, just a little. But I like reading it as patter.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:15 PM on December 31, 2013

I guess that if there ever were an actual vote, I'd fail miserably at voting.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:16 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Wait. So then that wasn't supposed to be a euphemism for peeing?









Oh.
posted by Now there are two. There are two _______. at 1:26 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

That was a great example of a question that had details that misdirected the answerers so much that it never got answered. People started fixating on watching kids constantly and pool safety - yes, yes, good ideas - when the question was about "what is there that can help when that fails?" But that aspect of the question was kind of buried at the end in a bit of a throwaway phrase about "missing children."
posted by Miko at 6:36 PM on December 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

I always figured we were voting to determine which quidnunc kid was #1, #2, etc. Thought there was a couple dozen of 'em at least.

I'm the quidnunc kid.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:51 PM on December 31, 2013

I noticed that, too, Miko and thought it was a good example of some of the things we've been talking about in the other thread.

I was also just struck by how much our culture has changed with regard to childcare.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:16 PM on December 31, 2013

quidnunc is a kind of alternative cabal

its like the Illuminati in reverse
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:53 PM on January 1, 2014

its like the Illuminati in reverse

So the quidnunc kid is actually Lady Gaga in blackface?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:35 AM on January 2, 2014

is the instruction... or....

Neither. We tried to get party symbols on the ballot, for ease of voting by the illiterate, but of course that was never going to happen what with the glitterati knowing how that segment skewed.

So we do what we can. He has the first spot on the ballot and we want to give our supporters all the help they can get in turning in an unspoiled ballot for our man.
posted by Meatbomb at 6:43 AM on January 2, 2014

Meatbomb!
posted by slogger at 8:08 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Did posting that get me put on an NSA watch list?
posted by slogger at 8:08 AM on January 2, 2014