"These mothers think you have it all wrong," it says, "and they have the scientific evidence to prove it."
I'm not going to provide a link to the Sixty Minutes site. I'm not going to watch Sixty Minutes. I'm really hoping you don't watch it either. Suffice it to say that the segment is about attachment parenting, and mothers who choose to breastfeed indefinitely. It's supposed to make us angry. It's supposed to pit us mothers against each other.
And I have had a gutful of it.
The media is forever trying to create Mummy Wars, with Good Mothers on one side and Bad Mothers on the other side. And you know what? It's BULLSHIT. Yes, there are bad mothers - mothers who physically or psychologically or sexually abuse their kids. Mothers who neglect their kids, who inject them with drugs, who leave them festering in their own waste for days at a time.
But most mothers, the vast, vast majority of us, are good mothers, who are just doing our best.
We all have our different ways of doing things and that is just FINE. Personally, I don't care how any other mother parents. I don't care if you breastfeed your child till they're ten, if you're both happy and comfortable about it. I don't care if you work outside the home or if your child goes to creche or if you leave the house at six every morning. I don't care if you co-sleep, or feed on demand, or put your baby on a schedule. I don't care if you carry your baby all day in a sling, or do controlled crying, or put your child on a vegan diet or give them Maccas chips for lunch. I DON'T CARE. If you love your child and are making thoughtful decisions and educating them and keeping them safe and enjoying their company then that's pretty bloody good in my books.
And I don't care what the celebrities do. I couldn't care less if Alicia Silverstone feeds her baby from her own mouth or if Suri Cruise wears high heels or if the kid is named Apple or Pax or Prince Blanket the Fifth. I DON'T CARE. If the child seems adored and nurtured then what the hell is the problem? You know what I do care about? I care about children living in poverty. I care about child sexual abuse. I care about indigenous inequality. I care about immunisation. I care about the parents of special needs kids pushed to the limits. I care about education and the medical system and the rights of kids to have their same-sex parents marry. I DO NOT CARE HOW THOUGHTFUL, LOVING PARENTS RAISE THEIR KIDS, even if they do it differently to me.
So please please please, Sixty Minutes and every other inflammatory media outlet.... STOP. Stop trying to pit us mums against each other. We will not fall for it. We are all just doing our best.
Each to her own, people. Make it your mantra. Each to her own.
And stop the bullshit. It's enough.
