April’s issue of Time Out New York Kids just hit newsstands, with a story on Parenting, Inc. by Matt Haber. Haber will forever be in my good graces for publicly pointing out certain egregious facts about a negative review of my last book, so I was delighted to find out he was on the case for this story. The article, “Marking up Baby,” (I’d provide a link, but unfortunately, it’s not online), looks into “how the exploding kid-gear industry turns parents into suckers.” He goes on to write,
“Paul, a mother of two and a regular contributor to Time magazine, looks closely at the nonstop spending spree associated with parenting (designer shoes for newborns, anyone?) and offers a sobering critique of the combined industries she dubs ‘Big Baby.'”
Haber interviews several moms in New York City. One East Harlem mom, for example, admits to feeling suckered into stocking up on what proved to be unnecessary products. “We ended up with so many useless things – a bottle warmer, Diaper Genie and baby monitor, to name a few,” she tells Haber. “We live in a tiny apartment; we don’t need technology to hear the baby!”
But the story is also careful to point out that Parenting, Inc. isn’t a polemic. Where would we be — dare we imagine it? — without the sippy cup!?