Children have become First World accessories.

A 21st century concept.

The synonym for parenting is surrogacy.

Listen, I am not downplaying why women need surrogates. What a miraculous concept if you are unable to carry your baby to term.

My daughter is a miracle because I suffered with endometriosis. I was one of the incredibly fortunate women to conceive without IVF. I experienced years of excruciating pain, surgery and a year of hideous male hormone drugs.

Conversely, I am familiar with the rich, vain and famous who hired surrogates so their bodies stayed toned and svelte.

I get the need for nannie’s, babysitters, boarding schools. I did not personally sign up for live in help as one child was enough and the idea of boarding schools is completely contradictory.

I worked full time and moved my business home after my daughter was born. Fortunately, I was able to have lunch with her everyday as well as take her to Mommy & Me, Gymboree, Spanish, music classes, sports team practices and games and a plethora of other activities.

The aforementioned is brought on by my just learning about a booming in demand business…theme-park nannies who make $400 a day for helping kids have fun at Disney World while traversing the 27,520 acres without the overwhelmed parents who find the experience too exhausting and demanding.

I can buy into Genie+, Disney’s $25 skip-the-line program, but not sitting by the pool or dining at Disney’s Michelin Star restaurant while my kids navigate Disney properties with a surrogate parent.

I remember when we flew our daughter and three friends to Los Angeles for her birthday and had VIP tickets for Disneyland and Universal Studios. What a gift. One of the kids loved to walk by people in line and wave his VIP pass, yelling, “Suckers!!” We had to strongly discourage this action.

I still cherish taking my daughter at one year-old to her first Disneyland experience. The memories and feelings of elation witnessing her first Teacup ride and Small World interaction filled me with tears of joy. I loved every single minute of the day.

I cannot imagine missing out on those precious moments.

I was one of the only working moms during the elementary, middle school years yet the kids were always at my house,

The stay at home moms were busy playing tennis and shopping.

Why have children if you do not participate in their formative years?

Time flies by way too quickly and is such an amazing experience.

I would not choose to miss out on one minute of my child’s first 18 years or the exhilaration of her visits to Disneyland and Disney World.

Again, I cannot imagine anyone with a brain voting for Agent Orange so I have to imagine that some parents only have kids for the well dressed, clever holiday photo and to have them push them around in a wheelchair if their offspring are still dumb enough to be in touch after not being present during their childhood.

In 2024, perhaps the other defining word is stupid and I just don’t know how the hell to fix it.