This card popped up in my Facebook feed last week.
Yeah okay sure, I thought. I remember what it’s like to have your first baby. I remember when any piece of well-meaning advice, any tidbit of info, felt like a sneering admonishment. I remember how I absorbed all and any criticism or suggestion into the very core of my insecure, sleep-deprived psyche where it would echo for weeks to come, feeding my bottomless anxiety.
So that is a good promise to make. And well-meaning intruders advisers really would be wise to think twice before offering up unsolicited tips to a new mother.
But, come on. That’s not going to happen. The world is full of judgmental busybodies. And even people who really mean no harm can accidentally say something that strikes a nerve with new parents. I’m sure I’m guilty of doing that myself.
A commercial for Similac is also making the rounds this week. It shows all the stereotypical mom types hanging out in cliques at the park like some sort of “back to high school” nightmare. There’s the breastfeeding moms, the formula feeding moms, the baby wearers, the yoga/fitness moms, the working moms and the stay-at-home dads. Then a baby carriage starts rolling down a hill and everybody chases after it with nothing but love and concern in their hearts because we’re all parents first, you see. Brought to you by the Similac Sisterhood of Motherhood.