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Parenting trends to watch for in 2015 – Metro US

Parenting trends to watch for in 2015

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Breastfeeding selfies, Instagramming your kids’ over-the-top school lunches and live-tweeting giving birthwere all trends we saw in 2014. So what does this new year bring? Here, we highlight five on-the-rise trends, for better or for worse.

1. “Pee” parties

New parenting trends are starting before the baby is even born, given the rise of this really strange new party trend, “pee” parties. Women who think they might be pregnant throw these parties, where they take a pregnancy test and then reveal the results to everyone they invited. The idea is that taking a pregnancy test is scary and there’s strength in numbers. BabyCenter.com, a site with very active forums among new moms and moms to be, first heard of this trend in the April 2014. While still a novelty, it’s starting to become talked about enough that you can expect your over-sharing friends to start sending out the evites in the coming months. What’s next, live-tweeting conception?

2. Gender reveal parties

That’s not the only parenting party trend that will be taking over your Facebook feed. Gender reveal parties — where an expectant couple reveals to all their family and friends if they will be welcoming a boy or a girl — became a “thing” in 2014, which means it will be infiltrating the masses this year. Expect to see not only more parties happening, but a rise in popularity in more gender neutral baby goods because of course guests are expected to bring a gift to these things.

3. Increase is upper-class family size

Living in an urban area and having just one kid can be expensive. That’s why having multiple kids has become the new way for city dwellers to flaunt their wealth. While of course there’s that other reason for having kids — you know, loving and wanting them — it’s becoming the ultimate way to show others just how much they can afford. The trend for upper class families used to be just having one or two kids to set them apart from the large family sizes of lower economic groups. Well, times are changing.

4. More dads at school drop-off

The number of stay-at-home dads is on the rise, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. The study points out that many men were laid off in 2011 and 2012, so they became impromptu stay-at-home dads. But a recent New York Times articlesays that men continue to stay home now because they actually like being with their kids. This is different than the last time the number of stay-at-home dads spiked in 2008 and most of them were back at work by 2010. This new dad trend is about choice, not happenstance.

5. “Tiger mom” backlash

Self-proclaimed “Princeton Tiger Mom” Susan Patton made headlines yet again in 2014 when she released her book, “Smarten Up! Words of Wisdom by the Princeton Mom,” which tells women to reject modern feminism so they can land a husband before graduating college.

The backlash to the strict, very involved “tiger mom” parenting approach is slowly snowballing into a more nurturing type of parenting, which is earning the moniker “elephant mom.” “Elephant moms” focus on creating a warm, loving atmosphere for their children, more concerned with letting kids have fun than making sure they are enrolled in a variety of after-school activities. In short, “tiger moms” are out, “elephant moms” are in.