The Mommy Industry Is Killing Moms

Selling advice to parents is just adding stress
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 27, 2009 12:00 PM CDT
The Mommy Industry Is Killing Moms
The $2.1 trillion "mommy market" just stresses many women out.   (©Gramody)

Thanks to offhand comments from her son ("You're a mean mom!") and underhanded comments from other parents ("Your son's very competitive!"), Karen Houppert wakes up at 2:30am every day, wrestling with self-doubt. The newest parenting trend—family coaches to perfect your child-raising skills—joins the already $2.1 trillion "mommy market" of advice and enrichment for sale. "And what if you resist such costly 'enrichment' for junior?" she writes for Salon. Answer? "Bad mommy!"

"All these well-intentioned tips just stoke my anxiety," she continues. But maybe they're not-so-well-intentioned: Harried parents are lured in with "a few strategically placed buzzwords" and offered bogus quick fixes. Your own kid starts to look like a failure—your failure. Finally, Houppert decides to give her 11-year-old a break. "The future doesn't worry him a bit. I try to resist the temptation to mold his plastic mind in preparation for successful living when he is already happily living the good life right now." (More parenting stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X