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I want to get an idea of the big picture timeline that we should be prepared for, especially over the early, pre-nursery years.

For example, when should we expect teething, when should we arrange swimming lessons & nursery school, etc.

The day-to-day things are easier to nail down, but the timing of the big picture stuff can be hard if it's your first child.

Please provide citations/references where possible (possibly to other questions on the site).

deworde
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Finch
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  • I'm closing this, as shopping recommendations are specifically off topic. If you want to phrase these as specific questions (e.g. "When should we consider first swim lessons?", "when should we start planning for nursery school?", etc.), then they'd probably be fine. Please check with our [faq] regarding what types of questions are appropriate for our site. –  Mar 11 '12 at 14:17
  • @Beofett I commonly see "list of resources" questions on SE sites. I didn't ask for shopping recommendations. Also, the whole point of my question is to avoid thinking of all the questions to ask -- I'm asking for help determining which questions I should be asking at certain points in my child's life. – Finch Mar 12 '12 at 13:35
  • I'm not sure where you are seeing "list of resources" questions. Any question that encourages a bunch of answers that each list one or two suggestions (i.e. "I like this book") has been repeatedly demonstrated to be a poor fit. Again, I refer you to our [faq]: "You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page. Your questions should be reasonably scoped. If you can imagine an entire book that answers your question, you’re asking too much." –  Mar 12 '12 at 14:06
  • @Finch For confirmation: http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/117990/are-specific-topic-books-and-resources-questions-off-topic

    Most of the other sites have a similar policy, although superuser's is a bit weaker because of the nature of the beast.

     – deworde Mar 14 '12 at 10:22
  • @Beofett Actually, I've suggested an edit that makes the question more directly answerable, and should still suit Finch's needs. Can the two of you check this, and reopen if appropriate?

    I think that the question of what milestones to be aware of is a question a lot of new users will have.

     – deworde Mar 14 '12 at 10:31
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    In my eyes, this question is too broad, so answers cannot be very specific. This How to ask page says If you ask a vague question, you’ll get a vague answer. You could write a whole book with many chapters to answer this question in its current form. Let's break the question into smaller bits, then each bit can receive precise answers. – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun Mar 14 '12 at 11:00
  • @deworde I agree with Torben. This is no longer a shopping recommendation, and it is on-topic, but it is much too broad. This would be better asked as a series of more focused questions. For example, a list of formal educational milestones, hygiene milestones, or an age-related breakdown of reasonable aquatic competencies. "What are all the things I have to watch out for over multiple years of my child's life" encompasses just way too much. –  Mar 14 '12 at 12:08
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    I respect that there are a set of guidelines to keep things on topic and focused, but then let's be consistent: http://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/67/what-are-some-strategies-for-raising-a-bilingual-child and http://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/1443/should-we-circumcise-our-son as examples. The former is a lot like my question and the latter is completely subjective. – Finch Mar 14 '12 at 12:16
  • Finch, I moved to chat to discuss this, are you able to join us there? – deworde Mar 14 '12 at 13:49
  • @Finch I see no relationship whatsoever between the two you linked and your question. The former is a specific topic that is a subset of parenting (language development for a bilingual child). The latter is potentially subjective (although objective answers are given), but no one is saying your question is closed because it is subjective, or that subjective questions are off-topic. Your question, even reworded, is essentially, "what is everything important to know about raising a (young) child?". That's quite a bit broader than "how do I teach two languages to my child". –  Mar 14 '12 at 15:05

1 Answers1

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At risk of sounding obvious, parenting.stackexchange.com is likely to be much more useful, as those three examples you give are entirely subjective:

  • Swimming: some people start at a month, some not for a couple of years
  • Nursery: some start at a few months, some at a couple of years
  • Teeth: brushing is important whether or not you use formula

I would definitely suggest browsing here to find out the bigger picture issues and real-world experience that you can even chat about, rather than things in a book (some of these books have been written by non-parents, so I am very skeptical)

Rory Alsop
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    +1: Agreed that this site is of value, although I think some parents find milestones comforting. Also, while every developmental milestone's subjective, there are guidelines on when your child is too young for nursery, and when it would be best to start them swimming if you want them to enjoy it. – deworde Mar 14 '12 at 10:34