What do you want to see on ParentDish?

I like some of the personal posts and not others. I tend to shy away from the gushy my-kid-is-so-precious posts, but I can understand why other people enjoy them. And I guess I'm in the minority here, but I despise the celebrity gossip, especially the mean-spirited posts. I see the word "Britney" and my eyes glaze over.

My favorite posts are the ones that look at some parenting-relevant news item, study, or trend, that inspires people to a lively discussion/debate.

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I couldn't find a heading for controversial posts.

Gay rights, politics, etc.

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I wish I could have picked more than one. I voted for "personal" because they are my favorite. I especially like your posts, Kristin, because I have a son about the same age as yours, and your struggles help me keep it in perspective. When I read yours, I know that I'm not alone.

There have been a lot of really judgmental posts lately regarding other people's parenting choices. Those are a real turnoff for me. There's a particular blogger who I won't read anymore because I don't agree with bashing other people's parenting choices, even if I might disagree with them myself.

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I agree with Caelligh about celebrity posts. Not only do I only have a vague idea of who these people are, and totally don't care anyway, but a lot of them are really very harsh and judgmental. We get it - Britney is a bad parent. Now let's move on with our lives and focus on our own families, okay? Why do we have to waste our time gossipping about people we don't know and don't want to?

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I read this blog mostly for the controversial subjects that inspire lots of debate posts. This is the only parenting blog I visit (I tend to hang out at political blogs). To be a little more honest, I'm not really sure why I come here, as I am almost always in the minority, and most of the bloggers' opinions recently have made me feel alienated. Then again, there aren't many other parenting forums that trend politically like I do, and I've been coming here for so long, I don't feel like going elsewhere. : )

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I have the same comments as last time, generally:

My preferences

-less celebrity news, especially drives me batty when it has nothing to do with children or parents

--------- yup, still agree.

- I like the studies that are posted but I do think more knowledge around research design could be an asset to the writers covering the studies. It would be nice to see critiquing of the studies, which I consider essential to anyone who is reporting study results.

--- it seems like there have been fewer studies posted on PD, not sure if this is a dip in the research or the reporting on it.

- less blogging about cases of parents abusing their children. If you are going to blog about it, at least link to charities/organizations where people can donate/volunteer/send needed items to to try to help prevent child abuse or to help children who have been abused. Otherwise I think too many stories like that just upset people with no purpose.

------- thank you, thank you, thank you, for ceasing the disturbing news reports of people doing horrific things to their children. I still agree that if they are posted, a useful or productive link should be provided to take action.

- on that note I think a nice new regular feature could be blogging about charities and non-profit groups that work on the behalf of children and parents.

------- I still think this would be cool. They could be grouped by location (e.g. by continent, one month being North America, one month being African) or by the focus of their work (e.g. one month on charities for abused children, one month on charities for refugee families, etc).

- another cool features could be city profiles. For example I could say that here in Edmonton cool things to do with kids include the Royal Alberta Museum, Fort Edmonton Park and the Telus World of Science. Just a paragraph featuring a major city with fun things to do with kids when traveling there. I think travel blogs probably have enough focus on restaurants that you should try, etc I would be specifically interested in unique places to take kids to for some fun.

-------- I think there were a couple of these then they died out.


- this one might be controversial and I don't really know how to put it gently, but I do feel like some topics are writers grasping at straws for a topic to blog on. Maybe other people love these posts but I get irritated when they are too many posts that aren't really informative or useful, posts like "my baby likes yogurt, does yours?" Obviously none are that silly and I don't mind some random observation threads but sometimes that is the majority of the recent posts.

------ I still feel this way about some posts.

- I also liked the blogs that were activities to do with kids, or recipies to try, things I could do with my kids at home or outside.

-------- I'd still like to see this.

Good luck with sorting through all the feedback, I'm looking forward to what comes from it.

-------- looking forward to the revamp again :)

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Mostly I just absolutely loathe the product reviews. They're always for absolutely unnecessary, overpriced crap. It's just so materialistic and consumerist.

I like the personal posts, the posts about issues facing parents. I'd like more about parenting issues from around the world. I like the research studies. I don't mind the celebrity stuff, though it's not why I come here, and I like it when the posters share their opinions.

Maybe some compilations of "how-tos" from different people's blogs sometimes would be fun--like cloth diapering, or breastfeeding, or handling school issues, or teaching religion, or integrating kids and pets.

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I would echo Caelligh's comments. I would add that I rarely bother with the posts of a certain blogger, because most of what that blogger posts (other than his own kids' everyday activities) has to do with promoting sex and condemning religion, which usually seems intended more to start a quarrel than to help parents raise their kids. All the bloggers are working through their own personal issues, which is healthy and often very interesting / helpful to read. However, those who want to use this Website as a forum to act out their own immaturity and frustration do not impress me.

