Was parenting easier once? Maybe in the days before we turned "parent" into a verb? You sure didn't see the parents of popular culture--say in "Family Matters" on TV--sweating too much over the quality of their parental guidance.
Now the approach seems to include worrying over how well we're raising our kids, and constantly doomscrolling and comparing our impulses with what various experts say.
Andy Bomback is a physician and father of young children. He offers not a "how to" but a "how come" book called Long Days, Short Years: A Cultural History of Modern Parenting.
It goes to the fear of failure that seems to haunt modern parents, and offers ideas on coping. The author joins us with some highlights.