An Innocent Foray into Facebooking with Students- Rules of Engagement

While I was a teacher, I refused to 'accept' my students' attempt to 'friend' me on Facebook. It was weird/awkward/unsettling for me and so I did not consider it. I had no interest in:
a) reading their poorly-spelled, poorly-articulated thoughts
b) communicating with them after school (after all, I saw them all day, every day, helpmejesus)

However, now that I am 'retired' shall we say, from teaching-- I MISS my students! Tremendously!  Being their slave driver was no fun, but I LOVED all of them so much as hilarious little goofball kids.  I don't get to see them every day (in fact, I will most likely never see them ever again), and despite rational thought, this devastates me!  I desperately wish I could keep tabs on all of them, encourage them to get involved in school activities, show them unbridled support, make sure they're all still on the right (well, at least decent) track, and scold them into shape if they're not. To be honest, not seeing my kids every single day has been (yes, the best, but more importantly,) the hardest part of not being a teacher.
In my post-teaching career, I therefor view Facebook as a medium of communication between my former students and I.  They're on it all the time, so I figure I can chat with them online and ask them questions about school to confirm they're still alive and enrolled *fingers crossed.*  I've come to realize that Facebook may in fact provide the single most plausible opportunity to have a quasi-continuing impact on their lives, beyond just the year or two they spent in my classroom.

So, the day I ended my teaching career was the day I began accepting Facebook Friend requests from my students.

It was, however, important to set some ground rules for myself:

1) I will not 'friend' a student; they must come to me. 
Otherwise, that's like stalker-ish right?-- seeking out my students on the big ol' FB... creepy
2) I will not initiate a 'chat' with a student; they much chat with me.
While I'm desperate to keep tabs on them and make sure they haven't dropped out of school, gotten pregnant, or been shot-- I'm not willing to risk seeming, once again, creepy.
3) I will not accept any child as a 'friend' unless I actually had them formerly in class. 
That means no sisters of my students, no cousins or uncles of my students, no students who had another teacher but knew me....no. Only. my. students.
4) They must all be placed on my "Limited Profile" list.  
This assures that they have no access to the pictures I get tagged in (since, for the most part, I'm drunk), they have no access to the party pictures I get tagged in (since, for the most part, I'm drunk), and they have no access to the idiotic wall posts or videos.  They are, for all intents and purposes, closed off from my world-- strictly forbidden from receiving even a single glimmer of insight into my real life away from school. In effect, I hope for them to continue to view me as a vice-free leadership figure.  I know for a fact they think I'm a dork, and that's the way I want it to remain.

So what do they get to see? The books I like, as well as controlled, hand-picked pictures from my travels to the Middle East; both an attempt to pique their interest in something other than Justin Bieber, Soulja Boy, and overly-sexualized rated R movies/shows. (Ughh like that new MTV series, Skins-- what is that crap!? Get it away from my precious students' eyes!)

Now that the parameters have been successfully set, let the friend requests come.

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