Babble Best Picks:
Top 12 Listserv Parent Networks
Being a new parent can be an isolating, lonely experience, but signing up for a parenting listserv provides new moms and dads with an instant community. From finding out where to buy the best children's clothing and baby gear to getting support for mastitis or post-partum depression, parenting listservs offer help and advice 24-7. Even better, neighborhood listservs are a great source of information on local resources of interest to parents, such as which restaurants are toddler-friendly and where to get your stroller wheels repaired - and they're a great way to make new friends!
Here's a list of some of the most active and engaging parenting listservs from around the country. If your favorite isn't listed, make sure you tell us about it.
WEST COAST | Berkeley Parents Network
Name of Moderator/Founder: Ginger Ogle
Year Founded: 1993
Geographic Area: San Francisco Bay Area (primarily Berkeley and Oakland)
Website: http://parents.berkeley.edu
Number of Members: 28,100
Fees/Membership Requirements: No fees, but members must be living in or planning to move to the San Francisco Bay Area. Members must also be raising or caring for kids, expecting a child or have a job working with kids.
What you need to know: Software engineer Ginger Ogle started BPN when she was a graduate student in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at U.C. Berkeley. Her initial idea was to use the list to rally fellow graduate-student parents and pass a proposal to make graduate school more family-friendly, but it soon turned into something more. While most members live in Berkeley and Oakland, both famously left-leaning, U.C. Berkeley also draws young families from around the world with their own parenting cultures - which are often quite different from the liberal Berkeley point of view.
What you should expect: From funny Craigslist-type ads (one parent tried to get rid of a lightly used mattress smelling "faintly of urine") to more controversial issues (smoking pot while breastfeeding), you can expect a group that readily debates sensitive topics. According to Ogle, one member is a "vocal contingent who posts regularly and reminds everyone that in order to raise healthy children, you must do yoga during pregnancy, labor without drugs, quit your job and practice attachment parenting."
WEST COAST | Peachhead
Name of Moderator/Founder: Linda Perry
Year Founded: 1997
Geographic Area: Los Angeles
Website: www.peachheadfamilies.com
Number of Members: 11,000
Fees/Membership Requirements: No fees, only parents may join.
What you need to know: When Venice Beach native Linda Perry started Peachhead soon after her daughter was born in 1997, it was just an e-mail group of 15 moms on AOL. After switching over to Yahoo! Groups in 2003, Peachhead grew: and grew. Now one of the oldest and largest parenting listservs in the country, Peachhead has since spawned at least 80 spin-off groups.
What you should expect: Peachhead tackles common parenting issues like breastfeeding and potty training and is no stranger to controversy (Dr. Jay Gordon, the pediatrician famous for linking vaccinations to autism, recently posted “Please Vaccinate Against Rudeness” after a member accused him of making a living by catering to the anti-vaccination community). However, the group still retains a funny vibe, with posts such as, “In Search of Poop Whisperer.”
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