Alpha Mom Isabel Kallman

The New York Metro is calling Isabel Kallman the Martha Stewart of parenting. I guess if she’s aiming for an ice queen image, then she certainly is modelled upon Martha. But if she’s hoping to be as knowledgeable and hands-on with parenting as Martha is with homemaking arts (or at least before she made the big time), then Kallman’s got a long way to go.

Ivy League educated, hard-driving former Wall Street senior VP Kallman is starting Alpha Mom TV for the “new breed of ‘go to’ moms who are constantly looking to be ahead of the curve and ‘in the know’ on the newest innovations, hippest trends and research breakthroughs.”

Kallman dispenses advice to mothers she meets despite spending little time taking care of her own son. Preferring instead to let a “village” of nannies, babysitters, and assistants handle him while she spends 20 hours a day interviewing childcare experts, bargaining with TV execs. and networking at parties.

Her channel will be like a support group or a church–the church of the immaculate perfection. Goal-oriented parents can go there and find comfort that they?re not alone, that others are also struggling to grow the perfect child. They?ll be told what to do and what not to do and how to do it better–discover how to boost their newborn?s coordination and strength; learn massage that “can help babies eat and sleep better”; hear “research-based explanations of how children separate and attach”; and obtain guidance on “raising overachievers.”

And when inevitably they?re frustrated in their goals, they?ll find programs for that, too: some calm high priestess of motherhood, some Oprah-meets-Martha image of perfection, coming on to absolve them for failing to be perfect today and bolstering their resolve to be more perfect tomorrow. You can do it, the message goes. You can raise “best of breed” children without ever losing your “sense of self.”

If Isabel Kallman’s life is anything to go by, being an Alpha Mom is nothing I’d aspire to or could ever succeed at. Nevertheless, I’m sure I won’t be able to resist sneaking a peek at Alpha Mom TV if I get a chance.

Pointer from Blogging Baby.