The Anxious Style of American Parenting

Far below, they see a dim world of processed food, obesity, divorce, addiction, online-education scams, stagnant wages, rising morbidity rates—and they pledge to do whatever they can to keep their children from falling. They’ll stay married, cook organic family dinners, read aloud at bedtime every night, take out a crushing mortgage on a house in a

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We’ve all heard the saying “Children are meant to be seen, not heard.” It was a slogan of sorts that summed up our older generations’ mindset around raising children. This mindset was born out of an understanding that the only needs children had were basic, such as food and shelter. Resource scarcity was a reality for many members of these generati

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It wasn’t that they weren’t concerned about their kids, but they wanted something back, they wanted a return on their investment—this need was almost religious. It was exhausting to listen to and it was all so corrupt because it wasn’t making for happier children. What happened to just wanting your kids to be content and cool? What happened to tell

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In their brand copy, these apps speak of lifting loads — “mental loads,” “invisible loads.” They suggest that the central challenge of parenthood is bureaucratic. Families should be “about love, not logistics,” Milo says.