Before babies, I was definitely guilty of judging although there are various levels of off-side interference. For example, I would have never dreamed of suggesting a strategy to a mom or showing my disapproval so all could see. Although some people do, it’s inappropriate on so many levels. I will admit however that I may have been a little annoyed on an airplane, a little put out in a restaurant, a little disturbed at the beach. I may have suggested solutions under my breath like ‘shut that kid up!’ or ‘isn’t anyone gonna do something about this!’ or THE CLASSIC ‘my kids will never get away with that’!
Oh, how easy it was to judge having never been there.
Before you have babies, your life is simply yours. Free to roam and be with nature and your surroundings. We could go through a checkout line at Wal-mart without constantly restricting grabby little hands. We could enter bakeries and banks without ramming our strollers through the narrow lanes. We could ‘just run into’ the corner store to grab a bag of milk. We could go to a restaurant and actually read the menu hoping to satisfy our palates rather than choosing the easiest thing to cook and eat because Lord knows you have max 30 minutes.
If you haven’t been there, find it within yourself to launch a little compassion our way rather than passing such harsh judgment. The mom on the plane is praying the whole time that her kid doesn’t embarrass her. The mom at the beach is just trying to catch some vitamin E rather than cabin fever or the indoor blues. The mom at the grocery store would much prefer reading the labels over frantically filling her cart around the car seat or high jumping toddler. The whole time she’s driving to the restaurant to have someone serve her for a change, she’s wondering if she should just turn around and order pizza.
Smile at her when her toddler throws a tantrum… because she’s sweating. Laugh with her when her baby starts a twinkle twinkle chant… because she’s blushing. Wink at her when you catch a whiff of something foul… because she’s so hoping you didn’t. Be patient with her when she’s fumbling around in her diaper bag attempting to retrieve that damn bottle… because all she wants to do is feed her child. AND since we’re telling the truth, make no mistake. She wouldn’t give it up for the world, ever.
Photos from here and here and here
Mother Truth 
The judgment works both ways (though maybe not as often) – sometimes we ‘outsiders’ also say to ourselves, “When i have kids i’m going to have to remember to do or be like that mom just was with her kid. She handled that nightmare scenario well. Hell yeah!”.
BTW – best written post yet 😉
Always Inspired,
-Free333