School Mum Frenemies
Motherhood is a journey most of us go through in life. But when it comes to re-living the Mean Girls experience back to when we were in high school, it’s safe to say that mothers tend to get competitive and judgemental when it comes raising children. It’s shameful to think that some mothers have this hold that they’re more “experienced” in the field of parenting but in all honesty, we’re just going through life, winging it as we go.
Nobody knows what they’re doing and even if we do have the slightest idea of what’s right and wrong in parenting, we need to remember that everything we do is what we feel is the most suitable choice. As long as we’re showering our kids with love and support, nothing else should matter. So why do School Mum Frenemies exist?
Media tends to sway our opinions based on specific research and findings
No matter what we do, some mothers will always have an opinion on how you raise your kids. If you’re using formula feed or breastfeeding, someone will go crazy over how you’ve made this decision for yourself. It’s easy to get caught up with the amount of information we have when it comes to finding certain things from the media. With the Internet being our daily source of information, we shouldn’t feel pressured into following something defined by the majority.
Sometimes for specific health reasons, mothers aren’t able to breastfeed their children. Before you attack someone with your opinions, put yourselves in their shoes. Allow yourself to have an open mind and see why they have chosen a path that you may not have considered. In other words, if you have nothing nice to say then don’t say it at all.
We all like getting caught up in the drama
Hearing juicy gossip is the start of it all. The constant whispering and the glaring, it’s almost as if you’ve been made an outcast before you even set foot on school grounds. The reality is, people will talk about you if your family are not exactly “conventional”. The truth is many of us do go through a divorce, have grown up in blended families or have made the choice of remarrying. We’re all going to be judged one way or another and this is an unfortunate fact. Why do we like getting caught up in the drama in the first place? Maybe because we want to talk about something to makes us feel better about ourselves. Gossiping before learning someone’s story is a no-no. You should make the effort of getting to know someone first before you get caught in the drama.
We know what’s best
Doing copious amounts of research and taking advice from our family, friends and health professionals can really set us up for good. However, when it comes to the advice of other people, we tend to go into this automatic mindset that we know best. While we have learned the “wrongs” and “rights” of motherhood, just because we have raised our kids well doesn’t necessarily make us the best parent.
We’re human, we make mistakes and sometimes along the way, we aren’t always prepared for the unexpected things that happen as we follow our journey of parenthood. They say knowledge is power but is it really when we’re all doing different things on our own terms? Sometimes mothers need to step back and accept the fact that what they think is best for them doesn’t necessarily work for other people.
School Mum Frenemies are going to exist no matter what but maybe we should stop the judging and actually try to help each other out. Motherhood is already a scary enough ride so why waste time throwing negative opinions on others who are doing “wrong” for their kids? The high school days are over so let’s take a step back and give each other the benefit of the doubt when it comes to raising our children.