When did/do you start posting here?

[IdentityCrisisMama]

My child is going on 11 and I notice lots of parents of even younger kids posting in this forum. When did you start posting here instead of "the childhood years"? 

I feel like my 11 year old is still very much in the world of a child but I have a question about soccer that may better be answered here. 

TIO! 

[pattimomma]

I always think of 11 and 12 as preteen but 10 could count too depending on the child. I think it depends on the child's development.  Kids mature socially and physically at different rates. Is your child in middle school? 6th-8th grade is preteen I think.  I would go ahead and post your soccer question :)
 

[4evermom]

MDC used to have age definitions spelled out for these forums. I think preteen might even have been defined as being as young as 9 at the time when I noticed that they weren't considering my ds a "child." However, most concerns fit childhood better for us so I still posted there. Now that he's 11, I'm feeling like this is a better fit. I think MDC did away with spelling out the ages so people could post where they felt was the best fit for the subject matter during their children's borderline years.

[whatsnextmom]

Personally, I don't see 9 and 10 as "preteen" but that's not to say some don't occasionally have preteen issues. My DS turns 12 next month and I still don't really see much here that relates to him. DD didn't really feel like a preteen until about 12.5. I guess I started posting here when DD was 13.

[kythe]

I just started gravitating toward this forum as I realized over time that the situations in "childhood years" no longer seemed as applicable to us as "preteen and teen".  But there wasn't really a specific age that the change occurred.  My 12 year old daughter has definately been a "preteen" for at least a year now, really since she started puberty.  But my 10 year old son is still very much a boy, nowhere near the maturity level I would consider "preteen".  I only count him as such because of his age.

[ollyoxenfree]

There's such a grey area. I think it depends on the nature of the issue. There are 9 y.o's dealing with puberty. I'm not sure how much help would be available in the Childhood Forum for those parents. I also think the flavour of an issue can change in just a couple of years. There's some difference between a puppy love crush that a couple of 8 y.o's think they have on each other and the romantic "boyfriend-girlfriend" stuff and peer influence that might exist for a couple of 11 y.o's. I'm pretty sure I've seen threads about both scenarios in the two subfora (or possibly on other similar parenting boards). The parents of the 8 y.o's probably don't need to post in the Pre-teens and Teens forum, but the parents of the kids on the cusp of adolescence might find more help and experience here for the bigger questions that they are more likely to face.

[Linda on the move]

I can't remember when I starting posting here. For awhile, I hung out in both forums, but one day I decided I couldn't read another thread about an elementary school aged child's birthday party invitation list. Now I have to be incredibly bored to go over to the childhood years board.
 

[zebra15]

IDK, my kiddo turns 12 tomorrow - how on earth did that happen??  I'm still not sure he's officially a tween/teen.  He is all about legos, art projects and Disney Dvd's (shhhhh don't tell anyone)  lol.  He loves mario video games and swim team.  

There isn't much on the childhood years that interests me but that forum seems to move faster.  Childhood seems to have a wide range of ages on it. I see posts for kids ages 2-3 up to 9-10 or so.

I run a homeschool group for tweens/teens (ages 10-16) and the issues are all over the board.  From kids stuff to driving.

I guess I started coming over here a couple years ago when I had no idea what a 'tween' really was.

[meemee]

i have just started gravitating to this board recently. my 9 year old will be 10 in days and is in 5th grade. 

right now i am just trying to figure out how to parent. it is so incredibly different. 

my intense dd had a lull - the eye of the storm - this last year but omg is she sooo hormonal now. 

i know she has hit puberty big time. both physically and emotionally.

and i am reeling. i finally figured now that if i am at the stage where - i am confused about when to speak up and when to be quiet - then heck whether my dd is a tween or not "I" need the advice that i see here. there are times i need advice or i just need to be heard and i have no idea how to formulate the question and ask for advice without spilling all the beans. dd so doesnt want me to talk about her in public. even on anonymous forums. 

while in one sense she is still a child - in another she is SO not one. its subtle and its changing and our cosleeping days are coming to an end. 

they have a teen anime group at the library. its mostly filled with young teens so not too intense topics are discussed. dd is allowed to be part of that club.

part of the issue too is that she has always been way too mature for her age and she continues to be so. i look at her almost 13 year old friend and marvel. she seems in one sense younger than dd. dd is constantly mistaken for a 12 - 14 year old (partly i think because she is tall for her age, her curves and chest size and that she is now prefering to wear teenagey type clothes). 

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

I think I started posting here when ds was about 12.  But I did have questions about my ds2 when he was 10 that I posted here.  I think it probably depends on the physical, emotional, and social maturity of the child as to when they are dealing with a preteen or childhood issue.