Could the mummy police please sit down?
Yes I said it, because it really isn't pretty.
I can never understand why we as women are each other's greatest critics. What is it about people that makes us get a kick from bringing someone else down or simply not thinking before we speak?
“She's too curvy”
“She's too skinny”
“She didn't have a natural birth”
“She's not breastfeeding”
“Her pants are too tight”
I mean, why oh why do we say and write such things about one another?! The comments people put out on social media can be mind boggling sometimes. When did it become ok to be nasty to each other?
Now back to the mummy police. My definition of the mummy police is “mothers who go about commenting about other peoples’ parenting without much regard for how their words land” ©. I don't know what it is about being a mum that has people thinking it's ok to say and sometimes do certain things that really are not normally ok. It’s not ok to touch and rub someone’s stomach without their permission, just as it is inappropriate to comment on someone who’s not close enough to you about their weight.
As a mum three times over, I can't get over it. I don't think I want to because I don't think it's right. The journey of motherhood is treacherous, beautiful, messy, unknown, unique, fulfilling, tiring and simple yet complex. All of these things intertwined and all of us trudging the same path. I think the most fascinating thing in all of this, is that as women, most of us are in the same boat. Tackling sleepless nights together, fighting our way in the workplace basically wanting our voices to be heard in our varying platforms. We all want the same thing for our children. How we do it might be different but most mothers want their children to grow up into happy, healthy, contented and respectful human beings.
So whether we hurtle seemingly meaningless comments to people in the playground or behind the keyboard, lets all be too aware we all doing this life thing the best way we know how for the most part. We don’t know what others are going through and they don’t know what we are going through but that thing called kindness goes a long way.
So here are some what ifs for you to ponder on. What if we paused for a moment and resolved to get off the shaming bandwagon? The body shaming or whatever shaming we have going on nowadays. What if we suspended our voice of judgment in order to actually take time to notice things? What if we took time to earnestly understand people and not take things out of context or maybe sometimes just not concern ourselves with things that don’t concern us?
What if we became more self-aware and realised the reason we have such a problem with certain issues is because we are the ones who actually need to be healed from them? What if we were just open to life and purposed ourselves to intentionally receive from it? What if being open to new things leads to new experiences and new relationships? What if we learnt to be curious about people and life, making for rich, thoughtful and funny conversations? What if we were more concerned with building others instead of tearing them down? What if we decided to be examples to the little one’s that think the world of us?
So take a moment and have a think about the what if list and do let me know what you think. Oh and please be kind about it!