It happens to many of us! After spending days, or maybe even years lurking and reading posts, you suddenly feel inspired and want to contribute to a community! (If not, think about it! Magikarp Diem!)

"How can I contribute and give back to my ABDL family and community?"

We'll you're in luck because we are going to dive into 5 ways to give back! The awesome reality is that ALL of us can help the ABDL community and build it up to be even better and give others support in various creative ways!

Before you begin

The first thing about giving back we recommend thinking about is how much you’re able to give back! This isn’t just time, it’s resources. Financial ability (ask a grown-up about what a penny is for help) and your energy are also important to think about when giving back! For instance, if playing with your toys all day and not having your naptime means you’re doing chores in the evening, you may not have a lot of time to give back.

It’s also important to remember these factors can and frequently change. It’s even more important to remember this isn’t a competition! Other kids can always tell when you’re making it a race or when you’re doing it to be “popular”. The best contributors to the community do it for the community, not to have the coolest toys on the playground or be the coolest kid around.

Level of Effort

The chart below shows one possible scale to help you plan how you may want to give back. Remember, it isn’t a competition!

Level of Effort	Amount of Time	Amount of Resources
Extra-Light	Varies	None ($0)
Light	.5-2 hours/week	Little (< $20)
Medium-Light	2-5 hours/week	Little (< $40)
Medium	5-7 hours/week	Medium ($60-$100)
Medium-High	7-10 hours/week	High ($100+)
High	10-20 hours/week	Very High ($500+)
Extra-High	20+ hours/week	Extremely High ($1000+)

1. Make Space

Level of effort: Extra-Light

A journey to being happy starts with a single, toddling step in a safe place. Once you’ve become comfortable and excited as your new kiddo self, you can capture that magic by providing a place for others to express themselves, too! Remember that first diaper, blankey, or toy when you found ABDL? Making sure a friend can also have this magic can be one of the simplest, yet most memorable ways to give back! Be honest about what you’re hoping to have happen, make sure the other kiddo(s) understand, and get ready for some real magic! Best of all, it only costs your time!

2. Participate & Moderate

Level of effort: Light (Participation), Medium-Light (Moderation)

Participation

Do you remember finding the ABDL community? Did you just find it? Similar to how you may have found the community, many kiddos find the community through social media or a search online. A quick check will turn up several ABDL forums, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitch, Youtube, and many other nooks and crannies that ABDL's have found interest to share content in various styles. Giving back by replying to community questions, participating in posted topics, and adding your own content to the conversation helps generate dialogue and connection.

Have you ever lurked Twitter posts or Reddit posts and wanted to feel even more connected? The trick isn't reading everything, but thoughtfully reading a few posts, and reading with the intent to reply. Reading fewer posts when the grown-ups give you screen time, but your participating with purpose will encourage others to participate and you will become more known as you post consistently and reply to others' posts.

Moderation

Much like when the grown-ups pour out the buckets of legos, not everyone is going to use the same rules when playing at first, and have to work on sharing better, and that’s where you can help! In many cases, those who post the most often with high-quality content are converted to be moderators.

Moderators are known for keeping community content positive and exciting. Find yourself spending a lot of time posting and replying? Don't be afraid to ask to help moderate, but if you can't commit to the time required, that's ok! (Remember, it’s not a competition!) Your participation and posts help keep the conversation going and support the community.

NOTE: Moderation takes a lot of time and isn't always fun. Think of moderation like a full-time or part-time job you have to show up to and practice being an adult. You may feel more excited some days than others but always remember the community looks up to those who help keep things good; moderators are leaders and good leaders help make good communities. Thank you for your effort and hard work building the community one post at a time!

3. Organize Group Playdates

Level of effort: Medium (can vary)

Do you have space and tools to provide a larger gathering to several kiddos? Consider hosting an ABDL BBQ, gathering, dinner, or similar event! One of the advantages of this type of event is meeting and gathering several kiddos at once helps the community get to know itself and find new, lasting friendships. You can organize these types of events in your home (make sure you know the kiddos you’re inviting - safety first!), or in public spaces (but please, use common sense and don’t make others uncomfortable), such as a trip to a park or zoo. We’ve seen ABDL bar crawls, munches, mini-golf, house parties, hockey game groups, theatre groups, and movie trips!

Where do event announcements go? We recommend posting your event to where your community is! If you are comfortable with and intending for an “open” event, a community social group posting should get the word out and those Fishing Bryce-brand KidPhones beeping. Organizing something with a limited invitation? A social media group, such as a Telegram group, can help ensure you can post information one place, coordinate in the same space, and have a great time!

