[thelowlanders]

What do you prefer? Babies, toddlers, elementary,etc.???

Just started realizing that not everyone prefers a baby. Including us hehe I think our preference if to do this again in the future would be 3+ year olds. From what I hear, they generally don't get much harder than our FD. I like to be able to start to reason with my kids and communicate.

How bout you all?

[HopingforAlex]

WE decided that after being up every few hours with a young animal we raised (she came home at 3 days old) that infants were really not something we were excited about.

On our paperwork we put from 5 to 9... I was five when my mother died and my brother was 9. Probably why we have that age range Though my case worker also knows that if she has a younger child or even infant that she feels we "need" to take, she can call us on it

I like 5 because they are still young, but interactive. Barring any developmental difficulty preventing it.

To be completely honest though, if they called us about any child that moved us.... meaning we felt it was right to take them, we would, regardless of age... which our case worker also knows

Just our "preferred" is 5 to 9.

[meshsgrl]

I love the ages 2-5! I have 2-3 yr olds and a 4 yr old and they are at fun fun stages!! They have their typical issues but I find younger kids are easier to deal with!! No school, homework, etc.. battles!

[chevyjewel]

I prefer the babies.

I don't feel like I have adequate patience for toddlers or their messiness

Our workers beg to differ and say I do great with them but I know toddlers definately stress me out way more than the babies do. I'd rather be sleep deprived than pulling my hair out at finding food from dinner not only on the floor but UNDER the table and on the ceiling as well. Not a fan of toddler poo either, baby poo doesn't stink nearly as bad and they're so much easier to throw in the sink if it goes up the back LOL

I will say my "favorite" foster kiddo to date was a 10 year old girl but I'm not sure we'll foster many older children until our children are older.


For now anyway, I'm a true sucker for the babies

[EandDmom]

[quote=chevyjewel]I prefer the babies.

I'd rather be sleep deprived than pulling my hair out at finding food from dinner not only on the floor but UNDER the table and on the ceiling as well. Not a fan of toddler poo either, baby poo doesn't stink nearly as bad and they're so much easier to throw in the sink if it goes up the back LOL

QUOTE]

Amen to that ...our age group is newborn to age 5. I have no desire to deal with school. Plus we wanted to get used to this before dealing with older kids. If they called us about a sibling group and one was out of that age limit I'm sure we would say yes. I have a fs that will turn 2 in march and he is a tank. I'm really really hoping our next placement will have a tiny little baby girl in it.
When we first started dh was afraid of poopy diapers had never done it. He kept saying no babies and I kept saying oh there will be babies. We ended up with 2 boys in diapers and now he is a diapering pro just jumps right in no big deal. I'll be ready to change one and he will yell at them to come to him so he can do it. He finally said ok babies are fine the diapers don't scare me anymore..lol
Like no babies was ever an option.

[potentialsinglemom]

I have not been licensed yet, but my preference is 6 mos to 7 yrs. But for some reason my caseworker said that I would be good with five years old and younger. I know one reason is because of home size, but she said I would be good with that age group. I would love a newborn straight out the hospital, but I know how grouchy I get When I miss out on my sleep.

[jeni-b]

In our training our agency actually said they have a hard time finding people who want the babies.
Our preference is babies, but mainly because we don't want to disrupt birth order.

[MommyAlysia]

We just want to keep age order. I do love the baby stage, especially the itty bitties, but honestly every age group has its own sets of pros and cons. My ideal would be a sibling group with a baby and the oldest still younger than my youngest (about 5 when we start). However, I think I would be very open to going outside of that age range in the right circumstance, I will take it case by case.

[michsm]

its funny that you ask this. I was just thinking how ironic it is that I have said for two years I don't want teenagers in my home and here I sit loving it.

I had origionally requested birth to 8yrs. Slowly the age group in my home has gotten older.

I was lacking confidence in my ability to parent a teenager and scared of some of the horror stories. Everytime my home was empty I would say let me know if you get any little ones.

Last night I watched two of a family members kids for them. I was cracking up this morning because I couldn't get in the bathroom because I had 2-13yr olds, 1-15yr old and a 16yr old making themselves all beautiful for school.

I never thought I would but I really do enjoy the older ones.

[thelowlanders]

Definitely drawn to the 10 + age but they tend to nicely lead us to the younger kiddos due to our kids ages. All the scary stories and all.... So, when the timing is right, maybe

[CaddoRose]

We have a 2.5 and a 1 yr old right now. In some ways I would prefer to have a 4 yr old or older, but I know that the older they are the more likely it is that there will be problems we don't have with the present kids. I don't have a need to take care of newborns,(it's becoming a little harder to be awake many times a night) but honestly if that call came on a newborn, I would probably say yes.

[shaylynn]

My preference is 0-7 which is so they are younger than my own (8, 10 and 12) but I am thinking of upping it to maybe 9 since they are getting older now. Sometimes the younger ones get on their nerves when they start grabbing their stuff but I just remind them that if they would keep their stuff picked up, they wouldn't have to worry about other people getting into it. My 8 yr old wants SO badly to have a baby in the house and that might be happening here in a few months, we are waiting and seeing on that, so she may have her wish. The hard part for me is keeping so much stuff on hand since I take a large age frame. I need baby stuff, toddler, elementary clothes, toys, equipment/furniture It takes up alot of room to store it all. (Probably doesn't help that I am a sucker for good sales and so I will buy it as I am telling myself-"Oh, I will someday have a child this size/age that will need that" and so in the cart it goes.)

[HopefulInTN]

Preference is grade school age. We have a 10 yr old and are enjoying interracting with this sweet, silly little boy!

[Sam-N-Tony]

Ok, I've been all over up to 7. I've had 2 - 2 yr, 3 yr, 5 yr, 7 yr, 9 mth, 11 mts, 3 mth, 2 and 3 wk old. I have definately decided I don't want toddlers, unless I go with the stages with them. I love the independence of 5+, but not the attitude. I'm sticking to a year and under. Not that I'm taking anymore, right now.

[bluebird38]

We've had 2- 4 year olds, a 2 yr old and a 1 month old. I have to say, I'm really enjoying the 1 month old. It's surprising how many issues a 4 yr old can have!