Opinions are like______. Every one's got one!

I have been joining in on the 31 Day Better Blog Challenge on the BlogFrog and it has been something else! Some of the tips and ideas are things that I knew I should probably be doing. Some were things that I had no idea how to do, and some were things that were just frightening for me.

This post is an example of one of those things. The opinion post. I do not get very opinionated in my posts. I am non-confrontational as a general rule. It is not that I don't have strong opinions but I don't always feel the need to voice them. And what ever my opinion is, someone out there thinks they know better.

A blogger on the Mom Loop shared a comment she had gotten from a person who strongly disagreed with how this blogger put her baby to bed. Not only did she disagree but she wrote that she would "Pray that (the baby) can escape." It was really so horrible and I felt so bad for the woman who received it.

It got me thinking about opinions, and how people seem to feel so at ease letting you know exactly what they are, especially when it comes to how to be a parent. I started thinking of some of the "helpful" opinions I had received over the years.

"All that kid needs is a good spanking!"

"Your girl is too chunky to be wearing those pants"

"You didn't circumcise him? That's filthy, he's going to get infections and cancer!"

"Stop coddling him so much, your going to turn him in to a wuss."

"She'd start talking if you'd take that passie out of her mouth!"

"You need to teach your children to obey!"

Most of these were said by family, friends and coworkers who all thought they were doing me a big favor by adding there opinions to how I raised my children. And being the non confrontational person I am, I usually just smiled and said, "Okay." And then went on parenting exactly how I had been parenting before the helpful advice. As parents we are under so much pressure. We are under a constant microscope of judgment. And if we aren't directly pressured by others than we lay the pressure on ourselves by comparing ourselves to others.

We agonize over every decision. Baby wearing or stroller? Crib or family bed? Cloth diaper or disposable? Public school or home school? Work or stay home? Cry it out or rock to sleep? And what ever we choose, there will be someone there to tell us we are doing it wrong!

So here is my plea, to all the mothers of the world...Lets give each other a break! Let's cut each other some slack. Let's all acknowledge that we are doing the best we can with what we have got and none of us can judge until we have walked in each others shoes.

If you have an example of some "helpful" advice gone array I would love to hear it. And if you would like leave some one some words of affirmation, I think that would be wonderful as well!