
When I found I was pregnant with our first child, despite all my teacher training, I felt thoroughly inadequate and read everything I could lay my hands on about parenting. Today, bookstores stock a plethora of parenting reference materials and perhaps this intimidating array of resources has contributed to the current parenting outsourcing trend. Or perhaps, as other sources suggest, parents are just too busy, or too lazy, to raise their own kids. Whatever the reasons, families now look to experts to:
- provide potty training
- establishing sleep patterns for baby
- baby-proofing the home
- solving picky eating problems
- teaching kids how to a ride bike
- planning their kid's birthday party
- teaching their children basic manners and social skills
- picking the perfect baby name (can you believe it?)