We don’t always watch Nightline but like to see what’s going to be on to decide if we are going to or not. But this news story had me very curious so I wanted to see it. I could NOT even tell you how blown away I was.
There are these people who are hired to help you “plan your baby?” Has anyone ever heard of this? I mean REALLY!! How can this be?
It starts out by these two women going to another woman’s home who’s expecting a baby. They look at the room and hear what the woman has in mind and off they go and gather paint and wallpaper samples and room decorations. Back to the home to show the woman and get her approval. Then off they head to go shopping. They then head back to the “baby house” and show what they’ve found. Then they do the whole nursery and even pick out clothes. They actually go clothes shopping and cart all the stuff back and forth. Listen to this, they even “help” with naming the baby in some cases.
Okay, I’m a lot older than you guys and things were very different in my day but where is the anticipation and the planning and all the excitement to planning for your own baby yourself? I can’t even begin to imagine anyone I know doing this. Heck, I’d never heard of it. Don’t you think this takes spending money to a new level? Do some of these people really have nothing better to do with their money?
I really liked doing these things myself. Taking the time to pick out the new stuff I’d be getting. I loved helping get ready for the grand-kids also. Did you all find that part fun or do some people not find this fun? Have you heard of this new “trend?”
Us Girls..Our Views 
Im 14 years old, a very different child I might say, you wouldn’t know it from chatting with me at the supermarket or watching me at high school but I think and do things very differently. So don’t be shocked when I tell you, since 5th-6th grade I’ve gone to websites like babiesrus and gap and made 1000 dollar carts of clothes, wall paper, toys, you name it. If it had something to do with babies, it was there. I would even go to the behr paint website and choose wall colors. I basically live for when I get to shop for all my baby stuff, kids are my passion. I’m just as shocked as you are that someone would pay someone else to experience it all for them. Its not just that they have nothing else to do with there money, it also shows how lazy people are. They’d rather sit and home on their butts watching American Idol then prepare for what they should care about most on Earth.
I love buying for other kiddies naturally coz I don’t quite have sample humans but I think this is just lazy ass people. My biggest question is, if they aren’t excited about the baby and aren’t “involved” even before its birth what is going to happen after its birth?
That is my only question…
Hmm do you think there are many jobs in this line available? Want to go into business?
You know I am serious
I can’t believe this how lazy can people be, I wonder if they also call someone over to feed them and change their diaper. Maybe I’m just getting old but it seems like the world is getting more complicated by the minute when my kids were born we didn’t even know the sex of them or want to know you just paint a room blue with yellow stripes and its all good. Sometimes I wish I lived in a grass hut in the middle of nowhere.
You have to know that people who have enough money to do this are going to have enough money to have a nanny, so, yes, of course they are going to have someone taking care of everything for the kid’s whole life. Why take the chance of getting messy, why take on the burden of responsibility, when you can afford not to?
Hopefully they can also afford surgery to remove the part of their brain that feels regret, when someday they realize what they missed out on.
How crazy is this?? I wouldn’t want anyone else to plan anything!! The only person I had help me out was Joy not some planner off the streets.That’s just so weird to me. I think everything you do to plan for a baby kinda helps prepare you and if someone is doing that for you then what is the point?? People these days are either just lazy or their priorities are really screwed up. I wish I would have seen this!!
I’ll chime in on the other side.
I worked about 80 hours a week up until I had my kids in my arms. I am also a single mom. I did my own modest decorating with a bit of help from a couple of friends, but I could see outsourcing some aspects to a professional if I was prepared to spend a lot of money on the nursery. I mean, it’s the mom making the ultimate decisions, right? And then again, some of us are not big on decorating. Getting suggestions from someone who is good at these things sounds like a great idea to me.
I used to come home from work at about 1am or so, then put together one or two pieces of baby furniture or other apparatus, then sleep for a few hours, get up and go back to work. It was fun, but I was exhausted. I did most of my shopping online, because I had particular needs and wants and didn’t have time to search all over town for everything. If I could have just had a consultant track down stuff I knew I wanted, it would have been nice.
