Babble

<a href="/CS/photos/feb2007/picture5950.aspx" target="_blank"><img src="/CS/photos/feb2007/images/5950/295x340.aspx" align="right" border="0" height="175" hspace="4"></a>Hip Generation X parents have once again come under heavy fire for doing things differently than our predecessors and peers.  <i>Time Magazine</i> reporter James Poniewozik writes a <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1587254-2,00.html">gentlemanly but scathing piece</a> about the depths of narcissism to which our craven parenting souls have fallen. <p>Like someone straight from a 1950s parenting book he gently reminds us, "<i>Once, it was understood that raising kids was about subordinating

yourself, recognizing that, at least as far as Darwin and the gene pool

were concerned, you were no longer the star."</i></p><p>He assumes that the raft of parenting memoirs and blogs, as well as on-line magazines like <a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/controlpanel/blogs/www.babble.com">Babble</a>

prove our unwillingness to put our kids first. By turning parenting

into an intellectual, social, and critical exercise we are failing to

see that we are no longer the center of the universe. In this analysis,

<b><i>parents</i></b> are to be seen and not heard.  </p>

<P><FONT color=#550055><A href="http://www.babble.com/CS/photos/feb2007/picture5950.aspx" target=_blank><IMG style="HEIGHT:175px;" height=175 hspace=4 src="http://www.babble.com/CS/photos/feb2007/images/5950/295x340.aspx" align=right border=0></A>James Poniewozik, author of the much Babbled about "Too Cool for Preschool" piece in this week's Time Magazine, kindly agreed to answer some of our questions about his problem with hip parent bloggers and writers.</FONT></P>

<P><FONT color=#550055><B>STROLLER DERBY:</B> You seem concerned that Gen X parents are so busy being cool and inserting themselves into the story of their kid's lives that they aren't putting their kids first as they should.   Is this based only on the books and the blogs or also on your observations of parents in action?</FONT></P>

<DIV style="DIRECTION:ltr;"><B>JAMES P:</B> I'm responding to the books and the blogs. In fact, this is the most important point I want to make: my article was about--to use the hated term--"hipster parent" *writing*, not about hipster *parenting*. I'm not trying to judge anyone's parenting. </DIV>

<DIV style="DIRECTION:ltr;"> </DIV>

<DIV style="DIRECTION:ltr;">I feel like the Babble bloggers, et al. , kind of _want_ me to be judging their parenting, because that allows them to frame the debate as though they're being socially oppressed: Time magazine is trying to force us conform to their parenting norms! We're just too free-thinking for them! We're too threatening to The Man! <B>I would argue if, anything, there's an implicit tone of judgment that suffuses Babble--if you're not on board with them, you're some kid of brainwashed Stepford robot.</B></DIV>

<a href="/CS/photos/feb2007/picture5950.aspx" target="_blank"><img src="/CS/photos/feb2007/images/5950/295x340.aspx" align="right" border="0" height="175" hspace="4"></a>Our discussion <a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/02/15/Time-Mag-and-Babble-Talk-_2200_Hipster_2200_.aspx">continues </a>as James Poniewozik responds to <a href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/02/11/offbeat-parenting-why-time-magazine-piece-on-hip-parents-gets-it-wrong.aspx">Babble's contention</a> that "We are nothing more or less than

parents who, in some fashion, defy the traditional image of uptight

cardigan-wearing Donna Reed clones who are perpetually alienated from

modern culture." <br><b>Stroller Derby:</b> How do you respond to Babble / Stroller Derby's claim that we're not "just" about hip urban parenting?   <br><b><br>James P:</b> I'll respond in three parts:<br><br>A.

Yesterday, I visited Babble.com. The number-one story in the homepage

box was, "The Hippest Babysitter in America." Babble's tagline is: "A

magazine and community for the new urban parent." "New" urban, hip

urban. Tomato, tomahto. It probably is a generalization to say that

Babble is all about hip urbanites; however, Babble doesn't seem to have

a problem creating that impression to market itself. It's only when

somebody makes a criticism that "hip" is suddenly reductive. And while

I'm not privy to Babble's business plan, I doubt the whole "hip"

perception harms it with advertisers.  <br>