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Eye-Roll-Inducing "Parenting Trends"

Posted by AmyinMotown

 One of the first unofficial lessons of Journalism 101: if it happens three times, it's a trend. Or, if it happens to you and at least one of your friends, it's a trend.

So  I tend to view stories like this one from Parents.Com about the top 10 parenting trends for 2008 with great skepticism, to say the least. And if you're a regular reader of Strollerderby (and you should be) none of these are news to you. I'll list them anyway, to spare you the nine zillion irritating ads that cover the screen when you're trying to go through the article.

  • "Creative" baby names. "Semaj" from James? Seriously, people? Just, no. Bill already riffed on this funnier than I can ("silent q" indeed).
  • Toy safety. Suddenly everyone wants their toys made in the USA. Good luck with that!
  • Working mothers bringing babies to the workplace. Again, please no. I already aired my feelings about this in a comment on Other Amy's post on the topic – and apparently am in the minority, in a big way.
  • Sophisicated nurseries. Can't argue with this one, anything I say would solely be out of raw, naked envy for people with money and taste enough to pull these off.
  • Famiies traveling together more — groups of friends going on vacation, so each set of parents can trade off kid-watching and grownup time. Again, this sounds genius.

  • Holding baby showers for 2nd and 3rd kids. H to the ELL to the NO. One baby shower and one wedding shower per person per lifetime. End of story. Anything else that's a gifting party, outside of really unusual circumstances, is greedy. Although looking at the comments on this post by Kelly, I totally want a blessingway now
  • Personalized baby web sites. No problem with these, but our set of faraway grandparents are my in-laws, who are in their 70s. And refer to emails  as "letters."  So, yeah, not sure how well that would work for us.

  • Birthday parties with physical activity themes. Don’t they all devolve into malestroms of screamy, running kids, themes or no?

  • More sentimental push presents for mothers. Rachael already ever-so-eloquently expounded on this.
  • Discipline — saying no to spoiled kids. This is a trend? A new trend? The hell? What is wrong with us?

I've never been especially trendy. Articles like this one make me glad. 

 

Photo: Time 


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Posted Jan 31 2008, 05:03 PM
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Comments

 

Sue said:

Looks like comments are closed on Bill's witty baby name trend post. So I won't be able to add that I recently heard the name "Braeman" for a baby boy. Yeah, that conjures up a worse mental image than "Metallica" for musician names.

January 31, 2008 5:33 PM
 

Autumn said:

My favorite trend is blogs devoted to the travels to adopt babies overseas.  They are magical especially if they have video of the first meeting.  Totally hooked on them.  Right now in the adotion world the new trend among the Bible set is to name your unfortuante new daughter from China "Neveah" which is heaven backwards.  They always think they are soooo clever coming up with that.  Every other one is named Grace, too, in reference to the Almighty.  Next trend will be back to Puritan names. Prudence, Chastity, NotUntilMarriage.  

January 31, 2008 11:39 PM
 

Carolyn said:

Just the phrase "push presents" makes my toes curl. Yuck.

This might not be a new trend, but it's one I'd prefer not to participate in: videotaping the birth and making your friends watch it when they come to visit. Like it's a slideshow of your trip to the Grand Canyon or something. Is there anything more awkward?

Carolyn

www.momsontheedge.typepad.com

February 1, 2008 2:03 AM
 

cooper1178 said:

Couple of things - I only think "push presents" are gross when they're thought of in that way.  I just don't think there is anything wrong with a father, or even grandparents, giving the new mother something pretty to commemorate the day with.  I personally enjoy my ring much more than my stretch marks!!

As for showers, it's not always the person's choice.  My family is having a shower for me whether I like it or not, and they don't care what number baby it is.  Also, it seems the more time between the kids, the more things you need to replace or upgrade or whatever.  And I definitely don't have more money the second time around - we have a bigger mortgage and a kid in daycare.  I'm still not a huge fan of showers in general, but for someone who has to stretch every dollar, I'm also not going to fight too hard against it.

February 1, 2008 10:29 AM

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