Now when it comes to buying baby clothes and other more intimate items, I don’t think I’d want anyone else’s input on that. But, that’s just me. I don’t think it makes someone a bad mom if she takes those types of suggestions too.
When I was young, I imagined that I’d make my babies’ clothes myself, sew baby quilts and nursery curtains, etc. My mom did those things. And I would have loved to be able to build my own baby furniture and such. I mean, if we’re going retro, why not go all the way back? But my reality is different. I never learned to be a great seamstress even if I did have time. Do I regret it? No, my life is very full.
As for having a nanny – I have one – full time – and I dare say I spend more time with/on my kids than most American moms, so I would just say it’s best not to judge without full knowledge.
SKL, this program wasn’t about people like you who work you’re a** off for a living. The one woman lived on Park Avenue and at one point she was getting her hair highlighted and getting a manicure at the same time and these women came in loaded down with shopping bags and she was “waving” the ones she liked and didn’t like. These are onsies and just baby sleepers. The two women on the program, one worked and one didn’t. You could tell it was all about the image and peer pressure to the one who didn‘t work and was getting her hair and nails done. The one who worked was paying for “help.” It’s not really even the “help” that bothered me as much as the attitude they didn’t want to do this themselves and how much I loved this time in my own life. The working mother didn’t really bother me but it was the one who “didn’t have time” as she was getting her hair and nails done. I found I couldn’t believe this but only because, like I said, it was something I really enjoyed doing and couldn’t have imagined someone who I didn’t even know was picking out “my” baby’s things or name. The name thing killed me.
I have to agree with you about the name. It’s just that with a lot of the other stuff – each of us decides what is sentimental to us. For some, it’s knitting booties, but that doesn’t mean that not knitting booties is something we should regret. Things are just things, after all.
I did my kids’ first Christmas / adoption announcement photos myself, while lots of people go to a professional photographer. Arguably, the first Christmas photo is sentimental to most people. So, does my hands-on approach make me a better or more sentimental mom? I don’t think so. It’s just the way I decided to get it done. Interestingly, some folks think it was quite un-sentimental of me to NOT hand this off to a professional.
Personally I suck at decorating. I am artistically inclined mentally, but I suck at actually finalizing my plan and implementing it. Without someone to push me / help me, I really wouldn’t have decorated my kids’ room at all, other than a lamp and maybe some dolls. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s OK to do things as a team, and I feel if some members of the team aren’t friends or relatives, that’s OK. It’s different if the mom isn’t really involved mentally. That’s a whole different issue.
In these times when a new mom my not have any close friends or relatives who are in her same boat, it’s nice that some professional assistance is available. Getting paid help doesn’t always mean giving up control or responsibility.
All I know is that I’ll be planning all my babies’ rooms, clothes, names, ect. only with the help from my husband. It’s still madness to me.
Except you SKL, your the exception, and in your case there is nothing wrong with having a nanny. I can’t have anything against the people who use them because during college that’s what I want to do for money. =]
I find it odd personally, but I can think of situations where it would be useful. Someone in SKL’s position, for example, or for a bedridden / hospitalized Mom-to-be.
I saw this on Good Morning America one morning. It’s really only right now being used by the very elite. These people do not shop at stores like you or I would. I think it’s probably a gimmick like wedding planners.
Nannies are a completely different issue that aren’t only for the rich. My cousin is a nanny and it’s really daycare that she does but it‘s in their home and not her own. She does some household chores but her main focus is taking care of the kids. I don’t feel nanny’s are for the rich. They are just used for people who want daycare in their own home.
I guess you may as well make hay while the sun shines and if people will pay for this, that’s up to them. I wouldn’t. I get your point though Joy, that you enjoyed doing it and I did too.
I think its ridiculous! I feel for the child honestly. What kind of message does that send.. ,”Oh honey you were so important to us that we let someone else name you”..
I love decorating myself too! Most women do! But heck, if I was wealthy-that would be great to have a professional decorator/shopper’s help!
I agree with Tosha!