It seems like the mommy-wars are constantly raging. The battle between vaccinating and not vaccinating only highlights an underlying problem that the internet and social media seems to have exacerbated. Mommy’s can be some of the harshest critics, of themselves and of other moms. With the anonymity that the internet offers, it’s become much easier for the battle of the baby mama’s to keep going.
Us mama’s have to stick together. Whether we breast feed or bottle feed, there are a few things we all have in common.
Leave the mommy-wars at the door because:
Our babies get stalked at night: I’d be surprised if there was a mom who’d never crept into the nursery or up to the bassinet in the middle of the night to make sure they are still breathing. My kids are six and eight and I still check on them at least once a night. I also pull the extra stuffed animals away and make sure they aren’t going to accidentally suffocate on a stray sock.
We feel guilty: It doesn’t matter how much of a super-mommy you are, there’s always something you don’t think you are doing right. All of us have moments when we think we aren’t enough. We aren’t doing enough or keeping our house clean enough or making food healthy enough or reading to our kids enough.
We’re tired: We are tired and overworked. Whether you get 7 hours of sleep of 3 hours of sleep, the work of being a mom is exhausting. Balancing the ups and downs of life and/or another job with parenthood is hard. We may love our kids but that doesn’t mean we have superhuman powers. Being a mom means doing what’s best for your kids. Working hard and doing the best you can to make sure our babies have a roof over their head, food on the table, clothes to wear and a loving parental figure to teach them right from wrong. It’s a lot of responsibility.
We get bored: I’m sorry. I love my kids and I love my life, but sometimes being a mom is boring. There are days where I think that if I have to clean up another spill, stub my toe on another Lego, wash another load of laundry or play another game of “Anna and Elsa,” I’m going to go insane. There’s nothing wrong with feeling a little lost or even a little bored. It takes a lot of sacrifice to be a good mom.
We love our kids: It really doesn’t matter whether you give your kids all organic food or feed your little ones chicken nuggets for lunch a few times a week. How big of a difference (in the long run) does it really make to your child whether or not you use cloth diapers or store-bought diapers? Not much. The decisions we make, we make out of love. If we stopped for a few minutes to just remember that there are children who have much bigger problems than whether their mom had an epidural or delivered them in the middle of a field beneath the pale moonlight, we may be less inclined to judge and more inclined to be grateful that there are so many children who have a loving home.
Image: iStockphoto
