Hi I would love to see this get revised and revive this conversation with the new host advisory board starting up.
I completely agree that creating a family friendly environment is different for children that are school-aged vs. toddlers.
We have the same type of problems where the age range of 2-12 is too broad. A walking infant to a 4/5 year old will touch everything and push every button and climb every shelf and play with everything. The only way to host a safe environment for a walking infant to a 4/5 year old is to have virtually nothing in your unit or to have things in your unit that you don't mind replacing.
I see value in 3 categories or really just a revision to the infant age range would be wonderful. Infants - 4/5 years old that are crawling/walking need a safe environment without things to break or cause injury.
I am a parent - I know what small children do - and when I am on vacation I don't want to worry about other people's stuff.... so we do need to make a change if we are going to empower hosts @Stephanie.
Too many people abuse the infant category and bring older toddlers to avoid extra fees or guest counts and more importantly these guests put their children at risk by not following the rules stated by the hosts. When I have a loft ladder in my cabin or tiny house it is definitely a liability for a toddler to climb it or sleep in the loft.
We need to change the categories for safety of guests and to protect our host community. We need to help the lodging industry see that this is important and be the change that is necessary for the future of hosting.
