When Did We Monetize the Village?

We've all heard the proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child." But what does that mean for modern parents, who are so often siloed from the people that once provided essential support? In ELLE's It Takes a Village series, we're exploring the intersection of parenthood and community, including the costly services that have sprung up in the village's wake and the many resources still available for birthing people. As Cleo Wade wrote in an original poem for this series: "Big love (the kind that changes the world) is group work, always."

This past summer, I welcomed my first child 8,000 miles away from my family and friends, who live on the East Coast of the United States. Becoming a mother is a foundation-rocking experience even when you're not living in a foreign country where you don't speak the language, but that's how I went about my matrescence. Luckily, our new home in Taiwan comes with a culture that greatly honors the experience of new motherhood, and local parents recommended night nurses, sleep trainers, lactation consultants, nannies who specialize in a baby's first 12 weeks, and postpartum confinement centers (or "mommy hotels," from the Chinese tradition of zuo yue zi, or sitting the month, for after birth). But seeing as I was already busy anxiously researching bottle sterilizers and a crib and nipple pads and a stroller, finding—and paying for—additional help was a task I just couldn't handle pre-baby.

Of course, there was a time not so long ago when couples didn't need to spend their final, deeply uncomfortable months of pregnancy scouring their contacts for recommendations and deciding whether to drop four figures on human assistance. "It takes a village to raise a child" is a proverb that now seems to be stated with irony, or an eye roll, because how many modern women have one? In Western cultures, family and friends might visit new parents to see the baby, but there is less expectation that they'll step in to run errands, do laundry, and cook meals, not to mention change diapers, rock the baby at 3 A.M., or give the new mother a nap break. In response to this increasing isolation, dozens of companies have sprung up in recent years to help new parents out—though these products and services tend to come with a wild cost.

View in Browser  This past summer, I welcomed my first child 8,000 miles away from my family and friends, who live on the East Coast of the United States. Becoming a mother is a foundation-rocking experience even when you're not living in a foreign country where you don't speak the language, but that's how I went about my matrescence. Luckily, our new home in Taiwan comes with a culture that greatly honors the experience of new motherhood, and local parents recommended night nurses, sleep trainers, lactation consultants, nannies who specialize in a baby's first 12 weeks, and postpartum confinement centers (or "mommy hotels," from the Chinese tradition of zuo yue zi, or sitting the month, for after birth). But seeing as I was already busy anxiously researching bottle sterilizers and a crib and nipple pads and a stroller, finding—and paying for—additional help was a task I just couldn't handle pre-baby. Of course, there was a time not so long ago when couples didn't need to spend their final, deeply uncomfortable months of pregnancy scouring their contacts for recommendations and deciding whether to drop four figures on human assistance. "It takes a village to raise a child" is a proverb that now seems to be stated with irony, or an eye roll, because how many modern women have one? In Western cultures, family and friends might visit new parents to see the baby, but there is less expectation that they'll step in to run errands, do laundry, and cook meals, not to mention change diapers, rock the baby at 3 A.M., or give the new mother a nap break. In response to this increasing isolation, dozens of companies have sprung up in recent years to help new parents out—though these products and services tend to come with a wild cost." title="We've all heard the proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child." But what does that mean for modern parents, who are so often siloed from the people that once provided essential support? In ELLE's It Takes a Village series, we're exploring the intersection of parenthood and community, including the costly services that have sprung up in the village's wake and the many resources still available for birthing people. As Cleo Wade wrote in an original poem for this series: "Big love (the kind that changes the world) is group work, always." This past summer, I welcomed my first child 8,000 miles away from my family and friends, who live on the East Coast of the United States. Becoming a mother is a foundation-rocking experience even when you're not living in a foreign country where you don't speak the language, but that's how I went about my matrescence. Luckily, our new home in Taiwan comes with a culture that greatly honors the experience of new motherhood, and local parents recommended night nurses, sleep trainers, lactation consultants, nannies who specialize in a baby's first 12 weeks, and postpartum confinement centers (or "mommy hotels," from the Chinese tradition of zuo yue zi, or sitting the month, for after birth). But seeing as I was already busy anxiously researching bottle sterilizers and a crib and nipple pads and a stroller, finding—and paying for—additional help was a task I just couldn't handle pre-baby. Of course, there was a time not so long ago when couples didn't need to spend their final, deeply uncomfortable months of pregnancy scouring their contacts for recommendations and deciding whether to drop four figures on human assistance. "It takes a village to raise a child" is a proverb that now seems to be stated with irony, or an eye roll, because how many modern women have one? In Western cultures, family and friends might visit new parents to see the baby, but there is less expectation that they'll step in to run errands, do laundry, and cook meals, not to mention change diapers, rock the baby at 3 A.M., or give the new mother a nap break. In response to this increasing isolation, dozens of companies have sprung up in recent years to help new parents out—though these products and services tend to come with a wild cost."> When Did We Monetize the Village? We've all heard the proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child." But what does that mean for modern parents, who are so often siloed from the people that once provided essential support? In ELLE's It Takes a Village series, we're exploring the intersection of parenthood and community, including the costly services that have sprung up in the village's wake and the many resources still available for birthing people. As Cleo Wade wrote in an original poem for this series: "Big love (the kind that changes the world) is group work, always." This past summer, I welcomed my first child 8,000 miles away from my family and friends, who live on the East Coast of the United States. Becoming a mother is a foundation-rocking experience even when you're not living in a foreign country where you don't speak the language, but that's how I went about my matrescence. Luckily, our new home in Taiwan comes with a culture that greatly honors the experience of new motherhood, and local parents recommended night nurses, sleep trainers, lactation consultants, nannies who specialize in a baby's first 12 weeks, and postpartum confinement centers (or "mommy hotels," from the Chinese tradition of zuo yue zi, or sitting the month, for after birth). But seeing as I was already busy anxiously researching bottle sterilizers and a crib and nipple pads and a stroller, finding—and paying for—additional help was a task I just couldn't handle pre-baby. Of course, there was a time not so long ago when couples didn't need to spend their final, deeply uncomfortable months of pregnancy scouring their contacts for recommendations and deciding whether to drop four figures on human assistance. "It takes a village to raise a child" is a proverb that now seems to be stated with irony, or an eye roll, because how many modern women have one? In Western cultures, family and friends might visit new parents to see the baby, but there is less expectation that they'll step in to run errands, do laundry, and cook meals, not to mention change diapers, rock the baby at 3 A.M., or give the new mother a nap break. 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