“Once, ‘parent’ was something you were, not something you did. We have elevated it into a profession, a competition, a calling. Women, freer to choose, find themselves unexpectedly torn by the choice. Men, once free not to be involved, are now expected to plunge in. (Kenrick himself says he is ‘a lot’ more involved in raising his younger son than he was with his older one, though that’s easier now that he has tenure.) Society, with virtual, actual and imagined predators, demands more vigilance from parents. A result of a certain kind of overparenting, we are learning, is children who are better prepared for college but less prepared for life.”