Outsourcing parenthood

The new trend in American parenting is to outsource the job. This takes nannying to the highest possible art form: all the stuff that bores you rigid can now be subcontracted out to someone else.

It started when American working mothers realised they were spending an average of 18 more hours a week at work than they did in 1965, leaving less time for housework.

Some genius hit on the fact that they could corner the market in getting some sap to do boring household chores.

So now, someone else can make your child's lunchbox. A firm based in Virginia, Health-e-Lunch Kids, has found a niche supplying brownbag lunches to children on their way to school. Other firms have sprouted up across the country.

You can also pay someone to take your child not only to school, giving you a few extra minutes in bed every day, but also to football practice and to the dentist.

You can also hire someone to come and comb the lice out of your child's hair. A couple in Houston spent months washing their child's head with olive oil and finally, in desperation, hired a woman called Penny Warner, who owns a firm called the Texas Lice Squad.

Penny's job is to go from house to house in her minivan with a bottle of Nix and a comb. She charges $55 (Dh202) per hour. She has done so well with frustrated parents that in the autumn she is swapping her minivan for a real office, with a shopfront and staff.

What does this all mean to the future of parenting? Last year, an American journalist based in London wrote about how bored she was with her children.

The article caused a furore in America, where people wanted to lynch her. But the truth was that, on some levels, she was right -- it is not fun to read Thomas the Tank Engine 500 times, or to smear sunblock on a wriggling toddler, or to make small talk with people you ordinarily would not be caught dead with on children's playdates. But when it comes to children, these tasks should be done out of duty, obligation, and yes, love.

The farming-out of parenthood is all in the interest of helping exhausted mothers and fathers achieve that perfect state of lifework balance. The truth is: there is no balance.

Whenever I try to complain to my mother about how tired I am, she - a mother of seven - snaps: "You're a mother. You're supposed to be tired."

But not in America, where everything can be perfected.

There is so much I miss about my home country. The energy and that corny Hollywood-themed inspiration that everyone can achieve their dream if they want to.

But not the notion that anything can be bought: youth with an injection of Botox; status with a membership to the right club - and parenthood by merely finding the right staff.

Have your say
What do you think about outsourcing parenthood? Do you think it will really help parents and their children?

How is this any different from paying a poor Far Easterner Dh800 a MONTH to do similar and expanded tasks? Likely in America those providing the services have figured out an innovative way to make Dh800 a day. But the greater problem is married couples the world over who are irresponsible in determining if they can afford (in every way) to actually raise their own children! It's a sad state of affairs and the children - and society at large - are the potential losers.
Betty
Dubai,UAE
Posted: August 19, 2007, 10:56

The article makes it sound as if every parent in America is "outsourcing" and this is not the case. My experience has been that those who do this type of thing are by far the exception. Unfortunately, this article sends a very wrong impression of the day to day American culture.
Dawn
Seattle,USA
Posted: August 19, 2007, 10:33

Crime, student dropout, single mothers, no at-home time together, no meals together, no worship together, etc. All from non-parenting. Of course, there is no cure all.
Glen
Booneville,USA
Posted: August 19, 2007, 03:12