About Sweetmama Editor
Nadine Silverthorne’s love of journaling began in Grade One with the entry, “I am the greatest dancer!” Two babies (and countless diaper changes) later, she has found her home away from home as editor of SweetMama. Don’t miss her humorous bi-weekly accounts of the joys and pains of working while raising them fabulous.
I remember being a frazzled first-time mom all too well. I hated feeling like I didn't know what I was doing, yet I had this pathological need to control everything in my son's life to mimic the best practices I'd read in the books and on the Internet. Only organic food, no TV, ultra-rigid nap schedule, no licensed characters on clothes... (well that was just a personal preference really).
It's just the sort of behaviour that I roll my eyes at now.
I don't know when you become this way, but after your child turns a certain age you begin to look at new moms in a hardened, jaded way. Heh, you think, rookie.
My mama friends and I will find ourselves telling FTM stories for a giggle: "...and then I saw her wipe down the slide with a disinfectant wipe before letting her baby go down it! Hahahaha!"
"She served fruit salad with a birthday candle in it because she didn't want him to have chocolate! Hahahaha!"
Maybe it helps us to feel better about the fact that we no longer have the energy to try to control every aspect of how our wee humans will grow up. Maybe it's something inherent to motherhood and judging, which sadly go hand in hand. I'm sure the first-time-moms in the park are huddled together, wondering what kind of mother lets her toddler eat playground mulch (FYI... you just give up after the hundredth time of asking her to stop) or throw sand in another kid's face.
But I won't lie -- I envy first-time-moms too. I envy the not-knowing, the fresh optimism in their hopeful faces. I look at myself in the photo to the right and can only hope my kids still see that bright, adoring, happy-to-be-a-mom face (instead of the one who turns on the TV so she can check her emails).
What about you? Do you have a bias towards first-time-moms? Or are you an FTM who thinks experienced moms need to cut you some slack? Let me know in the comments below!
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