Why The Various Parenting Models Are Largely Bullshit

Most of modern parenting is about getting on a task treadmill and treating parenting as a new Olympic sport. In such a context, “models” are less useful.

Let’s start with this video, shall we?

This is Emily Oster. She teaches at Brown, or at least I believe she still does, and she’s become a brand unto herself about having “data” on parenting. She was really big in COVID as a result. If you ever want to see a full litmus test on how uninvolved most men are with parenting, bring up her name. 1 in eight guys will know who she is, and that one guy will say “Eh, my wife deals with that.” If you find the eight wives of those guys, five will know who she is, and four of the five will claim they read her because of “the data” when, in fact, three of those four just follow whatever their mom or friends do.

This video is almost a perfect encapsulation of where we landed with modern parenting. We start with a good, or even great, concept: lighthouse…