The other day as I perused my Facebook feed (a rarety anymore), I noticed a video of an 18 month old who was presented with a set of cards containing words all in the same font. The parent would say a word from the cards and the baby would find the card. The baby was amazing to say the least. Be it word recognition or sounding out the words, it was GREAT!
Underneath the video was a comment. “That baby can’t read. It’s just recognizing the shape of the words.” (Isn’t that how most people read when they get good at it?) “Babies don’t need to read. If you want to parent well, take that baby outside and play with them.”
REALLY?! Did you just watch a baby “read” and then JUDGE THE PARENT!?!
Why do we feel that it is our job to judge other parents? Why do we look at that way that people are raising little humans and feel like we need to put in our two cents for EVERYTHING?
That parent spent alot of time with their child. They spent QUALITY TIME with their child in order to teach them how to “read.” They feed the child. The child is having fun! Get over yourself!
Several years back, there was a scandal going around the social media sites about a woman who had called the cops on her young son for stealing a Pop Tart out of the pantry. People had signs on her street stating that it was just a Pop Tart and the kid was just hungry. REALLY?!
Why is it our business why that mom called the cops? Why did the media have to nit pick that mom? We have no idea what was going on inside that home. What if she was a single mom? What if her son was getting to the point where she could not physically control his actions anymore and she was basically implementing a criminal prevention program? What if she had told that kid, “No more Pop Tarts today. You may have an apple.” What cop would rather wait until a kid is sticking a gun in his waist band and threatening shop owners rather than maybe… just maybe, help that mom teach her child a lesson about obedience and what can happen when you don’t follow the rules when they are young and nothing is going on anyone permanent record. Is a mom going to starve and abuse her child and then call the cops on him?
I’m not denying that there are crazy people in this world. But I am saying that social media has presented a way to criticize and pick apart situations we have no business picking apart.
What do you think? Is there a place for conversation that judges the actions of parents on social media or in the news? At what point do we put down our pitchforks and realize that people are human and social media does not make it ok to blast others for their parenting?
Life and Photos by Andy 
I’ve actually blasted people for their parenting on social media. Not specifically named, but examples of real neglect or abuse. Yes, parents make mistakes but if nobody says anything about those mistakes then some parents may not even consider what they are doing is wrong. There is a level of selfishness among some parents I’ve seen recently that boggles my mind.
Josh, why do you feel it is your responsibility to educate the parents?