Kristin, your posts pretty much always rock.

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Please... no more celebrity "news"... those have to be the most boring, irrelevant posts of all. Occasionally there are inspiring ones, but as a whole, I would never miss them.

I don't mind controversy unless it's obvious bashing of one side or the other. Thought-provoking is good!

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I also enjoy the hot spot topics. I'd like to see less celebrity related posts that have nothing to do with parenting. After all this is a parenting website.

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I'm fairly new to PD and have found it exciting. Almost like we are a "group" or something. I love the easy going banter between us all. I do have to admit, I like almost all the posts. I like the variety. I don't comment on all of them but do take the time to read them.
The thing I like the least are the personal attacks and the "judging" of others....when people get downright cruel to one another. It's one thing to disagree but I think there are better ways without the personal attacks. Also I find when there is a question and you answer "that" question, people get up in arms at times and say 100 things about "what if this and what if that" and I'm "only" answering THE question. As long as we are being open here, I hate when people leave their caps on for the whole comment. I'm never sure if they aren't aware of it or if they are "ranting." Maybe it's just me. If I could have a wish also, it would be a spell check. That would be really nice.
I also really like your posts Kristin. Keep em coming.

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I partially agree with Eva about the product reviews. I can't reason spending over $20 for any baby clothing item that the kid will only fit for a few months. I think the product reviews should be more financially friendly.

The celebrity issues, do we talk about our neighbors or friends? No, so why do we need to gossip about these PEOPLE. Yes their career puts them in the public eye, so what? I don't care where/when they go get drunk or with who.

Overall I love this site and come back daily to check for new posts.

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I like the personal posts (Jennifer's "A Little More" series is my favorite) and the occasional product review. Even a controversial topic every now and then is OK with me. What I can't stand and what's caused me to really start skimming my ParentDish feed, instead of paying more attention to it, is the celebrity stuff. Let me be clear: I DO NOT CARE ABOUT BRITNEY, CHRISTINA, TOMKAT, BRANGELINA, OR ANY OTHER CELEBRITIES, PARENTS OR OTHERWISE, AND IF I DID I'D READ ABOUT THEM ON TMZ OR PEREZ HILTON. So please, please PLEASE cut it out with the stupid celebrity posts.

One other suggestion is to enforce some better quality standards from all of your bloggers. Specifically, if someone is going to post about a news story they saw somewhere, INCLUDE A LINK to the source material.

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Controversial posts. It makes the commenting more fun! Gay parenting, secular parenting, parenting children with gender issues, etc. It's just more interesting than "How do I get my child to sleep" and "My child said the funniest thing the other day."

And please, no more Britney. We can (if so inclined) get that news ANYWHERE.

That said, I come here for the "alternative" stuff...as mentioned above. It's just too few and far between.

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I love the personal posts the most. I couldn't live without reading about Nolan, Avery, and Edan.

I like parenting-related news stories also. The studies are good.

I actually like the celebrity posts.

I do echo Melissa: "There have been a lot of really judgmental posts lately regarding other people's parenting choices. Those are a real turnoff for me. There's a particular blogger who I won't read anymore because I don't agree with bashing other people's parenting choices, even if I might disagree with them myself." This blogger is sub-par in all writing and especially irritating when being so overwhelmingly judgemental.

There are too many product recalls in general right now, and there are too many on here as well.

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I like every focus EXCEPT the celebrity crap. I don't care about them and their broods (total disconnect) and it's a turn-off from the blogs.

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The judgmental, intolerant posts turn me off as do the product reviews that just feel like commercials for something that you got for free. I love, love Jennifer Graf Groneberg and her attitude about life just makes me feel good. I like reading about news, research and cool stuff on the web. I like the celebrity stuff in extreme moderation. Please, no more about the underwearless, celebretart whose media coverage is damaging her children.

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I see a lot of people voted for personal. I guess I'm the grinch because I come here for news and reviews. I personally dislike the personal posts and often skip by them. If I want to read about what cute thing your child is doing, I'll head on over to your personal blog... I'm just being honest, I hope you can understand that I don't mean HARM by saying this.

Something else I dislike is having to click to read the rest of a post. I often skip those.

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Here's something else. While I do like questions like "What do you think" tagged onto the end of posts, I dislike them when the poster makes their opinion blatantly clear. Sometimes, it feels like a post runs "Gee, so-and-so did something horrible. I mean, to each their own, but WOULD YOU let your two year old drink vodka? COMMENT!" and if you're the person who'd do whatever-it-is (okay, not really the vodka thing, but you know that), how are you going to reply? It's even worse than if the poster hadn't asked the question in the first place, and it seems to me that you've all done it at one point or another.

Sometimes I even feel that way when I *agree* with the poster's opinion, so you *know* it's bad then :)

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