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Strollerderby
Motherhood isn’t easy. Not only do we have the weight of our children’s futures on our shoulders, we have to contend with the opinions of everyone on how to do it. If our kids do anything wrong, we’re blamed. Even if our kids don’t do anything wrong, we’re blamed for not giving them even more.
When I was pregnant with my first child, I wailed to my own mom, “People see that I’m pregnant and they keep telling me what to do: what to eat, what to wear, how to give birth, how to take care of my baby! I don’t want all that advice.”
My mother nodded sagely and said, “Getting advice from strangers during pregnancy is good practice. The only thing you will ever get more unsolicited advice on is how to raise your kids.”
She was painfully right. Advice from strangers is one of my least favorite parts of being a mom.
So I love the guest post at Motherlode from a family law defense attorney who is also a mom. She makes a compelling case for minding our own business when we see other parents and kids out in the world. Not just because it’s the polite thing to do. It also makes for a better society and healthier families.
You’re in a nice restaurant, trying to enjoy your meal on a long-awaited night out with your sweetie. At the next table over, someone’s toddler has just spilled her fourth cup of water and started howling.
We’ve all been there: in the library, on a bus, at a restaurant, or perhaps worst of all on an airplane. A child starts misbehaving and getting all up in our space, and those lazy, neglectful parents do absolutely nothing to stop it.
If you’re a mom, you’ve probably been on the other side, too. Getting stared down by vexed strangers who seem to believe that you should know where the off switch is on this screaming monster that has suddenly replaced your kid.
On Feministe, one mom has taken up arms with a manifesto about how kids are people too. Jezebel hit back with some low blows about punctuation and some good points about child-free spaces.
This past Saturday was Lenore Skenazy’s Take Your Kids To The Park And Leave Them There Day. All across America, parents were urged to take their kids to a local playground and leave them to play amongst themselves for a short time.
Did you do it?
I tried.
Say what you will about Michael Jackson: the King of Pop was giving his kids better than he got.
So they had to wear masks in public? So they are of indeterminate origin? They got the chance at a childhood their papa never had. Continue reading »
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