Just like the interest in mom jeans, pickleball and “quiet luxury,” trends can come and go in the parenting world, as well.

In recent years, we took flight with helicopter parenting, were surprised and then overwhelmed by gender reveal parties and may have been guilty of overscheduling our kids.

What’s on tap for 2024? Here are some predictions for the direction of parenting in the coming year.

Inchstones

Parents are familiar with major milestones of child development —first smile, first steps, first day of daycare. But these days, parents are celebrating growth and development by inches instead of miles.

Pinterest predicts that in 2024, parents will focus on celebrating inchstones, which they describe as “tiny triumphs (that) will make the heart grow fonder as parents sprinkle party vibes on their kids’ not-so-grand moments.” It lists upticks in searches for “My first tooth party” and “baby naming ceremonies” and “end of year school party ideas” as evidence of this trend.

The term itself is not new. Parents, especially those who have children with special needs, have been using it to describe their children’s small victories for years.

Dr. Tovah P. Klein, author of “How Toddlers Thrive” and director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development, says that it’s logical to celebrate our children’s smaller wins. “Development happens inch by inch, but we tend to only notice the big leaps,” she says.

Accomplishments like learning to say “water,” holding a pacifier or putting on shoes independently may not feel photo-worthy, but they still deserve to be celebrated. And parents who worked hard to help their children achieve those inchstones deserve to be celebrated, too.

Elimination communication

Potty training may look a lot different in the future.

In previous years, pediatricians have advised Americans parents to wait until children showed signs of interest to begin potty training, usually around 2 or 3 years of age. But a method of early potty training called elimination communication (EC), while not new, is having a moment.

Moms like Mayim Bialik, Alicia Silverstein and “Bachelor” alum Bekah Martinez have all discussed using this method.

EC, which has been the go-to method in countries like Iran, Vietnam, Kenya (and other countries in which disposable diapers are not easily available) for generations, involves tuning into babies’ cues and positioning infants over a potty to “catch” the pee or poop as it exits their little bodies. At the same time, the parents will make a whistling or hissing sound. Eventually, baby will learn to hold their pee and poop until they’re on the potty.

“It just makes biological sense,” says Andrea Olson, founder of GoDiaperFree.com. “Babies give cues for eliminating, just like they do for hunger, sleep and comfort.”

Cowboy names

When looking for baby naming inspo, parents may be mining some familiar territory.

“Modern cowboy names are a style that will be more popular,” said Laura Wattenberg, the creator of Namerology.

Parents like Anderson Cooper, who named his son Wyatt, and Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth, who have a son named Tennessee, were ahead of the curve on this front.

You might see more babies named Hayes, Stetson, Sage or Tate being born this year.

Yee-haw!

Gentle-ish parenting

The “gentle parenting” philosophy has been saturating parents’ social media feeds this year, and you can certainly see its effects in a new University of Michigan survey of 2,044 parents who have kids under the age of 18.

Nearly half of mothers and one-third of fathers set goals or resolutions with parenting in mind. Of those parents, 78 percent want to have more patience, a trait that is heavily involved in gentle parenting. But parental authority may be making a comeback, shifting gentle parenting into a new form.

Almost half of those goal-setting parents (47 percent) want to be more consistent with discipline, which is generally not a word that figures prominently in the gentle parenting community.

Klein, who says she is wary of the term “gentle parenting,” sees today’s form of discipline as different than the punishments we may remember from our childhoods. Rather than spanking and timeouts, today’s parents are instead putting strong boundaries and limits in place, giving children a roadmap for their behavior and our expectations of them.

Sharenting

Sharenting, or posting the highs and lows of raising children online, certainly isn’t new. In fact, we discussed the trend way back in 2015. It isn’t going anywhere, and we’ve seen it gain momentum each year. Parents are getting more mindful about how they post.

Posting photos of our kids is tempting because they can be so adorable you just need the whole world to see them.

Kate Blocker, Director of Research and Programs at Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development cautions parents that they are creating “a digital footprint for their child from the very first post, often long before the child can even understand what that means.” She suggests asking an older child for permission before posting anything about them online.

Leah Plunkett, author of “Sharenthood” and professor at Harvard Law School, has a slightly different take. She only recommends posting about your kids online if you “would be comfortable seeing that post on a billboard by the side of the highway in their hometown and by every other highway in the world, now and forever. If that brick-and-mortar highway hypothetical makes you cringe, it’s best not to hit “post.'”

Plunkett believes that the trend will continue increasing among parents but that it will be “under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers, especially when the sharenting is being done commercially by kid-influencers or family influencers.”

Being open about estrangement

“Estranged parent” videos have been increasing in volume on TikTok. Licensed marriage and family therapist Whitney Goodman explains that people use the term “estranged” to describe an adult child purposely ending contact with a parent or a parent purposely ending contact with an adult child.

The number of people pausing their family relationships isn’t necessarily increasing, Goodman says, but more people are being open and sharing their stories on social media.

Goodman notes that in the past, people who didn’t want contact with their families could just move to a different town. But with the ever-present use of technology, we expect more contact to be happening between adults and children.

“Boundaries usually have to be explicitly stated,” she says.

Scruffy hospitality

Ten years ago, an Anglican priest from Knoxville, Tennessee wrote about the concept of “scruffy hospitality” on his website.

Before Reverend Jack King and his wife hosted friends, they worked through an extensive to-do list to turn their messy house into “the presentable, acceptable-for-hospitality version of our home.”

Sound familiar?

The couple had two children under 3 at the time, and soon realized that friendship trumped tidiness. If they waited for their house to be spotless before inviting friends over, they would never host their friends.

The concept, which has been referenced in numerous articles, seems poised for a comeback.

In 2023, parents not only invited friends into their messy homes, but actually gave tours of the chaos on TikTok. Parents who are tired of social media perfection are beginning to embrace the chaos of a home that actually looks lived-in.

There’s no harm in tidying the house before company comes. But before you reach for the vacuum, ask yourself, “Are our friends coming to see the house, or are they coming to see us?”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com