Parenting Pointers: Trends in Parenting

I had an opportunity to interview Marian Salzman, author or co-author of books such as Next: Trends for the Near Future and Buzz: Harness the Power of Influence and Create Demand about future trends that she sees.

1) How do you come up with the "nexts" that will be featured?

It’s all about pattern recognition, although that’s a big bucket into which I toss data analysis, a nose for reading implications into journalistic reporting, and also the wealth of experience I bring when it comes to constructing possible and probable visions of the near future. And then there’s the firsthand trendspotting—lots and lots of eavesdropping on café conversations and snooping into strangers’ supermarket baskets. I’ve found that the best trendspotters spend more time listening, reading and watching than they do talking. I am an observer; I watch and listen to anything that gives me a bird’s-eye view on how people are reacting to various situations and scenes. And I consume enormous amounts of pop culture, be it serialized television, radio, supermarket fiction or tabloid newspapers in the U.S. and from overseas capitals. I also analyze about 4,000 news sources through the Internet. I live in perpetual anticipation and love every minute of it.


2) How did you get started as a "trendspotter?"

After I finished school, I worked as a journalist for a couple of years but didn’t get my first real taste of trend forecasting until I got a job in market research for youth marketing, which is when I worked out that suggesting trend-based angles was a good way to reach our clients’ audiences. One job led to the next. I would have a theory, it would prove accurate, it would help a client and I began to develop a reputation. I wish I could say I’d been super-ambitious about doing it, but really it just came naturally to me.


3) Were there trends in parenting that are prevalent but didn't make the top five?

I think we’re going to see how much digital and mobile will dominate the lives of children and parents these days- instead of isolating families from each other, I do believe we’ll be seeing more time spent together utilizing digital- either in the gaming space or shopping for family items or learning. On the flip side and because of the domination of digital, I can see family vacations moving into a place of enjoying nature, the outdoors, and the ability to shut off. But one of the scariest trends to come out of recent weeks is the alarming accusations at Penn State, and now Syracuse. Traditionally, parents have worried about their young daughters in terms of sexual predators, but now the focus will shift to how to protect our boys as well- and look for more parents to hesitate about their boys playing team sports at any age- from concussions to heat stroke to things far more sinister, all eyes will be on sports programs in terms of reform.

4) I notice you say that at some point, the pressure of current parenting trends will be too much. What do you think will happen at that point?

The same thing that is happening in our 24/7/365 world- a complete fatigue will set in and the era of alpha parenting will need a reboot. At some point, I do believe we will go back to a time where our overscheduled little ones will be able to enjoy being kids again- playing outdoors, the occasional junk food, and a more relaxed schedule. As millenials enter parenthood, they will influence this even further- it’s not that they are not overachievers, it’s just that they insist upon a more balanced life than their type A predecessors.


5) Are there any trends in other areas you'd like to highlight?

Korean food is going to be huge in 2012, gray is the color of the year as the world population gets older and work/life continues to blur (the gray area), and though localism will continue to dominate how we relate to each other and purchase everything from produce to home furnishings, bigger universal themes and conditions will pepper our thinking on a global scale as many around the world share a collective need to redefine “value”, as well as share anger on everything from politics to big business to Wall Street. As we’ve seen, the problems of the US are quickly becoming the problems of the world, and Europe in particular.