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nanglgrl 07:38 AM 02-26-2018
1. Parents are busy. They both need to work to provide and don’t get a lot of time off after baby is born. I feel like this has left people a little out of touch with their child. In some it also causes a guilt that they can’t address because there is no solution or the solution is being broke.
2. Upward mobility. So many people don’t live close to family so they don’t get the wisdom you get when being around children. They also don’t get the wisdom of elders. They feel lost so they go online and search up every reason their quiet and easy 1 month old is suddenly crying or up more at night. They need a reason and a solution..it can’t just be because children constantly change. They get all of the advice from mommy boards (women who range from trying to compete, to trying to judge to having no idea themselves), and people trying to sell books which isn’t all that helpful.
3. They feel lost. They try to forge friendships and feel better about how lost they feel as parents by being labeled (breastfeeding moms, cloth diapers, essential oils, no milk, baby wearers, etc...not saying any are bad..did them all myself..just talking about the extreme groups). This group makes them feel better because they feel part of a mommy community but meeting the standards adds more stress.
4. They’re out of touch with their child, get a lot of advice from people with an agenda, have little to no knowledge of early childhood development and hear constantly about how Daycare is expensive and how quality care matters. This leads to the “I’m the boss Parent” (Who thinks they pay you so much), the “where are the worksheets?” parent, the “my 13 month old is ready for underwear” Parent, etc.
5. Many are out of touch with child development and their child so parenting is more difficult. Plus they’re exhausted and they don’t want to be “mean” when they only have a little time between Daycare and bedtime to bond. Because it’s so hard, harder than they expected, they need more free time just to function.
6. There is so much additional stress now. Between the constant fear of unemployment, major illness, scaring their child for life by saying no and keeping up with the Jonses they’re one step away from cracking so as prividers we have to tiptoe around difficult situations with their child.
7. The experience and wisdom of a long-term childcare provider isn’t valued as much. I think this stems from a lot of parents having a slight feeling of being taken advantage of (because childcare is so expensive), higher education (the Parent thinking they are smarter than a provider with their degree in any other field except ECE, even if the provider holds a degree in ECE).

This is just my area. College educated, middle to upper class parents. Full of clique parenting groups and interesting ideas about children and childcare. They’re all trying their best, they love their children and want the best for them but come Monday morning they all get here right at drop off (whereas by Friday there are always some I’m waiting and wondering if they’re coming). They usually look frazzled at drop off and they hand their child off to me so quickly! Most of my clients do ask for and listen to my advice but it takes a lot more convincing than it used to.
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