To wonder why people are on MN that arent parents

[TraineeBabyCatcher]

Parents of some variation, ie grandparents, step, those TTC etc
Or say, nannys and jobs such as those.

Not that they shouldn't be, just intrigued why you might be?

[kittyandthegoldenfontanelles]

Sounds perfect!

My daughter has finally settled after choking on her calpol at 12.00 so I'm off to bed till she wakes again in half an hour

Blanche where are you?! Sob....

[ErrorError]

Aww hope your daughter's okay, must be frightening for you. I think I'd be tempted to accidentally on purpose revive the Blanche thread just to force the OP to update!! Can't help but think of Corrie or The Golden Girls. Or blanching potatoes . Poor thing. Would have been better if OP's DS got to choose the name instead of her DH! Or maybe not.

[boomting]

I originally came on here because there was so much bollox being talked on the chicken keepers forum that I couldn't quite walk away. Nowadays, I also post in the FE section because there is some (but nowhere near as much) bollox talked there.

[ZebraOwl]

Someone directed me to the Infamous Cutted Up Pear & I hung about Just Reading for, er, a year or so, I think? Only joined last week because of the hole I'd bitten through my tongue reading "Guiding/Scouting = (a) Christian organisation(s)"

I am a volunteer with Girlguiding UK in various capacities working with Brownies, Guides & Senior Section (so 7-26 year olds) & it IS useful to See It From The Other Side.

I don't have children of my own & chances are - leaving aside the whole Terminally Single thing I have going* - I won't ever have children of my own thanks to Being Broken. However, I did a lot of the Bringing Up of My Naughty Little Sister following the death of our mother when I was 10y5m & my sister was 7y8.5m old, so I am not completely without Parenting Experience. Just rather too much of it too young. Which is still going - I got all emptynesty when I was barely in my 20s & am now hearing my sister turn into me when she deals with her daughter & her step-daughter. (Plus some overtones of both our grandmothers, in fairness & echoes of Mummy. It's a good mix.)

• NB I'm honestly not bothered by Being Single. I have embraced my cat-mad spinster fate quite happily

[Loveweekends10]

You seem a little thoughtless by asking that question. What about people who are trying to be mums that need the support. Or want to be mums in the future? Or can't be mums because they are with a bloke that won't let them?
I think life is a little more diverse than you are thinking and so consequently so is this site.

[teacherandguideleader]

I got directed to this site by a link from somewhere else. I spend 90% of my time with children and have learned some useful tips - especially for when I am on residential trips. I feel I have a much better understanding of what might make some parents go 'woooaahhh, that's not right'. It is a real bug bear of mine that one of my parent helpers thinks I can't possibly know anything about children because I don't have any (although I used to teach her child - her parenting skills were nothing to be proud of!).


I would like to have children one day, although medically it might not be possible. I'm hoping that if/when that happens I'll have somewhere I can go for support.

[exoticfruits]

It is open to everyone- you can come on and never have to mention children. You are also allowed to have opinions even if you don't!
It is very insular to restrict it.

[WillieWaggledagger]

I have no children and very little to do with children but dp and I were taking his godson out for the day so I googled things to do and MN came up

As others have said it's great to have a site that is predominantly populated by intelligent women. I've learnt lots through being on here

[exoticfruits]

You also won't find anything funnier!

[TraineeBabyCatcher]

Loveweekend- I did actually mention those TTC. I was not intending to be insensitive I was genuinely interested as to why people may have come here other than for the more obvious reasons.
I personally think it was a perfectly reasonable question and I have been given some responses that I would definately not have thought of as to why you may end up here. I wasn't saying there is a right or wrong reason just wondering what they may be.

[AmandaCooper]

I'm not aware of any other forum like this but not parenting. Maybe there are some but I've never come across one. There's plenty of topics which have nothing to do with children. Most of them in fact.

[Latara]

I would like to TTC in the future; but not met a suitable man (hopefully will one day soon!) & take meds that don't go with TTC.

I looked up Mumsnet out of curiosity after the Daily Mail said it would be 'a Mumsnet election' at the last general election, so was curious as to what MNers were actually like.

I stumbled on AIBU & Chat, couldn't stop laughing at certain threads (but in a good way) & wanted to join in.
Much of MN is more aimed at women in general than just Mums.
There are too many male dominated forums on the net.
Although some men are on here too, which is fine.

[Latara]

Also i met many men with DC so the prospect of Step-Mum-hood is fairly high at my age (36).

[TandB]

I know. Because we're all so boring and have no opinions on anything but children.

[Latara]

Thanks to MN i've been able to give a bit of advice to my divorced male neighbour who only sees his son fortnightly; & who gets quite stressed over it.

[RuleBritannia]

TraineeBabyCatcher When do grandparents stop being parents?

[TraineeBabyCatcher]

They don't, I was just trying to make it clear that I didn't just mean one specific 'group' of parents. That I could think of those with a more direct link, it was the other reasons you might not necessarily think of.

[lurkedtoolong]

I've no children and not TTC but I like it on here. I get to let off steam at ILs then realise they are actually quite nice, I like to chat about books and various light hearted issues, I'm nosy about other people's lives. All sorts of things keep me on here.

MN has also taught me to be much more accepting and understanding of kids around me. A couple of years ago a child having a tantrum in a supermarket would have me muttering about brats, now I'm so much less judgemental and 9 times out of 10 have sympathy for the poor mum who might be having the day from hell and can do without nasty comments. I do still hoik my judgey pants from time to time, just not my first reaction anymore.

[Pagwatch]

You do know that you will have to respond to
A) clarify that you are now aware of loads of good reasons why 'currently not parents' would be on a parenting forum and
B) that you were not in anyway being rude about any of the groups of people mentioned in your op...
..until the end of time

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

I thought the OP was quite polite - she said she was just interested, not suggesting anyone shouldn't be here.

It'd be interesting to map out why we are all here and what topics/threads different demographics go on.

[TheCatIsEatingIt]

I came investigating when the Gordon Brown Biscuit Hoo-Ha took place. I was single and nowhere near TTC at that stage, but got hooked on AIBU. I'm an auntie and a godmother, so am interested in people's experience of kids, and will be TTC in the new year, so have recently been reading about conception and pregnancy and wishing I hadn't

[doctordwt]

Because it's like the biggest and most engrossing set of problem pages and coffee shop gossip you've ever seen in your life.

I browsed here for hours before I had kids, followed a link one time and ended up HOOKED.

Anyone who likes chatting and gossiping and amusing stories would like this place. I think the having kids thing is little to do with that!

[Mrsjay]

people like forums these days they love a natter a bit of advice whatever mumsnet fills that not all of the people here talk about their children all the time or post about children I don't i will mention them but i dont post in parenting topics ,

[TraineeBabyCatcher]

The posts about not talking about children has actually made me realise how little I actually talk about my child here!
I love that, for the majority, people give it to you straight especially on AIBU.

[Mrsjay]

TBF my children are older 1 an adult sometimes i give out old wives tales adivce and i get this face