An ode to hipster parenting

you know, the more i think about this, the less convinced i am that this whole media cycle means anything - which isn't to say that i'm not going to read alternadad, because i think neil pollack can be pretty funny (mostly in small doses). jonathon, i think i'm about your age - or just a few years older - and i have to say that i was basically raised by an "alternaparent." my mom played the clash and talking heads for me when i was tiny, and i was a punk for halloween in second grade. etc etc. i suspect that these sorts of books and trend-watching come out generationally and there's a big fuss for a year or two, and then everyone moves on to the next story. there's just a larger focus on this cohort due to the exposure of bloggers etc.

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When does the book come out about weird parents who blog/write about their kids to strangers?

Because I can relate to that one.

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I think this generation is changing it's impression of....itself.

I'm still baffled by this "I-used-to-be-cool-but-now-I'm-a-parent-and-that-automatically- makes-me-uncool-so-I-have-to-do-all-I-can-to-prove-that- I-actually-am-still-cool".

Maybe because I never was cool so I just eased right into parenthood?

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if the president thinks you're cool, are you? slate.com ragazine decided to trash BabyEinstien creator Julie Aigner-Clarke because the president recognized her work as a working mom who tried to help other working parents and parents who lost a child. it's pretty cool to get recognized as a national hero. but for slate.com to call her a "flamboyant charlatan", and make wildly inaccurate claims about her and Baby Einstien are pretty uncool.

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I'm sure we are doing the same as the last few generations. Who's to say that my parents knew exactly what raising a child entailed before they had me? I mean, is any couple really ready for the total lifestyle change? Even if you did not go out and party almost every night (yes, like we did) before having having a baby, I'm sure most of us didn't get up every three hours just for fun all night long like we are doing right now. And for all my husband's tattoos and piercings, and for all the weird looks he gets pushing a baby stroller, he is truly the best darn father my baby can have!

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I believe the first comment mentioned the key difference between our generation and those past. The internet.

We may not be doing anything ground-breaking, but thanks to personal blogs and the very popular group blogs like DadCentric, StrollerDerby and Blogging Baby, the world is aware of what we do. Perhaps we have brought this glorification upon ourselves.

I don't believe that we have strayed that much from what our parents taught us. I grew up on the Beatles and Willie Nelson, and my kids are growing up on, well the Beatles and Willie Nelson. My apple didn't fall too far.

I do think that there is a wider acceptance of fathers being less "traditional", that is staying at home and being active in the actual rearing of the child rather than dishing out words of wisdom across the dinner table.

There are other considerations as well, one being that many people are starting families later in life, and this is leading to a generation of parents that are already established in their own identity when the child arrives. That identity likes to have fun. 30 is the new 20 you know.

That said, I'm not going to go all Public Enemy on you, because I think you should believe some of the hype. I'll take something as refreshing and solid as good-parenting in USA Today any day of the week (except Saturday or Sunday apparently). Whether or not the movement deserves such recognition, hell, whether or not it is even a movement, that's a matter of opinion.

Me? Yes on the former, eh on the latter.

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