All Eyes on This Mom's Parenting

I recently read a message-board post where a mom ranted about how annoyed she was by mothers who feed their kids hot dogs and other things with "no nutritional value whatsoever." Posts like that make me sad and confirm my paranoid suspicion that everywhere I go, other moms are glaring at me, critiquing every morsel my son puts into his mouth. I ate lots of crap when I was a kid, from hot dogs and SpaghettiOs, to Twinkies and Jack in the Box tacos, and yet I am a discerning adult who checks labels, isn't obese and rarely visits fast-food joints. I know that there's more to molding children's attitude toward food than hovering over them, ensuring nothing non-nutritious ever passes their lips. They're going to eat junk sometimes. And guess what? They'll survive.

It's like when I finally decided to bottle-feed my son after six months of breastfeeding problems. I had to hide when I did it because I got glares that only a mother beating her child senseless should get!

I'm sad (and pissed!) to know that strangers are watching me, assuming that I don't take responsibility for my child's nutrition simply because they saw him eat a hot dog. Perhaps we're not all in this together after all.