NYT: "Goodbye to Cloth Diapers, and Ideal Motherhood"

ball.and.chain

Saw this recently and thought many of us could relate...it's in line with our confessions thread and our difficulty cutting ourselves slack!
https://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/goodbye-to-cloth-diapers-and-ideal-motherhood/

Jazibel

Haha - love it! Cloth diapers and I are in a bit of a tiff too.

JGY

I just can't help myself, I always have to read the comments on the article.  I thought this one (from a woman in Mpls, yay), was particularly well put:

"I'm a new mom. My baby is 9 weeks old. I'm also an older mom, nearing 40. Thus I had years to observe my friends and family members mothering their children and pass silent judgment, promising myself I wouldn't be "that" kind of mom. One of my vows was that I wouldn't worry about how others perceived my mothering. I also vowed that I wouldn't obsess over small things like cloth vs. disposable, breast vs. bottle. I'd be relaxed. Well, the reality is that motherhood is an all-consuming sport and the worry and guilt are pretty unavoidable. I worry endlessly about doing something wrong. Not because I'm crazy but because the whole situation feels out of my control, and that's a natural human response--try to control what you can. That winds up being the trivial. Sometimes I have to stop myself and remember that ten years from now, whatever it is I'm obsessing about at the moment will not matter at all.

I write all that to say that I have a lot more compassion and a lot less judgment for mothers like this one who attach a lot of their identity to motherhood. It's not narcissistic. It's a natural response to a high pressure, grueling, anxiety-inducing life change. One that comes with an enormous amount of outside judgment and expectations.

CageyMack

Thanks for sharing, @ball.and.chain!