Half a year. I CANNOT BELIEVE my baby is half a year old
already. That’s crazy. She is seriously amazing. So happy all the time. It is such a joy to watch her grow. It’s amazing that she has gone from not even
holding her head up all the way to army crawling in this amount of time!
A while back when I knew children were
still a few years off for the hubs and me, I made a few comments about mothers
over-sharing on social media. I was
HIGHLY criticized for having an opinion on things that have to do with children
before I had any of my own. Well, I do
have one of my own now. I’ve been a
momma for 6 months. I know that’s not
very long, but I’ve definitely learned a lot already.
I could tell you all about the diaper
disasters I’ve experienced and the amount of laundry with it, but I won’t….because
I don’t enjoy reading about your baby’s diaper disasters while I’m perusing facebook and eating lunch.
I could show you pictures of the way I
feed my child, but that is personal and done out of sight. I didn’t show off that part of my body before
I was a mom, so I’m not going to start now.
I could tell you how many times what
goes in my baby’s mouth comes back out, but you probably don’t want to know….I
deal with it with a joyful attitude, but it’s not like it’s a pleasant thing to
clean up…so why would I think ya’ll would care to read an update about it?
I could tell you what we have to deal
with when she gets sick, but other than a “My baby is sick. Please, pray for her to feel better ASAP”
request, I don’t think you want to hear the specifics.
I could post naked baby pictures, but a friend told me a story about someone doing that then later finding out a member of the family viewed child porn...so pictures like that will never be posted.
I could tell you how her potty training is
going about a year and a half from now, but other than “I don’t have to change
her diaper anymore!!”…I’ll spare you the icky details.
I had all of these views before I became
a mother. They haven’t changed. I value my personal and private moments being kept personal and private. Sleep-deprivation didn’t mess up my brain so
much that I have to “let it all out” in a social media setting whether you
wanted to experience it with me or not.
I have all kinds of people on my social media accounts that I want to be
considerate of. Yes, there are many
things you can’t understand until you are a parent, but being considerate of
the different people in your audience is something ANYONE can understand. I’m not going to make you experience certain
parts of life when it’s not your time to do so and you prefer to wait until it
is your time.
If you are someone who shares all the
details, but prefaces it with a “WARNING- graphic post about…” BLESS YOU.
I recently had a friend want to share about how her little girl was
responding in a sweet way to a situation regarding her 2nd
pregnancy, but knew it was a little graphic…and that’s how she started the
post. Great idea! My post a while back very quickly turned from
"Leslie doesn't like to hear about disgusting things, to Leslie thinks
this group of people is disgusting and Leslie is not gracious, understanding,
or patient." Well, guess what? I am a part of that group now. I’m not a hypocrite. I do understand mom life now. (Side note- the main person calling me “ungracious,
not understanding, and impatient” went on to block me because THAT is how to
respond with grace, understanding, and patience in a disagreement, right?
*sarcasm*)
LASTLY, my comment on feeding my child
is how I CHOOSE to do it. I cover
up. Like I said, I was modest before
motherhood, so I continue that. HOWEVER,
if you choose a different way, you are still doing a great job taking care of
your baby! I know some moms would love
to cover up, but their baby is claustrophobic and will literally try to rip the
cover off. You are a wonderful mommy for
thinking of your child’s needs even if you are uncomfortable. I’m so thankful my little one is ok being
covered so that I don’t deal with that, but not everyone is in the same position. I have my opinions. You have yours. But all of us mommies are just doing our very best for our children.
This was not an attack on anyone or their character. I have never forgotten how women who barely
knew me sure tried to attack mine that day.
This post was to let you all know that I do have opinions now that I am
a mother, and most have not changed since before I was one. It’s not about not being “gracious,
understanding, or patient”…it’s about considering your WHOLE audience. Understand that I do so enjoy seeing pictures of my friend's children, watching them grow and reach milestones. Parenthood is wonderful and should be celebrated. I'm just not one that enjoys extreme details on any personal matter, not just parenthood. (If I had someone sharing details about their sex life on social media, I would not feel comfortable reading personal info like that either...but that's not where the extreme sharing is taking place.) Maybe I’m overly squeamish, but others have shared these same opinions with me.
That
is all.
