Stranger comments on child with a pacifier leading Mum to recount her feelings
Parenting is a tough gig, probably the toughest out there.
It takes all your energy and quite a lot of decision making in the hope that it is the right one for your child.
But in reality, who knows what is right? Because what is deemed right for us, may not be right for you, hence the epic parenting battle of rights and wrongs.
However, because many of us have different parenting styles, does it give one person the right to try instil their way onto your child?
Emma Lou Harris is a mum-of-two who encountered this very predicament when she entered a chemist recently.
Emma was searching for a pacifier for her toddler daughter, Frankie.
"The pharmacist asked me what age I was looking for and when I pointed to Frankie beside me, she took it upon herself to announce, very matter of fact, directly to the child 'but you're far too big for a soother now, you're not a baby are you?"
"You'll have to leave your doodies out for the fairies very soon, people will be laughing at you, isn't that right mammy? Giving me the whole 'don't worry I got this for you, winky wink'," recounted the mum-of-two.
But what the assistant may not have realised is that this was not Mum's train of thought whatsoever, because Emma was more than happy to give her daughter a soother.
"NO!! That's not friggin right, Susan! And Barbara and Ellen and the hundred other people of who's genitalia my child did not enter this world through."
"But who seem to think they have the god given right to manipulate a child into thinking they'll be taunted if they don't prematurely give up the one and only harmless comfort she has asked for, since the day she was born."
The mum was left perplexed as to how a child turning a certain age makes it 'socially unacceptable' for them to 'relish' in the few small comforts that they have never been without for as long as they wish.
"Whether it be soothers or bottles or blankets or breastfeeding. Age appropriateness is not an open invitation for your opinion."
"It's OUR job, as the parents, to monitor when, where, why and what OUR children are reliant on," added the disappointed Mum.
Emma signed off wondering why it would bother anyone else as to what age her child stops taking comfort in her soother, because as a mum she wouldn't tell another family what way they should parent.
What are your thoughts? Do you think the assistant was wrong to speak to the child? Have you ever had an instance where this happened you?
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