For most of us parents, it seems hardly possible that 20 years have passed since the year 1995. Surely not much has changed in the way we parent since then, right? Actually, there have been some relatively significant changes in parenting trends in the past 20 years, most notably these from Parenting.com:  

• More involved dads - in addition to the emergence of the "stay-at-home-dad", data suggests that across the board, dads have increased their engagement with their kids. Hooray for that!
• Safer kids - some really exciting and logical improvements include bicycle safety and helmet laws; while some of the more absurd include school districts banning the game of 'tag' for fear that children might fall down and hurt themselves. [Sigh.]
• Increases in vaccinations - babies went from 4 shots and 1 drop immunizing against 7 diseases in the early 1990s, to nearly 6 times as many shots immunizing against twice as many diseases now.
• An increased focus on brain-building activities - in a never-ending attempt to stimulate our children's brain activities and growth, we parents spent millions of dollars on classical CDs, educational videos and toys. For most of our kids, the box the toy came in was far more exciting. [Double sigh.]
• More sophisticated toys - speaking of toys, toy makers caught on quickly to the trend, and we experienced a massive surge in computerized toys. A prime example: Tickle Me Elmo®, circa 1996.
• A little thing called, the Internet! I mean really. Enough said.

  These are just a few of the changes in parenting over the past 20 years. Has your parenting style changed in this same time period? How is it different or similar to the parenting style of your parents? And how will parents of the future be changed by advances in the fields of medicine, technology, and marketing trends? We don't have all of the answers, but we sure look forward to watching the journey unfold. Happy parenting!