Here is an excerpt from my latest parenting article that came out on Smart Parenting Magazine. I got to interview moms who shared their worst parent shaming experiences. In case you want to read more mom shaming experiences there’s a link to the full article at the bottom.

My daughter’s former teacher once told me ‘Had your daughter been given proper attention and discipline at home she wouldn’t be misbehaving,’ — it was so loud all the other moms heard her!” 

No mother is perfect, and our children don’t come with a ready manual. Most of us learn along the way, and might take awhile to have this whole parenting thing figured out. But most mothers try their best given the circumstances. That’s why it hurts when you hear criticisms about your parenting, or worse, about your children. This is what happened to Nessie Ventura at her child’s previous school.

“I noticed that my daughter had a big bruise on her thigh when she got home, and when I asked her about it, she said that her classmate kicked her. The next day, I went to her school to talk to her teacher to see if she was aware of the incident. She said she wasn’t sure how my daughter got the bruise, so I got upset and reacted like any mother would. When I asked why she wasn’t aware that the kids in her class were fighting, she didn’t answer the question but instead pointed out that if my daughter was given proper attention and discipline at home she wouldn’t be misbehaving. What made it even worse was that it was so loud, it echoed in the gym and the other moms heard it,” she narrates.

“After talking to her superior, I had to go home and cry. She eventually apologized but I have never really gotten over what she did. Her words hurt me so bad. I told her I had to leave my full-time job so I can focus on my kids because it’s hard to find a good nanny these days,” she recalls.

“I know I am not a perfect mom and I’m still learning how to parent my daughters,” she declares. She feels that those who are quick to judge are often the ones who don’t know what challenges these moms are facing.

Read the full Smart Parenting article here