Attending a group playdate? It’s a great time to wear your appropriate kid clothes! Cute shirts, tastefully created overalls, and colorful shoes are easy options for showing off your style. Make sure your choice in style is considerate of others, families, and your grandmother before wearing it in public - and also remember something cute printed on your shirt is not anyone’s business and you don’t owe them an explanation, either! Need something cute to wear or a diaper bagpack for your snacks? We can hook you up!

When organizing group events, be extra clear about any rules you would like followed during the event - put them out in writing (you can do it, we know you’ve learned what the letter “G” is now!), encourage your friends to speak to a grown-up if they need help understanding, and then make sure to follow the rules. If your group is more than about 10 or so, ask a friend to help you keep an eye on things and enforce the rules evenly, so everyone can have a great time.

Extra-special tip! Be sure to specify the “Pack-in/Pack-out” rule for your event! Trash build-up with so many diaper changes can be overwhelming, so let kiddos know before the event if they should pack their diapers out to their trash. Not sure if your event is pack-in/pack-out? We suggest planning to pack-out unless you’re told otherwise. For public spaces, you should always be polite and pack-out!

4. Design Your Happiness

Level of effort: Medium-High/High

The ABDL community is filled with amazing talent and maybe that's you! You might have a knack for business and that entrepreneurial spirit or maybe you like to sew clothing that enhances your playtime. Heck, there are a lot of programmers that could easily help design apps and tools for our community. One of them made an app for iOS called "Crinkles" that allows you to keep inventory and track analytics of your diaper stash! There is so much potential!

Create Art

Artists contribute in several ways, commonly through personal character commissions or sketches. If you are an artist and are building your audience, we highly recommended you consider a Patreon to connect with your fans. Who knows, maybe one day you could join the PretendAgain team and produce products the community wears proudly every day! New to art? Checking in ABDL artist communities can get you pointed in the right direction for tools and options to help build your skill through practice.

Start a Business

Got a great idea? Start a business! As an entrepreneur, the difficulty comes getting off the ground either by lack of knowledge or a lack of funding to kickstart your idea. Go to an ABDL convention and attend panels while networking with existing successful ABDL companies. Studying good business strategies while planning for the long term helps you design your future while giving back to the community. One word of advice: business takes time to get done, so plan for that by adjusting your expectations. Business is for the patient and will definitely take longer than it is for you to rewind your blu-ray copy of “Frozen” and watch it for the 40th time today (again), but it does payout over time.

Create a Service

Creativity knows no bounds when it comes to services. Feel talented? Dive in and explore ideas! To give you a head start, consider starting a service that caters to the ABDL community such as a safe community space or a non-profit organization that supports those in the ABDL community in need. For example, organizations such as IsoStoryTime supplies funds to get those in our community that may need help getting back to a breathtaking-but-bold crawl.

Services can include furniture building/repair, decor consulting, clothing customization/repair, and more! There are so many seamstresses that are just as passionate as you are in making cute clothing for any reason. Reaching out to friends or on the ABDL forums or subreddits and means you'll get some great recommendations and set you off in the right direction!

5. Teach & Share What You Know

Level of Effort: Medium-Light to Medium-High, depending on your goal

Ever been mid-change and stopped with this: "Why can't I find advice on how to change myself?” Well, well, young one, you’ve found an opportunity to give back by teaching and sharing what you know!

Maybe you are literally the diaper guru to know when it comes to spanking, or the king/Queen Sippie Cup master when it comes to planning the ultimate nerf war, or quite possibly you can literally throw the most epic tea party a toddler your age could ever throw! Regardless of the skill, the ABDL community will thank you for sharing your passion and passing on your skills so we can all participate in many fun activities with a bit more confidence and finesse.

When creating content planning it out ahead of time matters! Defining your goal, your clear message, and your key points will make sure you are creating solid and enjoyable content. Typical bites of information stick to around three key points and you can make more in-depth guides as needed. This helps break up your commitment to giving back into manageable pieces while giving you a sense of accomplishment. After you know the direction you want to go, think about what medium is best to share it! Are you a Twitter master of conveying your ideas in 250 characters? Challenge DaddySnowKitty with your knowledge! Are you the absolute go-to for Instagram, yearning to show up Imaginepup? Start a show! Camera shy? Get a quality microphone and start your own podcast, just like how Mako does with “The Big Little Podcast”. There’s plenty of room for everyone, and your ideas help make the community better!

Get Building!

These are just a few ways for you to help give back and build up the ABDL community. As you consider your options, remember to be realistic (and even slightly underestimate) your available time and resources. Be realistic with what you can do. Doing this helps make sure that when you start discovering the joy of building a better community for others you’ll be able to have time for the fun and growth giving back can give both you and the community. Seeing the smile of others is infectious and helps you leave a lasting positive influence in the community. We’re all in this together, so let’s make it AWESOME!

How do you like giving back to the community? Have you started contributing or are you still considering options? Share your thoughts, questions, and ideas with us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram! Until next time, don’t leak!