Are You A Bad Parent? Blame The Economy

Now that the world’s finally caught up to what we at Babble already knew – namely that “bad” parenting doesn’t have to be all that bad – CNN is giving us a scapegoat.

It’s the economy, stupid!

A report over at the news channel cites a lack of money as the reason parents are backing down from overpacking their kids’ schedules with activities. But is that really “good” parenting?

Or is it more OVER parenting – the too-far-gone version of attachment parenting described right here on Babble (by attachment parenting expert Katie Allison Granju no less) as “overly investing themselves in their kids.”

Because if signing my daughter up for Girl Guides, ballet lessons, piano, soccer AND story hour, with pre-school thrown into the mix is good parenting,  you can call me exhausted. I’m not that good.

So maybe we should all be thanking this disaster, er, financial meltdown for what it’s done to level the playing field. You can’t send your daughter off every night this week for an extra-curricular “well-rounding” activity? Me neither. Let’s get them together to play in the backyard instead.

Last one to the swingset is a rotten egg.

Image: Zazzle