The Gardener vs The Carpenter
Parenting. We've been doing it since the beginning of humanity. Or have we? The concept of parenting has really only existed since the 1970s. It was when "experts" like myself realized they could make some money of something that pretty much everyone was doing. We could monetize one of the most vulnerable aspects of human life. The shame of being a bad parent or even worse.... being perceived as a bad parent. Think about it. I don't "brother" my sister. I don't "husband" my wife. The word parent denotes a relationship, not a verb or task. Before the experts introduced this word into our vocabulary we loved, and cared for, and disciplined, and guided, but we didn't call it "parenting". So what's the big deal? Alison Gopnik wrote a book called "The Gardener and the Carpenter" which, full disclosure, I haven't yet read. But I did listen to an interview with her done by the NPR show "Hidden Brain"...