Extreme Parenting: Top 5 Archetypes We’re Not Looking Forward To Seeing On Our TV Screens

extended breastfeedingRemember the Time magazine cover that had a hot young mom breastfeeding her nearly 4-year-old son? I know, I know, it’s kind of hard to forget. Not because extended breastfeeding is so outrageous but rather because people responded as if they had just seen that birth scene from Alien. Now Jeff Collins, the executive producer of Dance Moms, is looking to keep the sensationalism alive with a new TV show about extreme parenting.

Collins was inspired by the controversial Time cover, telling Yahoo! Shine, “It proves what I’ve been saying for the last year America has become a country of extremes. I think it’s fascinating that some Americans find the image of woman breastfeeding to be provocative, shocking, even sexual when, in fact, it’s the most natural thing in the world.” That said, Collins knows there’s money to be made from keeping the discussion alive. Which is why he’s extended it to a range of parenting practices, from moms who co-sleep to those who “unschool” their children.

I hate to say it, but the show has success written all over it (just look at Dance Moms). From a business perspective, this guy’s a genius. But as a mother, I am so not looking forward to seeing all these parenting-related stereotypes infiltrate my TV screen. As I’ve written many times before, most mothers I know don’t subscribe to a single style of parenting (for example, they’ll have a home birth but then formula-feed their babies). Collins’ new show will just perpetuate the stereotypes. It’ll make for great television, that’s for sure, but get ready for a whole new round of Mommy Wars is all I’m sayin’.

Here are the Top 5 archetypes we’re not looking forward to seeing.

[ITPGallery]

(Photo: Time.com)

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