In my area, this is definitely a common feeling. It's not expressed in quite that way, but there's an underlying tone of stress among parents that want the latest buzz for their children, lest they suffer failure later on in their life.

Sadly, those parents are often the ones who eschew quality time with their toddlers. Yes it's tiring after a full day of work. Yes it's demanding. But that's also how as parents we help our little ones develop healthy emotional responses.

Just as with startups, children can suffer from vanity metrics. I'm always impressed when my 3-year old can use a 5-syllable word, but I'm acutely aware that it's a vanity metric. What matters to me are healthy emotional foundations which will help my child cope with all the setbacks that will happen when trying to learn.

It's possibly a Bay Area (and similar regions) thing. There are waiting lists years long for some schools, especially those perceived to offer that "leg up" on the academic career path. Some of this may be due to deficiency of supply, but some is definitely due to academic pressure.

Probably so. I just thought of an article I read about the hyper-competitive pre-school scene in NYC. The parents hired a coach for their 4 YO's pre-school admissions interview.