Entering the Race, the Mompetition

Whether we have children or not, it seems that we have an opinion on parenting.

When you have no children, you have no chips in the pot, so to speak, and therefore there are no consequences for what you say.
We've all said, "I'll never do that when I have kids!", or "My kid will never be like that!".
If you do, or do not have children and you've said or thought something along these lines, do yourself a favour and stop.

The fastest lesson I ever learned once my first little person arrived, was to  never say never.  Never.
You have no idea how you're going to deal once the kids arrive.  You.  Have.  No.  Idea.

At the end of the day, you are going to make choices for your children that you and your hubby, or partner, or maybe just you, have to live with.  There are going to be times you wish you had made a different choice, but we do the best we can with what we have at the time.  The toughest thing about parenting is never knowing what the right answer or decision is, and I think that when this thought runs through your head, you are evolving and that makes you a good Mom.  If we are always questioning ourselves, then we are always trying to be better, and even though it would be easier to just blindly trust that every choice we've made was the perfect one, it is more natural to be skeptical and critical of ourselves.

I've been reading a lot about "Mom Shaming" and nothing infuriates me more than this.

The fact that one woman can think that she's superior to another because of the choices she happened to make, is unthinkable.
Having children is the hardest thing we will ever do.  If it's easy, you're doing it wrong.
None of us needs to be criticized for our parenting choices, because trust me when I say, we're already doing that ourselves.

Mom Shaming comes in many forms, unfortunately.  Everything from our parenting choices to our choice in school, to our post-baby bodies can be the target of Mom Shaming.

I'm including a post I read on Facebook awhile ago that struck a chord with me and I want to share it again because no matter what choices you make, you are a great Mom and you do need to have faith in that.  And also, be understanding of other Moms' decisions, even if it's not the ones you might make.

Maybe we can stop "Mompeting" and collaborate?
Idealistic?  Maybe...