One of the first conferences I attended as a small business owner was in New York City about 4 years ago. I’d never gone on a trip without my family before and was nervous about leaving the kids for several days, but excited about the conference.
So it was a shame that I agreed to take on a conference “buddy”. Neither of us had attended a conference before and weren’t very familiar with NYC, so we decided to team up and attend the same sessions together.
But after spending about 30 minutes with my buddy, I knew I’d made a mistake.
She was the judging-est, most judgy-judge McJudgerson that I’ve ever met. And it wasn’t even about other people. It was about me!
She proceeded to spend the weekend asking me about different parenting decisions I’d made with my kids, then tell me why that was wrong.
Did I nurse or formula feed? Did I cloth or disposable diaper? Did we co-sleep or not? Were my kids homeschooled or not?
You would think that the odds would be that she’d agree with at least one of my decisions. But alas, that did not happen.
We were exactly, completely, and without a doubt extreme polar opposites on everything parenting related.
I tried to defend my choices at the beginning, nicely and calmly, thinking she might be interested in a discussion. But once it became clear that she wasn’t considering any viewpoint other than her own, I got quiet. I just shook my head a little, looked away or tried to change the subject.
It was the most eye-opening experience I could have had on how awful it is to judge other moms.
Even now, years later, I still think about her sometimes when I hear moms judging others on parenting choices. I thought about her when I jumped at the chance to join Similac’s Sisterhood of Motherhood.
I’ve come a long way since that conference, both in my career and in parenting, and I hope that she has too. I hope that she’s realized a few things.
Like we’re all just doing the best we can. That we need to support one another instead of tearing each other down. And be a part of the Sisterhood of Motherhood.
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Have you ever been judged for your parenting decisions? Check out this video from Similac and see what other moms have to say about the mommy wars.
Join us! Share one thing you’d do to stop the mommy wars today on facebook.com/Similac with the hashtag #SisterhoodUnite!
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Similac partnered with bloggers such as me for its new product launch for Similac Advance Non-GMO. As part of this program, I received compensation for my time. Similac believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Similac’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.
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