Age Specific Forums

[flowerlina]

I think it will be very useful to create forums for age specific babies.   That way parents with babies the same age can share experiences and easily find the posts that are most relevant.  For example, we can create forums for each month in the first and second year and then a forum for each year after that:
0-3 mos
3-6 mos
6-9 mos
9-12 mos
12-15 mos
15-18 mos
18-21 mos
21-24 mos
2T
3T
etc...

I think this will make the forum come alive, because it will be much easier for people to connect, ask questions and discuss their babies development.

Cheers,
Alex

[15milner]

I can see why the idea of age-specific might be nice, but it may actually limit the advice you get from others who have actually been there done that... solved it rather than trying to work through the same issues at the same time.

Even though DS is 20months, I still sometimes give advice on the breastfeeding boards etc.  The boards are already split in some way eg  we have feeding solids AND a separate one for toddler feeding.  baby activity time and toddler related activities.  Doing it with so many ages means a lot of boards to check through.

[LindseysMom]

Actually, there is something kind of like this already.  Lots of poster's participate in the Babies of October or whatever month their lo were born in.  There are several like this already.  It is there where Mom's and Dad's with babies born in the month's specified can go to discuss what their babies are up to.

[Gareth - Harvey & Theo's Dad]

What would actually happen is that the forums would get very confused and soon lose their structure. 

You would basically need to recreate each of the forums we already have under each of the age settings to try and cover all bases, and it would simply get too confusing, and too large, and like Alex (15Milner) has said you would find that they would become too exclusive and not as open as they are now.

The boards as you see them have developed this way mostly by a process of evolution over many years, though I can see how when you first come across them they can be a little daunting.  I'm not sure how you view the boards, but if you click the 'Expand' link you will be able to view all the forums available without having to click each individual link.

Thank you for your suggestion.

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Like Lynn suggested there are threads specifically for babies born in a certain month that discuss where things are at.  Check out the EASY forum and see if there is a discussion going on already, otherwise you can create your own and see who joins you.  They are good for general chit-chat, but you do miss out on the knowledge of the entire BW site if you only chat in there.

 

[Deb_in_oz]

another reason why i think it would not be "more" helpful to break it down is because not all babies do things at the same time - an issue you might have at 3 mo might not affect another family until their lo is 5 mo, etc  Babies do things in a WIDE range of ages so it would make it difficult for parents to find the info they are searching for if they are looking under ages instead of issues.

[flowerlina]

I see what you are saying ... but I still think that an age specific forum will be useful.  As Lynne mentioned, people do create threads for age specific babies ... but those get too long , messy ,  hard to follow and to find sometimes.   That makes me think that parents of same age babies want to connect and maybe create a virtual playgroup.

Just a suggestion ... but don't get me wrong ...  either way I think that this forum is great and I have gotten some really great information from here!

--Alex

[Diego's Mama]

Hi Alex:

Thanks for taking the time to post your suggestion.  We have indeed kicked around the idea of age-related forums, but ultimately it was deciced against including such a structure. When Tracy designed these boards, she did so according to her E-A-S-Y structure and wanted questions about each topic to fit the methods she was teaching. 

The EASY board often has age related threads, which indeed become cumbersome, but truthfully the die down so quickly as the babies pass through different stages, that we feel they're maneagable.  You're welcome to ask a moderator to begin a sticky for you that is age-related.

Hope you enjoy the site, we're happy to have you here.  Welcome!