Sometimes you just need a break from your kids, but those breaks can get taken out of context and lead to mom-shaming. One mom learned this the hard way after a stranger mom-shamed her for being on her phone while she was in a store with her kids.
Tracy Bennett was recently at Costco with her two young children. Both children were fussy and she was on her phone for a moment when a man stopped her to say, “You see these babies? They fuss like that because they want your attention. Maybe you should get off of your phone and give them your attention.”
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Bennett did not take the unsolicited feedback lying down, however, and posted a scathing (and, in our opinion, fair) response on Facebook following the interaction.
She wrote, “First of all, I had no idea the toddler saying, ‘Mama, pizza, mama, pizza’ over and over and the baby making pre-cry warnings to alert me that if we don’t move soon he’s going to lose it and wanted my attention. Thank you for that brilliant analysis of the situation.”
She continued that she had already been waiting in line for 15 minutes and had tried everything to entertain the kids while they waited. She also noted that the man who spoke to her had only been in line for a couple of minutes and missed the majority of her happy, engaging interaction with her kids.
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She also noted that she had taken out of her phone because she knew the kids were nearing a meltdown and was trying to get her membership card information from her husband.
“But thank you for your parenting advice. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to shame a young mother with two tiny children,” she wrote. “Thank you for seeing a stressful moment and deciding, ‘I think I’ll make this worse for her.’”
Bennett suggested that if anyone sees a parent with their children, just assume they’re stressed out and “assume she is trying her damndest to get through the situation…if you have nothing kind or supportive to offer her, please mind your own business.”
She finished the post by saying, “our babies are healthy, our babies are happy (despite the fact that they are not currently pleased with standing in line at Costco), and our babies are loved fiercely. And for the love of Gob, our babies can wait 2 minutes while we try to solve a problem on our phone.”
The post clearly resonated with people – it’s been shared nearly 2,000 times, with nearly 5,000 likes.
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