Baby Free Zone

I'm sure I am probably the last person on the face of the earth to notice this, but I suddenly realized that babies have become both an industry and an accessory. There is so much stuff out there for babies that it boggles the mind. The variety of products is staggering, but it is the ingenuity that really blows me away - running strollers are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, the growth has happened so quickly that I've heard women who had their children ten years ago complain to new mothers that it was much harder in their day. Yesterday I spoke to a neighbour who is 6 months pregnant and currently stays home with an 18 month old, and she was wishing that these things had been available when her first was born!

Everything to make life easier for parents and baby. And of course, it's all unbelievably expensive. The newest accoutrement are not for the financially challenged. Walk in to your local espresso bar on a Saturday morning, and you'll often find it full of fathers accompanying progeny with a thousand dollars worth of gear in tow. More if there's an actual stroller. My first car didn't cost what some of these buggies are going for. Sundays it's the same show but with mommy, daddy and baby having brunch at their favourite spot.

Now I may be wrong - it has happened - but I don't think that these matitudinal outings are(as others would have us believe) about parents maintaining their pre-baby lifestyle. I'm discovering the walkways of many a favourite cafe are becoming cluttered with the infant paraphenalia and I swear I never saw these folks before the bundle of joy arrived. I think the purpose of these outings is to allow parents to show off. The way you raise, dress, feed and transport your baby is a statement about who you are. You can't just be a good parent you must be seen to be a good parent.

This of course means that the baby industry has triggered a cascade of trends that new parents can adopt in an effort to define who they are post-baby. All the green trends, all the organic trends, all the trendy trends. You're not just Carmen Alexander's father or Violet's mom, you're that really cool/hot hybrid-driving/nanny-employing guy/chick who no one can believe is even married let alone the parent of two children! OMG! Pay close attention to these people because not only do their spending habits determine a lot of the trends, they act like consumer crash test dummies for the rest of us to watch.