Is there anything worse than judgmental people who attack hard working, yet imperfect, parents?
A few days ago I wrote about the despicable Twitter and Facebook campaign criticising the grieving parents of the Colorado movie theater massacre for allowing their children to attend a midnight screening. Even so-called ‘experts’ were claiming that this was an appropriate time to be highlighting the importance of enforcing strict bedtimes.
Now we have a case where columnist Susie O’Brien confesses to finding her role as parents quite challenging. Does she get support and useful advice from her readers? No way! She becomes the victim of a backlash ‘of epic proportions‘.
WHY do some people hate mothers so much?
I was totally blown away by the reaction to my piece last week about how I sometimes can’t cope with my kids.
I’m not like model Elle Macpherson, who came out as a “bad” parent this week because she makes her sons do too much homework.
No, my version of monster mothering involves my daughter doing a juicy raspberry spit in my face, and a noisy toddler planking on the floor of a very busy tourist cafe.
In my heraldsun.com.au blog, the backlash against my epic parenting failures was breathtaking.
Andy said: “You really need to teach them some more respect, it’s that simple.”
Alzee said: “You demonstrate the woeful parenting skills of many of today’s parents.”
Mother of 4 Big Kids said: “Your children will understand that you would rather go to work than parent them.”
And Kim C said: “I certainly wouldn’t want my children associating with any six-year-old that treats her mother in that appalling manner.”
It’s evidence, apparently, that I am both a terrible mother and a very bad woman. I love my kids.
Parenting is the hardest task in the world. Harder than brain surgery. Certainly more difficult than teaching. The best parents realise that all children are different, with different skills and needs. This means that we are constantly trying to get the balance right and require many adjustments to our approach along the way.
Those parents that judge others are often hiding their own insecurities. It’s time they reflected on their own parenting skills and learned to mind their own business!
Click on here to read The Unexpected Rewards of Parenting
Click on here to read 5 Humourous Comparisons Between Parenting and Journalism
Click on here to read It’s Not Spying on Your Children, It’s Called Parenting
Tags: cam, Educawtion, Elle Macpherson bad parent, Elle Macpherson bad parenting, Elle Macpherson parenting, extreme parenting, heraldsun.com.au blog, james holmes childhood, paign against corlorado movie theatre parents, Parenting, pic parenting failures, Susie O'Brien, WHY do some people hate mothers so much
Topical Teaching 
July 26, 2012 at 12:50 am |
I, too, am blessed with three intelligent, witty, and independent-thinking children who may seem to be “unrespectful” at times with their day-to-day actions. It is exhausting having to deal with them 24-7 as they go through their trials and tribulations. At least I know that I am leaving open lines of communication at all times and they are acting like themselves every moment of their lives. I had friends as a child who acted totally different around their parents and played them for what they wanted to hear. Ninety percent of the time when the kids got caught doing something bad, the parents were shocked (big surprise) because their children were always so “respectful”, i.e. fake. Maybe this is what happened to JImmy Holmes…Not acceptable but maybe he couldn’t act the way he wanted to and when he dropped out of school, he couldn’t face any alternative. I’d rather have raspberries in my face from my 4 yr old today rather than read about him 20 years later as a mass murderer.
August 8, 2012 at 1:07 am |
THANK YOU. I am so sick of hearing people criticize the Aurora parents. First of all and foremost, no one died because they had bad parents who didn’t enforce strict bedtimes. People died because a crazy person walked into a movie theatre with a gun and opened fire. It could just as easily have happened in the middle of the day (in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin?). Second of all, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking a kid to a midnight showing of a movie. I was nine when Star Wars Episode I came out, and to say that my big brother and I were stoked would be the understatement of my childhood. Not only did my parents take us to see it at midnight, they even let us skip school the next day! Talk about bad parents! But you know what? My brother and I have grown up to be perfectly respectable humans and productive citizens despite their apparently heinous display of poor judgement. And sharing that midnight showing will always be one of my greatest childhood memories with my big brother.