I was seriously considering buying a domain name in my daughter’s name today, who is still 5. I do not know if I plan to use it now, but I think if she ever needs one, she may not have it available. But then I also do not want to push my choice on her. I am being too crazy?
@amit FWIW, I bought domain names for my twins 14 years ago when they were born, and they and their friends think it's pretty cool that they have their exact names for email addresses and websites now that they are teenagers. (Also, their friends think their dad is a total nerd.)
@dancohen Thank you for sharing that experience. I think you kind of convinced me to get one for her too. May be she too will thank me in future. Did you use it before handing over to them?
@amit Unfortunately I cannot guarantee thanks from teenagers; your mileage may vary. I did not use the domains before they did; they were just dormant, so this was at some expense just to reserve them for years. (One of my kids has a fairly common name, the other one doesn’t.)
@amit I registered one for Beatrix before she was born. I set up an IMAP email account for her on it and have been sending emails to it every so often for all this time. Once she gets control of it, she’ll have a lifetime of little love notes waiting for her.
@dancohen Many of my “Beatrix, age x" posts are sent there too. She’ll get to see my thoughts on her at every stage of her life.
@patrickrhone Wow that’s wonderful. If not the domain, those letters over the ages are bound to impress. That gives me more ideas- you might have convinced me completely now.
@dancohen Yep. And it would be even so difficult post another decade. Never know what trend catches up by then. I’m really inclined to use the domain for something. @patrickrhone has already given a very wonderful idea.
@amit You’re not crazy at all. I bought domain names for my child before we learned if we were having a boy or girl. We already had names picked out either way, so I registered domains for both of them, just to be safe.
@amit What a neat idea. I had never thought of that (maybe if I had kids I would have, but don’t count on it), so thank you for planting it in my head :-)
@patrickrhone How wonderful! Such a great idea, and totally new to me yet at the same time totally unsurprising that you have thought to do it—“Of course Patrick Rhone has bought his daughter her domain name and has been sending her notes and letters there over the years!” :-) What a treasure trove (and treasured trove) of love and wisdom that will be.
@amit I bought one for my daughter before she was born. It's got a locked down website for family members to log in and see pictures, quotes, and little snippets over the years. There are a handful of posts similar to the emails @patrickrhone mentioned. The secret is to ask your spouse or co-parent first as they may be violently against it for privacy reasons.
@c wow, that’s sweet and so thoughtful. Family journal is a great usage for a site. Yeah, privacy for sure is a concern – not just for my spouse, but also my daughter when she grows up. And that is one reason I had ruled out updating it with pictures.
@dancohen I did this for my kids, too. Each one has three different domains. We've only just begun using one in the past two years.
