PARENTING TRENDS FOR 2010

Nursery Palettes Go on Vacation

Break out the sunglasses and pina coladas! (Make that a virgin if you’re breastfeeding.) Tropical colors like turquoise (Pantone’s selection for 2010 color of the year) and vibrant, sunset-inspired corals and oranges will be popping up in everything from wall color to baby bedding this year. We’ll also see a citrusy palette of sunny yellows and warmer green tones as accents. 

“These bright colors could be a sign that consumers want optimism and are looking forward to a turnaround in our economy. Maybe they see a brighter economic future,” says Sherri Blum, a nursery designer who recently designed a nursery for actress Jodie Sweetin. Blum also notes that using chocolate as a neutral is a thing of the past. “This trend will be replaced with lighter and brighter neutrals, such as pale tan or white, to pair up with the turquoise and orange.”

Little Girls in Little Heels

Celebrity photographers couldn’t get enough of 3-year-old Suri Cruise last year, and moms looking at the pics couldn’t stop gaping at her impressive collection of designer heels. 

Whether you reserve them for in-house-only dress-up or pick up a few pairs for special events, mini-heels (keep them low, with a wide base for balance, and, as foot docs urge, for occasional wear only) are sure to be a big hit with the preschool set in 2010. Even Disney is getting into the act, expanding its line of mini-heeled Dressy Princess slippers ($9.99 at disneystore.com) and Deluxe Princess shoes($24.50 at disneystore.com).

A Return to Date Night

Last May, the president caught political flack for using Marine One to hop into Manhattan for a long-promised Broadway show and night out with his wife—but romance-starved parents across the nation cheered. If the first couple can find time for date night, so can we! (Okay, so we don’t all have a Grandma-in-Chief living upstairs, but we can at least swap babysitting nights with the neighbors.) The best part? Date night is actually good for your kids. “One of the biggest gifts we can give our children is the security of knowing that their parents love each other,” says relationship counselor Ian Kerner, author of Love in the Time of Colic. 

Look for parents everywhere to take a cue from the Obamas in 2010 and make date night a Saturday night (or Sunday afternoon, or Monday evening) institution. It doesn’t matter when you do it, or what you do, it just matters that you actually make it happen.

Food in a Pouch

If you haven’t tried squeezable food yet, we’re betting at some point in 2010 you’ll be hooked. Forget about lugging heavy, clinky glass containers, or dealing with spoons… and then dirty spoons—instead just pop one of these pouches, filled with organic, preservative-free fruit and veggie yumminess into your bag and you’ve got lunch or a snack for baby on the go! (They’re a lifesaver for airplanes and road trips.) As a bonus, baby learns to suck through a straw at an early age. Mushy goodies like Mashups from Revolution Foods are available at Babies”R”Us and Whole Foods Market.

Baby Gets a Facebook Page

Baby blogs and photo sharing sites are so last year. In 2010, parents will give baby her own Facebook page to better share photos, videos and milestones. Some moms are even making pages for their kids in utero—all the better to quickly update friends and family on gender news and sonogram pics. 

Jayna Zelman, a Connecticut mom, set up a page for her son, Charlie, when he was just a week old. He now has 98 friends who get pictures, videos and status updates about his significant firsts. “People questioned it at first. They were like, ‘Are you sure you want everyone to be able to see your son?’ That was never a problem,” Zelman says. “It’s just like inviting someone to look at your pictures on Snapfish or EasyShare, but easier for other people to work with.” Just be privacy smart and make sure to update your settings on the account so baby’s details can be seen only by friends and family.

Parents Reclaim Their Dining Rooms

Oversized “throne-style” high chairs that barely allow room for Mom and Dad at the table are making way for a new breed of smaller, more portable versions that piggyback on an existing chair or hook onto the table itself. When the meal is done or when company comes—poof!—the chair can be tucked neatly (and easily) out of sight. The economy may be the cause, keeping families in smaller homes longer, but we love the result. There’s an increased focus on an important tradition: a family meal eaten at the family table.

Thumbprint Mommy Necklaces

Instead of those stamped initial or birthstone mommy necklaces, we predict that cool mamas everywhere will be asking for an even more, um, personal keepsake for Mother’s Day 2010. These new necklaces feature your kids actual thumbprint (your husband’s too, if you like) pressed into a soft wax material and then sent away to the artist to immortalize in the shiny metal of your choice. We love how it’s a subtler, yet more literal method of keeping your kids close to you in a kind of “Angelina Jolie wearing a necklace of Billy Bob’s blood” way (except definitely less creepy).

Kids Get Physical

As childhood obesity rates rise (they’ve tripled over the past three decades) 2010 is shaping up (pun intended) to be the year of the fit kid. Look for private athletic clubs, YMCAs and JCCs across the country to offer high-energy fitness classes just for kids. With class names like “Kids Outdoor Challenge,” and “Get Fit Kidz” (offered at the Midtown Athletic Club Florida location), these are not your typical baby-and-me yoga classes, Carrie Booher, the wellness coordinator at the Sheinberg Family YMCA in Weston, Florida, says these classes are also vital at a time when “schools are cutting funding for sports programs. Classes [like these] have never been needed more.”

A Return to Camping

This year, families may be avoiding far-flung journeys and high-priced amusement parks and focusing instead on the simple pleasures of camping. Close-to-home camping is likely to be especially popular, as it’s often more economical, says Linda Profaizer, president of the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds. The National Park Service is reporting a sizeable jump in 2009 visitors to such traditional family favorites as Mount Rushmore (up 26.5 percent to 2.26 million), Yosemite (up 9 percent to 3.7 million) and Yellowstone (up 7 percent to 3.3 million).

The Rise of Simplicity Parenting

If 2008 was the year of the helicopter parent, and 2009 was the year of the laissez-faire “free-range” mom, we predict that 2010 will be the year of “simplicity” parenting: the premise that less is more—fewer toys, fewer lessons and limited screen time for kids—is better for kids well-being. What a relief! 

“Too much stuff, too many choices and too little time make kids feel anxious,” explains Kim John Payne, author of the new Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids. Before you start feeling guilty about giving your kids less, consider this: When parents de-schedule their kids, they give them what Payne calls “the gift of boredom,” forcing them to come up with entertainment beyond Wii games and the Disney channel (imagine the thought!) which he says is the precursor to true creativity.

Games for Guys at Coed Showers

Coed baby showers are common these days—but a lot of dads who attend beat a quick retreat to the TV room when the girlie festivities begin. Look for showers to be more inclusive in deed as well as name in 2010, especially when it comes to games. (And who couldn’t use a break from baby bingo?) Jessica Denay, author of The Hot Mom to Be Handbook, suggests adding a little sporting competition with the “Olympic Diaper Relay” (see how fast all of the members of each team can diaper and undiaper a baby doll) and a baby bottle sucking contest (even more hilarious and a lot harder than it sounds, says Denay, who suggests filling the bottles just a quarter full—with beer).

Editorial and Photo Credits: parenting.ivillage.com