N
ot so long ago, child-
rearing wisdom was
passed on to new parents
from their own parents,
relatives, neighbours, teachers, the
medicine man or the family doctor
in their communities. These days,
if you are a parent who has access
to the internet, your instinct would
more likely be to grab your phone and
Google any parenting concern.
Actually, come to think of it, our
children are still being raised by a
village. But this time, it goes beyond
physical or geographical boundaries,
and beyond kinship. It is a community
that extends to all corners of the globe
but is – amazingly – just a click or a
swipe away. Some would call it the
Global Village; I think it would be
more aptly called the Google Village.
We don’t realise it, or at least,
probably aren’t thinking about it at the
time, but when we search “baby prickly
heat” or “terrible twos”, we are letting
corporations, experts, other parents –
people all over the world – have a say
on how we should look after and raise
our children. And the funny thing is,
we tend to follow the prescriptions of
these strangers rather than our own
mother’s advice.
All change!
I had my first two children in 2002
and 2004, back when the What to
“It takes a village to raise a child,” an ancient African
saying goes. But, in this age of high-tech parenting,
maybe all it takes is Google, writes
Cong Contreras
.
Google
is raising my child
Expect… series was the parenting
Bible to many newbie parents,
including me. I remember lugging
those books around everywhere we
travelled because I found it comforting
to be able to get reliable and ready
answers to my questions or worries,
whether I was wondering about
a runny nose or a developmental
milestone. I also consulted a couple
of parenting websites when I got the
chance to sit in front of the computer
and log on to the internet. I remember
thinking how lucky I was to be a
parent in an era when parenting
information was easily available. It
couldn’t be more accessible than this,
I reckoned.
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