Registration for events with children or students should begin with a parent group where family information can be collected first, then each child registered.
Why 2 groups?
- Shared household information can be collected in the parent group, making the registration process for each child faster (for multi-children families).
- Family roles and phone numbers could accidentally be added onto a child's profile when a parent enters their own info if there aren't two groups to keep information separate.
In order to make the registration process quick and simple, we recommend that you create a parent group first. This is the starting point for the registration and where the main information that applies to all family members, as well as payment, is collected.
The separate Child or Student Group is where minor details such as t-shirt or roommate info can be selected. The Family Role on the Registration settings page should be set to Child or Student for this group. Use completion options in the settings for the parent registration to link it to the child or student group.
Having two groups allows a leader to be able to only text/email the parents or only communicate with the students, which is often necessary.
The Setup Steps
- First create the parent group, just as you would create any group, and add "Parents" or "Adults" as part of this group name, such as VBS - Parents or Youth Camp - Parents, so that the groups are easy to distinguish later.
- From the group page, click Registration > Settings to add the Registraiton to this group. On the Registration Settings page, enter a Keyword for Text-to-Register. Below is an example of registration fields/attributes (1) for a Youth Camp - Parent group. (These settings are toward the bottom of the Registration Settings page.)
- In the Registration Settings for this group, be sure to make the Default Family Role be Adult (2) and set a Secondary Registration for your Child or Student Group (3) - this is usually added after you create the Child or Student group.
- Second, create the child or student group and add the necessary registration attributes for this group.
- In the Student group, you can use the birthday or age attribute to auto-register the child into a particular class if this group is for something such as VBS. This will save a step later by dividing these registrants into smaller classes.
- Be sure the student group has the default family role set to child or student.
The Keyword and/or Registration Link that should be sent out or posted to your website is the link shown on the Registration Settings for the Parent Group. The link is found in the green bar at the top of the Registration Settings page for the Parent Group. If you use Text-to-Register, the Keyword field is just below the link.