Normalizing Parenthood Once Again: What it Means to be a Parent Today

The problem exposed in this article is that parents are being labelled as incompetent actors. Moreover, having read articles in the popular media, outsiders, who do not know anything about the specific family circumstances surrounding an event, postulate themselves as experts. In the past, educational experts also pretended to know it all. Now, journalists and even children are sometimes called to the fore as experts in the matter. Although this is not made explicit, the message conveyed to parents is that they are ‘immature’ or ignorant. They should, or rather, must learn, and what they should — no, must — learn is right at hand, provided by the amalgam of aforementioned outsiders.