The Wall Street Journal reports on a popular new pastime: publicly confessing what a shitty caregiver you are. The piece cites Babble.com’s phenomenally successful “Bad Parent” column, and enough new books on the subject (including one by Michael Chabon’s notorious wife) to justify Compulsively Shared Parental Incompetence as a trend. Best anecdote: The woman who […]

» Continue reading "Inside the “bad parent” craze"

More on the “who’s to blame—parents or teachers?” debate. This from Dr. Melissa Clouthier, a chiropractor who blogs “with children literally sitting on my head”: Slow parenting might be a new trend, though I’m dubious. Aggressive, strung-out parenting seems to be the norm. Kids have their extra-curricular activities and then they come home…where they are […]

» Continue reading "Is your kid “aggressively schooled”?"

Hey, if you live in New York, come on by the book-launch party for The Perfect Baby Handbook this Tuesday night at the Tribeca boutique, Capucine. Thanks to the resourceful Julia Beck at FortyWeeks.com, I have a grand door prize to give away that is actually, inarguably grand: A $600 T-160 stroller from the German […]

» Continue reading "Come party with the perfect baby—and win a Teutonia stroller!"

Today, I had the honor of being interviewed by the Mumfrey Rubin Show with Mac Montandon about The Perfect Baby Handbook. The following people may want to make a special effort to listen to this lively, podcasty conversation, which can be found here: 1. Anxious parents: If you’re feeling the pressures of raising kids in […]

» Continue reading "Friends, Romans, Supermommies, lend me your ears"

In this recent address at a town hall meeting in Los Angeles, the Most Powerful Parent in the Free World took other child-rearers to task for letting their kids play “Super Smash Brothers Brawl” or “World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King” after school instead of doing their homework and generally becoming superlative, like […]

» Continue reading "Obama calls for parental perfection!"