Okay, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: This mother-shaming has got to stop! And what’s really made me mad this time is that it’s a mummy blogger having a condescending dig at one of her own!

We’ve all been part of this scenario: taking our kids to the playground; the phone rings, or a message comes in, or you remember you had to send an urgent email, and so you’re sitting on a park bench, kids playing happily, checking your phone. That’s okay, right?

‘They won’t always want to come to the park with you, Mommy. They won’t always spin and twirl to make their new dress swish, they won’t always call out, “WATCH ME!”’

Reading this blog made me want to throw my iPhone at my computer screen!

Yes, I’ve been guilty of iPhone Distraction Syndrome… just this morning, actually. But I think mothers deserve a break.

Busybodies

What I’ve come to realise, since landing my dream job of raising children, is that this is the one job in the entire world that EVERYONE thinks they can do better than you. EVERYONE! The random guy who rolled his eyes when your toddler had a tantrum in aisle 2. The elderly woman who shook her head when you bought your kids a lollipop at the grocery store. And who can ever forget the look of horror from that gentleman the time you dared to breastfeed in public? Aaaargh!

But there was one lovely stranger… one afternoon, I was walking through the city with my kids in a pram, and a random lady just walked up to me and said: ‘I just want you to know that you’re doing a great job.’ Then she smiled at my kids and walked away.

It was as if an angel had just ‘dropped in’ to say ‘hi.’ Hot tears filled my eyes. I’d never had feedback like that in public before. Quite the opposite. It made my day… week… year!

So, dear reader (and thanks so much for your support), imagine if we created a world in which a mother can raise her children as best she knows how, without fear of condemnation, a world in which we encourage parents, at random, with kind words, like my angel in the city. The mother-shaming stops here!

And what I want to say to you is: You’re doing a great job!