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[PenguinSeph]

Why can't we make it so that it's not only the mother that takes cares of babies?

Dwarfs have families and friends. Let's use them.

[Davion]

I think a nursery would be nice to have, but treat it as an area dwarf children go if there isn't any other option. If friends and family aren't available to help take care of the children then it would make sense to plop them down in a nursery. While it might have a negative effect on the child, it could balance out because they would be interacting with other children and gaining social skills.

It'd be sad to see the whole epic "Dwarf mother slaughters an entire army of goblins with her bare hands and bathes in their blood while carrying her children around on her back like some kind of bearded spider" go out the window, but it'd make more sense from a paternal standpoint to have them in a nursery or with someone they trust.

[XmasApe]

In this thread, we have a covert argument about our beliefs regarding child care and the family dynamic. 

For the record, given the sheer bloody-mindedness of a people who will calmly continue to labor while relatives languish in sick beds until they die of thirst, who lock troublesome workers in their shops to starve to death, who rig up elaborate deathtraps to exterminate the nobility because their orders are not always conducive to fortress survival - I think being raised in a creche is the only way to explain dwarves, rather than messing them up for life.

[Puzzlemaker]

I wholeheartedly agree with the "Relatives should help raise babies" thing.  Mothers shouldn't have to carry around the baby 24/7.

[Trigath]

So in the end Id rather have the family dynamic of dwarves worked on so that Grandparents, parents, children, husbands, or even VERY close personal friends will be willing to take care of a child of someone is indesposed.

That's a great idea. And that family dynamic could later be expanded to include other kinds of dwarven family things, like blood feuds and revenge killings. Like if a dwarfs close personal friend manages to kill a baby he's taking care of then the ex-babys whole extended family hates him and he has a little accident. And then that dwarfs brother swears revenge and so on and you'll end up having a blood feud between the two of the biggest families in your fortress.

[sweitx]

Well, they're dwarfs.  And therefore stubborn.  The mother might not want to give up their child, EVER.  So the other dwarf sort of pick up on that and refuse to touch any child less their mother's ghost shows up and beat the ever loving s*** out of them.  It could also be a dwarf psychology thing, where the children is so mentally attached to the mother at a young age that they literally can't live with them.

More reasons to keep a mother safe.

[Granite26]

In this thread, we have a covert argument about our beliefs regarding child care and the family dynamic. 

Amen

[Othob Rithol]

Two Words:

Cloning Vats.

[Jing]

I've had dwarves give birth... while shooting at goblins.  Seriously, there is something wrong with that.

But more on topic, I once had a dwarf give birth, cancel task to find her baby, pick up her baby (i guess when they give birth, they just sort of plop out onto the floor or something), and then be seized by a fey mood.

The story continues.  The fey mood required a metal that did not exist in my stocks or map (to my knowledge).  Baby and mother waited around in the forge for a while.  Eventually mother goes insane, drops baby, and flings self into magma.  Father is both despondent and ecstatic, due to a satisfying recent acquisition (decadent drink probably helped too).  Baby sort of lies there for a while hungry and thirsty... it crawls around.  Medic dwarf brings it a bucket of water.  Baby continues to crawl around miserable, until it manages to find itself into a room, where i 'euthanize' it.

Another time, same general story, except mother goes berserk, beats baby, and then is killed by marksdwarf and war dog.  Baby has red wounds and dies shortly thereafter.  Talk about a bad day for that baby.

A nursery would be nice for de facto orphans... although I feel it's worth noting that, as it is, you can assign a bedroom to a baby... it will try to make it's way there where it will basically function as a resting/injured dwarf.  I don't know if they can still grow to child/adulthood that way... as I said, I eventually euthanized the baby i got into a bed room (via assigning) since it was just always despondent and tying up medics and such (by euthanize, I mean I locked the door and waited =p)

[Phoenyx]

I just got a notification that a baby was made off with. During a goblin ambush where everything was locked down and everyone, save the military, were behind walls.

The only thing I could think of was a military mom just had her baby grabbed from her hands.

[LegacyCWAL]

Must not've been much of a soldier, because that usually ends up in six goblin pieces scattered over half a square mile.

[Phoenyx]

Well, I don't know. I wasn't paying attention.

[Jing]

it's possible... some other possibilities are master thieves (supposedly they are much better at evading detection) or a thief that was already inside your fortress before the lockdown (I don't know, givne the time frame?)... or some combination.  In the past, I noticed that snatchers/thieves came in groups of three... so you weren't really safe until you'd killed or scared off three within a time frame.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

Snatchers can steal babies from military dwarves if they are lucky and fast.

One particularly snatched managed to cut off an infant's head and then run off. I think he needs to go to remedial snatcher's school.

[Theoclymenus]

So your suggestion is to take away the ability to assign female dwarves to anything except Plant Gathering, Cooking, Brewing, and Cleaning?

Yeah, I went there...

Seriously though, a nursery would be great. I imagine it would give children/babies an unhappy thought possibly based around several things.

I'd love to see a dwarven playset with slides and stuff!