Premium

Our friends had a baby less than 2 years ago. This has completely changed their life, and not necessarily in a good way. The baby is their central and only focus. She can do no wrong, and almost all conversations / events center around the baby. If she breaks something at day care--it's the day care's fault for having it within her reach. They do what the baby wants, when she wants. They look frazzled and miserable, completely drained from catering to the whims of baby, who is now a toddler. They are older parents, and Tim equates it to having a premium baby. He thinks that these premium babies completely change older parents into paranoid baby focused parents.

Our younger friends are, thus far, completely different. They are calm with their babies, take them out to the movies, drive to visit friends, do lunches. They don't panic when the baby cries but calmly address their needs. When they visit, the baby isn't the center of the universe, but instead a member of the group. There are conversations that don't relate to the baby. It appears that our younger friends have a life and a baby at the same time.

It's an interesting concept. Having our younger friends over, is a lot less stressful than the premium parents. Their babies appear less stressed as well. I suppose research has been done on the topic, but if it hasn't I would be curious to see the results.