As the kids get older I realize every day how hard it is to be a parent. Every decision we make affects them and when you
really sit down and think about it, it’s pretty daunting.

One of the toughest things about being a parent today is that everyone has an opinion about parenting. Matt Walsh stated, “Parenting is the easiest thing in the world to have an opinion about, but the hardest thing in the world to do.”

Have you ever been in a restaurant and a kid is crying or yelling? What goes through your head? “Do those parents not hear that kid?! If that was my kid I would have brought him/her outside.” You are a bad mom if you take the “easy route” and have a c section or if you don’t breastfeed. These are only a few, but I could go on. We, as a society, are so quick to judge others especially parents.

Social media has made this issue so much worse too. Everyone has an opinion on social media and you can even read it in the comments section. There are always articles and comments about letting kids have phones too early or too much iPad time. And then there are those that say we don’t pay enough attention to our kids. Many times people sharing or commenting might not even have any kids or their kids might be older and might not know how difficult it is to raise kids with all these new issues that we are being faced with.

Kids have so much distraction pulling them from every direction. We have articles saying that giving them too many medals makes them feel entitled. That they are spoiled and that we are always trying to fix everything for them. In many places, you can’t just let your kids play outside like we used to. “Go outside and play and I don’t want to see you back here until supper time.”

I remember when I was younger I would see those parents with a toddler safety harness. I would think in my head. “How could someone do that to their kid? I would never do that. Now, that I have a family of my own… those harnesses don’t look like a bad idea!

Something I definitely need to work on is to be more compassionate and to not automatically judge someone’s parenting choices and/or decisions. We need to remember that there in no manual about how to raise children. We need to encourage one another and lift each other up. We are just all trying to do our best to raise the good and honest kids that will make a good impact on our society.

What about you? What is the toughest part about raising kids today?