Yes! All of this!
I’m screaming, AMEN! to guest blogger Nikki over at IAmNotTheBabysitter.com who recently blogged about the part of the Mommy Wars where other mothers shame those ladies who are engrossed in their smartphones while their kids play at the playground.
I mean, I get it. We should be engaged with our kids at all time. Or at least, we maybe should make sure they are safely playing and/or not being bullied or being the slide or see-saw bully. Yes. Yes to all of that, but still, there is so much judgment thrown around with regards to different people’s parenting styles.
There is no right or way to parent. Well, actually, there are a lot of people doing it wrong and we see them or their offpsrings in the nightly news. But besides those guys, parenting styles differ and that is okay.
In 2007, I blogged in my first blog, Mschiefmakers, about the difference between a park in a less pretentious area I once visited with my children compared to the middle to upper middle class park in my neighborhood park:
Took the boys to the local play park by my mom’s this afternoon. I noticed how less pretentious the moms were there as half of them were on their cell phones, reading books and having conversations with one another as their kids slid down the slides, pumped their tiny legs on the swings and wiggled and jiggled on the see saws.
In my stodgy, easily more conservative and cautious neighborhood, it was a no-no to be on the phone while at the park with the kids. You’d get these disapproving stares. I’m all for family values and undivided attention and all that, but sometimes you just got to take that call from a client. As a small business owner, I don’t really have the room to lose the few clients I have. I offer them the extra care and attention as a selling point separating me from the big dogs and unfortunately that means interrupted “mommy and me” times with the kids. I sure do feel guilty, but so is the sacrifice for being on my own.