The rise of snowplow parenting

A version of this story appeared earlier in The New York Times. Used with permission. Nicole Eisenberg's older son has wanted to be a star of the stage since he was a toddler, she said. He took voice, dance, and drama lessons and attended the renowned Stagedoor Manor summer camp for half a dozen years, but she was anxious that might not be enough to get him into the best performing-arts programs. So Eisenberg and others in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, the affluent suburb where she...