What We Are Reading Today: ‘Overinvested’ by Nina Bandelj

Short Url
Updated 17 February 2026
Follow

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Overinvested’ by Nina Bandelj

Parents are exhausted. When did raising children become such all-consuming, never-ending, incredibly expensive, and emotionally absorbing effort? In this eye-opening book, Nina Bandelj explains how we got to this point—how we turned children into financial and emotional investments and child-rearing into laborious work.

At the turn of the 20th century, children went from being economically useful, often working to support families, to being seen by their parents as vulnerable and emotionally priceless.