The Kojo Nnamdi Show

Hi Kojo, Jeff, Kathryn, and (woot woot) Adequate Parent!

I am writing with a comment and question regarding the culture of online bulletin boards generally. I participate in a very large and very active online bulletin board community centered around horses. While it is large (1000s of posts a month) and busy, and its tone occasionally gets heated and contentious, it is orders of magnitude less nasty than DCUM.

The critical difference: the other board does not allow anonymous participation. Users have to have a registered ID. That ID isn't necessarily one's name, but it is constant. And this makes all the difference -- people are far less provocative if they have to post under one name every time they visit the board.

Why not make DCUM participation dependent on registering a username?

As the parent of 5 children I find that a lot of the passionate discussion on parenting boards is done by new mothers or parents of single children. I think once you have more than one or two children, you're so wrapped up in just making it through each day that you stop caring whether you're doing it "right." The whole concept of correct parenting is at the root of most of the conflicts you're discussing.

Hello! Please discuss the sock puppet phenom. It's fascinating that posters are so unsophisticated that they do not understand that Jeff, as moderator, can identify people through their number.

I usually visit parenting website when I become truly "stumped". In general, I've found websites to be far too opinionated. The most disappointing thing to me about becoming a mother has been the judgment and criticism from other women. Isn't being a mother (whether you work for pay or not!) hard enough without the constant worry about other womens' judgments? There are truly many ways to raise wonderful, generous, smart, & healthy children.

Yikes! What kind of example are parents setting, to be nasty on blogs?...

For the most important job in the world, Parents need all the help and resources they can get!

I want to alert your listeners to a local GEM parenting resource: PEP, (the Parent Encouragement Program). Based in Kensington, MD, PEP has been offering excellent, respected parenting classes and workshops for some 25 years throughout the DC area.

I found PEP when my kids were preschool (they are now 24 and 21). Without a doubt, I would not have been such an effective parent without PEP. From Family meetings to Allowance training to Parenting without Punishment, to Teen Driving, and everything in between, PEP is every parent's godsend.

Their website is PEPParent.org.

Kathy
Rockville

Hi there! Such an interesting show and rang true to my young mommy ears.

I am the Community Manager for MommyCast.com which is a POSITIVE online podcasting/video community for all parents. We strive to create not only a positive community, but an educational one as well--one that's not into bashing (especially Daddy/Men Bashing) and one that actually celebrates the child and parenthood.

We have had our share of negative and judgmental comments, but the vast majority of our 2 million subscribed following is engaging and supportive! And we were one of the first parenting podcasts out there in the blogosphere. (Since 2005.)

Anyway, just thought I would share and encourage people who are looking for a respectful parenting community to drop by. You can also find us on Twitter: @MommyCast.

One last thought--have you seen the Blog With Integrity campaign? Very interesting. They recently did a spot on the Today Show that I think every "Online Parent" should be aware of.

Link to Clip: http://fb.me/JIYhfWVC
Blog With Integrity Site: http://www.blogwithintegrity.com/

Thanks for a great thought-provoking show!

Couldn't agree more with Ms. Griffin -- PEP is fantastic! I wanted to throw out another resource for parents in the greater DC metro area that offers a wealth of information from classes for your kids, parenting resources to events and activities. Visit www.our-kids.com.