I have to say, I'm still surprised at the amount of anger some people have over the new car seat guidelines. I really never thought that posting the new guidelines here would elicit such a negative response that suddenly called into question my parenting choices.
Why is there such animosity between moms? Why the personal attacks on anyone who chooses something other than what you would choose?
I really, honestly do try not to judge others. It's a struggle. I'm only human. I can promise you that I do not look at a mom who did not breastfeed and silently condemn her. I do not hate mothers who choose to give birth in a hospital. (On the contrary, I've attended many hospital births as a doula to support moms in that environment.) I don't force my parenting choices on anyone else. I don't dislike working mothers. (I was one too.) I don't think that public schools are evil.
Regarding the car seat issue, I apologize if anything I said was interpreted as a personal attack. It was not. All I said was that the guidelines are supposed to keep kids safe, they don't seem that difficult to follow, and that I don't understand why there is such a controversy over them. That's it. That's just, like, my opinion, man.
I may make parenting choices that leave some of you wondering on earth I'm thinking. I know that what I choose to do for our family will not work for every family. I sometimes make mistakes. I'm not telling anyone that they should do things the way that I do them. Maybe I'm not a very good writer and sometimes things sound better in my head before I write them down. I have dozens of unpublished posts that I never got the courage to share. This blog was never intended to be any sort of parenting advice blog. I do not have all the answers, and I don't pretend to have all the answers. I can only share what goes on in our family.
Each of us, as moms, have to make the choices that are best for our families. I read and ask questions and talk to other moms to figure this whole parenting thing out because I'm constantly learning something new and I want to know more. We are never going to agree on everything. That's life. But let's do our best not to judge each other so much.
