Weird

This book strikes me as a sad commentary on our cultures standard of parenting. The dollar amounts they associate with the normal costs of parenting are shocking! I haven't read to the bitter end, but my question thus far is why in the world they don't just skip the costly daycare, the formula and all the freaky intelligence-building gew gaws and have the child spend his days with mom? There's lots of top-notch free food on tap for baby and tons of really interesting stuff to do all day long, all of which teach the little child everything he needs to know about how the real day to day world works.

Granted, some folks actually can't afford to have one of the parents care for the kids themselves during the day, but when it's just a preference thing, like I'll pay someone else to care for my child all day because I'd rather not do it myself, it boggles my mind.

I'm as strong an advocate for women's self-fulfillment as your next feminist, but I think we really shot ourselves in the foot culturally when we did away with the full time momma.

When I read stuff like that article I worry we're all going to you-know-where in a hand basket, so I head over to The Natural Child Project, to remind myself that there are folks who strongly believe that the emotional health of very young children is paramount over most other things. This one, The Critical Importance of Mother (or Father, or whoever the full time caregiver and attachment figure happens to be) is especially good. People wonder what in the world has gone wrong with 'kids these days' and this article seems to state it pretty clearly:

Nothing is more important in the world today than the nurturing that children receive in the first three years of life, for it is in these earliest years that the capacities for trust, empathy, and affection originate. If the emotional needs of the child are not met during these years, permanent emotional damage can result.

Um, hello, Columbine.