Choose Kindness

We have to stop attacking each other. It has become a part of my daily routine to check Facebook to see what fresh drama has started in the Facebook parenting groups I am a part of. One mother will post questions about epidurals, the next will chide her for seeking a medicated birth and “damaging her baby”. Another will post about finding a gluten-free recipe for birthday cake and another mother will tell her she’s a sensitive snowflake and her kids need to taste real sugar.⠀
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It never ends. The rise of the sancti-mommy is a real problem. It’s so real there is a subreddit dedicated to “**** moms groups say”. Between the screenshots and the memes, being a mother has never been a more polarizing occupation.⠀
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But what can be done? I suppose that part of the problem is the fact that parenting is such a high stakes endeavor. You make every decision for your child based on what you think is best. You weigh every choice and research what you can about those choices. Then you make the choice and suddenly there is a right and a wrong. An us and a them. It only makes sense that when you read about someone making a different decision than you, you’d become defensive. But remember, just because it was a different decision than yours, it doesn’t make it wrong.⠀
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We need to choose kindness. We need to choose understanding. We are literally standing at the edge of the unknown, trying to sort out what is best for these little humans that God has gifted us with. Don’t we want to teach them to be kind and understanding to their fellow man/woman? We have to start modeling that in ourselves. ⠀
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The next time you’re online and you see a fellow mother or father saying something you disagree with, try to remember that they are just as concerned as you are. They love their children just as much as you do. Choose kindness.