As a father of two 5-year-olds I'm fairly new to this parenting thing. However, one observation I have made is that it's really hard not to impose your own fears and in-securities on your kids.
Hence, I had to chuckle when I read David Brook's commentary:
I mean, don’t today’s much-discussed hipster parents notice that their claims to rebellious individuality are undercut by the fact that they are fascistically turning their children into miniature reproductions of their hipper-than-thou selves? Don’t they observe that with their inevitable hummus snacks, their pastel-free wardrobes, their unearned sense of superiority and their abusively pretentious children’s names like Anouschka and Elijah, they are displaying a degree of conformity that makes your average suburban cul-de-sac look like Renaissance Florence?
Like their parents who embarrassed them by yelling and screaming at their little league games a generation ago, many of today's parents are living through their kids as little fashionista.
As a dad, one thing I'm certain of is that 5 year old kids don't really care what label they have on their clothes or what they T-shirt says. As my son Harry keeps asking me, "What's my t-shirt say?" Heck, they can't even read yet!