I generally try to bite my tongue about things like this but in this instance, I feel like saying something.  I recently read an article in Newsweek that sort of fired me up a little bit.

We moms feed off of each other.  It is good for us to have parenting advice to share.  Seriously, could you imagine being a SAHM or WAHM this day in age and not have a support system like the Internet?  Of course we’re going to use the web to voice our opinions and share our parenting woes and joys.  We WANT to be heard.  We all want our five minutes of fame.  Yes, with the good there always comes the bad and annoying but you’ll have that.  I dare you to shut yourself off from the outside world aka, the Internet, for a week and see how you feel when the week is done.  I’ll tell you, I couldn’t do it.  I think about my mother, who raised EIGHT children without a support system like we have today.  All she had was her rotary telephone and her neighbors to bounce ideas off of.  There is such a huge community of parents and look at all of the fantastic products that have been invented because of us and our means of communicating.

I will say that I think the media plays a big part in the “mommy wars”.  The media is always trying to stir  up some drama and who better to stir it up with, the moms!  Now we have all of the celebrities jumping on the wagon and we are able to “judge” them.  I do suggest we judge ourselves before we go and trash someone else’s parenting skills.

We do need to educate ourselves, though, I agree.  We are the BEST consumers and researchers.  With all of the news about recalls, potentially unsafe products, vaccinating and going “green”, it is our duty to yap about it and learn from each other.  Truth of the matter is, there IS more to obsess over today than ever before.  I’ve heard many stories of parents diagnosing their own children’s illnesses by using message boards and hearing other’s testimonials.  We’re constantly proving our doctor’s wrong.  You may be getting sick of all of the new books that are being written or new parenting blogs that are popping up all of the time but what if there was just one time where you read someone’s post about a situation they had with their child and somewhere down the road, the same thing happens to you.  Will you roll your eyes then or will you be thankful that you happened to stumble upon their story?

In this age of blogginess and technology, what do you expect?  If we have an outlet for gossiping, we’re going to use it.  Don’t chastise us for that, embrace it because it’s definitely not going away any time soon.

*Original Chicago Moms Blog post