Vaccinations & 14 More Things Moms Judge Each Other Over
There are so many parenting opinions?! Which ones do judgy moms focus on the most?
Motherhood. You'd think that it would be one of the most unifying experiences in the world. After all, there is no greater common bond than the unbridled love we have for our children and the profound truth that becoming a parent changes your life forever. While many moms can chat with total strangers about the perils and particular joys of mommyhood, it seems that more often the thing us moms have in common is something much darker: judgment.
Remember Prince George's ride home from the hospital? All eyes were on the royal couple, and although William lovingly put George in his car seat and drove the newly expanded family home, the event was wrought with frenzied comments from around the world about those loose car seat buckles. And just a few weeks ago Will and Kate were in the spotlight again for riding him around in a front-facing seat at just eight-months-old during their visit to New Zealand. Parents, it seems, have lots of opinions about the way things should be done, and we have a hard time letting it go when others make different choices about the way they raise their children. Could the enviable aura of happiness and success that surrounds Kate and William be part of the way the judgment upon them was unleashed, from Kate's "perfect" birth to the wealth and privilege that George was born into as the royal baby?
The rest of us ordinary moms may not have royalty in our midst to illicit feelings of jealousy and competition, but we're still familiar with the "mommy wars," as they've been dubbed. It seems these struggles are our generation's way of dealing with the incredible amount of decisions we're faced with once we become parents. From day one, we are forced to pick a side. Home birth or hospital? Breast milk or formula? Bumpers or no bumpers? Babywearing, or not?
These choices, and the way they affect our lives and those of our children, are often public, visible ones, which leave us wide open to the criticism of those around us.
Find out what the 15 things moms judge each other over at Elizabeth Street: 15 WAYS MOMS JUDGE EACH OTHER