Today I was mom-shamed at a department store and I want to talk about

Today my youngest child and I had 3 hours to kill as we waited for my oldest who was at a birthday party.At about hour 2 and a half, my daughter had fallen asleep in her stroller. She was dressed in a t-shirt, hoodie, pants, socks, wool booties (Padraigs - to specify so you know how hot they are) and was covered with a blanket. I checked on her and noticed she was getting a bit warm, so I took off her boots.I went to the register to pay for my purchases and a woman in her mid 60's walked by, turned to her daughter and loudly said, "that baby isn't even wearing boots...can you believe that?!" Initially, I was shocked. I thought this kind of thing only happened in weird, overdramatic Facebook posts. I responded with, "her shoes are in her stroller, I just took them off because she was getting hot". The woman turned and disappointingly shook her head at me. I came unglued. Blackout unglued. I didn't yell, I didn't swear, I didn't get mean, but I did stand up for myself. The look on their faces told me no one had ever spoken like that to them before.The point of my post is this: if anyone ever makes you feel less because of how you're raising your child - use your voice. Don't allow mother-in-laws, siblings or strangers to disrespect you, undermine you and make you insecure about what you are choosing to do. If a person was genuinely concerned about my child not having shoes on, I'd like to think they would offer a hand and speak to me in a respectful, conversational manner. When someone walks by you, makes a loud comment regarding the state of your children, they want to hurt you, embarrass you and make you feel small. Their intention is to shame you into becoming a better parent...which...turns out, isn't a thing.When people speak up against these comments and allow others to know that they aren't welcome or appropriate, they stop. I guarantee you this wasn't that old woman's first time making a mean comment to someone. No one wakes up one day and says, "I'm going to be awful to strangers". These types of people are built up over years of others letting them get away with small things until eventually, they mom-shame a random woman on a Sunday morning. So, use your voice. Make them stop. Make them stop for the next mom or dad who they are going to hurt with their words.That's all I want to say. Don't let people be dicks. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2Be86fj