Every now and then, we are reminded why we don't live in New York or Washington or San Francisco.

The other morning, that awareness arrived when we heard of a whole new movement in raising children: How-To-Spend-As-Much-Money-As-Possible-On-Your-Child.

Author Pamela Paul has just written "Parenting, Inc.," a book about the marketing of high-priced baby and child gear and services, both for children and their anxious parents.

It's apparently a big and growing trend that preys on parents who are convinced that their child's life is nothing without a $1,000 stroller. Or a how-to-sleep-through-the-night specialist. Or toys-that-do-things, as opposed to toys that require your child to do things. Or a personal potty-training consultant (that would have been Mom in our house) -- the Washington Post says one of those $250-a-session specialists describes her job as "keeping parents hopeful." God forbid Mommy and Daddy should lose hope about potty-training. At that rate, parents might kill themselves when they consider the chances of their child getting into Harvard.

We're not Luddites. And we're hardly holier-than-thou. As parents of young children, we liked convenience and we especially liked cute. We actually convinced ourselves that disposable diapers were a wonderful thing, despite how many zillions of acres of landfills overflowed with their nasty, ammoniated, discarded selves. We spent a pretty penny on adorable outfits for our girl child -- until we learned what those outfits looked like covered in throwup.

But as much as we believe that there is little that is too good for our beloved offspring, there are cases when too good is too much.