The 2020 Parenting Trends That Will Define the Year

The crowded meal delivery space is sharpening its focus on an up and coming demand: healthy meals designed for babies, kids, and new moms. Yumble offers produce-packed kid-friendly meals that are ready to heat and eat, while Little Spoon delivers fresh, gourmet baby food to expand baby's palate (think: ingredients like turmeric, coconut milk, and quinoa). For moms, Twenty-Five Eight delivers organic meals, snacks and drinks designed to balance hormones and nourish moms through pregnancy, breastfeeding, and beyond. After trying it myself in my early postpartum days, I can personally attest to how delicious everything was and how great I felt after consuming it.

Toy-store aisles once inhabited by pink dolls and blue trucks are in the midst of a much-needed makeover. As the world becomes increasingly diverse and inclusive, toy makers are creating products that break down gender stereotypes and cater to children with disabilities. Just a few months after introducing two new Barbies with disabilities in mid-2019, Mattel released its Creatable World line of gender-neutral dolls. Nominated for The Toy Association's 2020 doll of the year award, the toys are completely customizable, allowing kids to endlessly rotate between various hairstyles, outfits, and accessories free of outdated "boy" and "girl" labels.

On the other end of the inclusivity spectrum, toy companies are making strides toward embracing those with visual impairments. Mattel recently released its first Braille deck of Uno cards, and in 2020, Lego will launch a collection of bricks designed to help children learn Braille. This trend will undoubtedly continue proliferating in the new decade as more brands catch on to the importance of encouraging playtime without limits.

While there are plenty of toys on the market aimed to help little ones develop everything from speech and hand-eye coordination to STEM skills, a new wave of products aims to foster something equally vital: emotional intelligence. Mompreneurs are leveraging their backgrounds in early education and child psychology to launch products that help small children learn to navigate big feelings, find calm, and better connect with family.

Tantrum Fix is a kit that comes with products and step-by-step guidance for teaching kids how to cope with emotions and communicate their needs. It's a one-time purchase that's especially helpful for parents navigating the tantrum-prone toddler years. Slumberkins is another brand that promotes early emotional learning. Each of their supersoft creature snugglers comes with a book and a mantra card. Parents can teach children about topics like gratitude, family change, self esteem and grief and loss through story-telling. Each creature, book, and mantra bundler can be chosen by topic or by recommended age.

Brands are rallying around postpartum wellness, because lord knows moms need some serious TLC in the days and weeks (and months . . . and years) after birth.

Beloved baby care brand Frida released a line of products specifically made for new moms, eliminating the need to cobble together makeshift ice diapers in a postpartum haze. And companies like Postwell and Bodily are selling postpartum care kits and focusing on postbirth wellness.

We're expecting to see even more awareness around postpartum needs in 2020, and we're cheersing our upside-down peri bottles to that.

Helping your baby mentally thrive at every stage will be more convenient than ever in 2020. Seriously, we're talkin' doorstep-delivery levels of convenience here, people. Subscription-based baby product companies that focus on promoting brain development are popping up left and right, helping parents efficiently enrich their bundle's life. Take Lovevery: the brand's popular play mats and kits are designed to help both newborns and toddlers learn throughout each phase of their growth, right down to the month. The products are all created by child-development experts, so you know they're the real deal. Similarly, Monti Kids sends parents a set of educational Montessori toys every three months, along with video instructions for introducing the toys to a child. Recently featured on Shark Tank, these age-appropriate playthings are made of sustainably forested wood (take that, plastic!) and nurture growth from birth through age 3.

The baby food realm is following suit, with Cerebelly's wholesome, brain-boosting eats taking the lead. A newly popular choice among parents, Cerebelly offers organic, low-sugar baby food packed with nutrients that support your kiddo's growing brain and body every step of the way. The recyclable pouches can be delivered to your home every two weeks, so say sayonara to grocery store lines.