On Mom Guilt and Judging Others

Have you guys seen the video going around on Facebook right now about holding your baby instead? You know - this one. I swear, that thing makes me cry every. single. time. And I've seen it more than a couple times! And then what happens is I get flooded with this terrible sense of mom guilt and I worry that I didn't hold my babies enough, and I fear that it's all behind me and I should have enjoyed it more - and then I just have to tell myself to stop! Because I was totally a mom who let everything else go so that I could hold my babies. You should have seen the mess our house was when Theo was a baby and Coco was a toddler. It was horrifically messy, and I was holding Theo. :)

I really never go on Facebook much any more. I do go on on occasion to check one of my groups (my cohort at grad school actually has a Facebook page, and it's undeniably a great communication tool for us) but I do my best not to get sucked into the newsfeed. One thing that usually does get me is the memories. They're always right there, at the top, and usually they make me lament that my babies are growing up so fast. But a few months ago, I saw a memory that made me really grateful Coco has grown up since then. It is none other than this one pictured above. Coco was almost two-years-old and had become impossible to contain on public transit. She was fearless and boundless and wanted to run up and down the aisle of the tram or bus and I could not let her do that for two reasons: 1). Swiss people would never stand for that and the shaming looks and finger wagging were category 5 level panic inducing. 2). obviously it would have been dangerous. So I resorted to doing something that I would have judged other parents for doing just two short years before. Funny how parenting works like that.

What have you done since becoming a parent that you would have (or did!) judge parents for when you were still childless? If you don't have children, what do you see parents doing that makes you cringe? (It could be that there's a logical explanation;) Let's hear it in the comments below!