Child Rearing forum

Well,
unless I have over looked this topic somewhere, I am really surprised there is no special place for parents to share discussions and resources because god knows the mainstream information out there (like most everything else) is so freakin turned around and this is extremely important ya'll! Our children will bring the new world into reality. Everything from pregnancy, birthing, all the way through child rearing years, I feel should have a forum. I mean, midwifery alone, should have it's own forum here. We're not just bearing fruit on our trees, we are bearing fruit of little people.yup. Permaculture is way of life. I'm a new mom and it's a real job in it's self just to uncover the proper information of the more helpful,healthy,natural ways to go about things. A lot of the information has gotten lost through the passing of our ancestors and a lot is new but not out because, you know, corporations don't wanna lose a buck,but anyway....The topics to discuss are endless from birthing techniques to breast feeding to immunizations to alternative schooling..... So yeah, it'd be nice. Until then, I would love to share this blogger, Heather Dessinger, that I really enjoy. She's an extensive researcher on all things she posts and she is entertaining with her articles on child rearing, homesteading projects, and healthy food and beauty recipes. But mostly the topic of life guiding the little ones. Check it out......MommyPotamus

Congrats on being a new mom!

I think parenting is like politics and religion. People feel very strongly about their ways of doing things and it often leads to fights. I think that if we set aside a whole subsection for parenting it would become heated, need heavy moderation, and be a haven for trolls.

Whenever you have a topic that relates to permaculture and parenting that you want to discuss feel free to open a topic where it seems appropriate. There are a lot of parents on this board, myself included, so you'll be sure to get plenty of feedback.

Otherwise there are a TON of forums devoted to all of the topics you are interested in.

Two excellent points:

1) Yes! We should totally have this! A place to be able to safely talk about these topics where other places are downright discouraging!

2) Hell no! Imagine the subject of time out, spanking and the like. There will be a lot of people demanding that other parents MUST parent a very specific way. I can just see the psychotic anger now!

Oh, and vaccines.

So if we do this, this will have to be a heavily moderated forum. And the theme would have to be clear that certain positions are favored/encouraged/supported (home birth, breastfeeding, no vaccines ...)

Do we have anybody on the staff willing to take the time to closely moderate this forum?

Home schooling would also be a good fit for such a forum.

I think in cases where it relates to permaculture, sure. Otherwise, Paul's #2 point rings true for me. There are TONS of parenting forums elsewhere on the web so.... yeah.

What would be useful is a forum to share Kid friendly permaculture activities and projects. Appropriate tools, skills, protective equipment, "safe" plant lists, learning with animals... the list goes on I guess.

No discipline, No religion, No politics, No Healthcare. You get the point.

How bout that?

Topics that relate to permaculture, YES Craig that is what I'm suggesting here on the Permies forums. And there are also a lot of other permaculture forums on the web sooo, but this one seems to be the mamuh jamuh. (kudos). There are always going to be those people out there that have no other place to release their frustrations than on forums, so that is the nature of these things. Unfortunately, putting limits on the discussion puts permaculturally minded, big boys and girls with cordial manners at a disadvantage. I find it very discouraging and an inefficient use of my time to have to jump from link to link trying to dig for the information on these "hot" topics so that I may be able to make informed decisions. I would hate to think that such a large, rich source such as the "largest permaculture site on the internet!" would not have the stamina/resilience to entertain such topics, only for the better good. Forums are by Farlex definition

a. The public square or marketplace of an ancient Roman city that was the assembly place for judicial activity and public business.
b. A public meeting place for open discussion.
c. A medium for open discussion or voicing of ideas, such as a newspaper, a radio or television program, or a website.
2. A public meeting or presentation involving a discussion usually among experts and often including audience participation.
3. A court of law; a tribunal.

Paul, I'd guess that once the majority of people whom came into the forum that did not agree with the permaculture way they would realize they are in the wrong site pretty quickly and dip out to another site that supports the ideals they are searching for. That, of course may not always be the case.

If someone wants to come in and talk about how we're all going to hell because we're not vaccinating our kids, then hey, I'd be like "Yo, this is a permaculture site where our ideals are based on practical methods of developing ecologically harmonious, efficient and productive systems that can be used by anyone, anywhere, (PERMACULTURE) which does not include toxic solutions injected into any living thing." They would clearly be off topic.

I understand the concerns about people getting crazy, but I don't think we should be modeling our networking spaces like a certain president's style of war on terror.
If limitations on the forums are a must, then I'd at least be grateful that one even exists at all. I'd only make one suggestion: reconsider the slogan of Permies.com. Hey, just saying. I love you guys.

If we had an open forum on this, who knows, maybe all the time staring at the computer screen, hunting down real information, I could actually take to plant some more seeds outside where I'd rather be. And I'd say
"Thanks Permies! That discussion with Sally about good first foods to feed my baby and why really helped and saved my time! Holy moly! Now I can go outside."

Just here to help....

Thanks for commenting everyone. Peace and Many Blessings~~~

P.s. someone changed my topic heading. ? Why even ask?

An open forum quickly fills with spam, hate speech and drivel.

This is a heavily moderated forum.

My philosophy is that if I censor the spam, hate speech and drivel, then kind gentle souls have a place to respectfully discuss topics of substance.

It is one theory. There are many theories on running forums. Naturally, I think my theory is best. And, oddly enough, this forum has grown to be the largest on the topic. Maybe my theory is stupid and the growth was a fluke.

Of course, I used my theory on my other web site - and it is ten times more massive than this one.

Leta, do you currently manage forums?

Paul, no I do not and have not managed any forums. And it could be quite possible that I'm not understanding the extent of energy to managing one with all of the spam and hate messaging. Maybe, I do not comprehend the amount of garbage that gets cut out that I never see.
I don't know if the term "open forum" means something specific in the forum world, like as in not managed at all. That's not what I meant. I said this to mean that even if a topic may be offensive to someone, as long as it has to do with permaculture I think it is ok to include there.