For The Love Of It All

   This is a subject that I have been sitting on for quite some time now. Living in an imperfect world, we go through the day almost jaded to the things that we see around us. We come to expect the terrible, the hurtful, the obscene. As mothers, we are lucky to see what is most beautiful in such a world; innocence. We get to stare into the faces of our children everyday and see a being that is untouched, with a heart that is full of hope and optimism. We are solely responsible for the path that we lead these innocent lives down, the values that we instill upon them.
    That being said, let me introduce you to naive LJ. I always assumed that motherhood was this club, a society where we could all join together and celebrate the raising of our children. That we could put aside all of our parenting differences, because the only thing that TRULY mattered was the outcome; a happy, healthy, functional family. Boy was I wrong. I have been nothing short of appalled at how quick other mothers are to judge, how horribly close-minded people are. I have seen viciousness within the motherhood community that I could have never even fathomed. Almost three years later since the birth of my first son, and I still don't understand it.
   How can we attack each other so? Especially in a day and age where we have so many options at our disposal; Breastfeeding, formula, cloth diapers, disposables, co-sleeping, vaccines or no vaccines, the list could go on forever. Who is anyone to say what is right or wrong? Do we love our babies? Do we shelter them from pain? Yes. We all do. We all do the best we can to judge what is going to work for us. We agonize over every decision, every choice we make for our children. How dare someone make me, or any other mother, feel ashamed for the choices we make for our own child. In a world where so much needs work, where your efforts are desperately needed, why are we wasting our energies judging how a mother raises her baby? Why is your approach so much better than mine, when we are both working toward the same goal?
   We are always going to meet people who we have a difference of opinion with, but that does not mean you can force your outlook upon anyone, or that you can do it with such nasty words. We should be there to support each other, to introduce one another to new things, even if those new things may not be the best choice for your family. We will never show our children the importance of being open-minded if we continue to spread such negativity. Our children are the light that illuminates this dark world and we should do everything we can to make that light shine as brightly as possible.