For those of you who haven't discovered the blog by Chez Miscarriage you really need to check out last Sunday's post and the one she posted today.   After you read the post, please be sure to read all the comments as there are some very interesting ones.  The discussion is about something called Mommy Drive-By's where a mother (or pregnant woman) has received some unsolicited advice or rude comment from someone else.  I'm just wondering two things -

First - as women, how did we loose our confidence (or never get one in the first place) as mothers and take to heart the negative comments other people make about our supposed lack of mothering skills?  My opinion is that if we were more confident with the decisions we make regarding our children then we would regard other's disparaging comments as silly and un-informed and brush them off.

Secondly - again as women, why are we so quick to be critical of other women's mothering skills (yes, I'm certainly guilty of this) or anything else they do, or the way they dress, or talk, etc.....?  Why are we (as women) not supportive of other women, especially new mom's?

You (and I) will never agree 100% with the way someone else is raising/treating their children, but please don't condem or condone someone else until you have the chance to "walk a mile in their shoes".  I'm not talking about obvious abuse, mental or physical, just the daily mothering activities like breast-feeding or formula feeding, returning to work or being able to stay at home with them, cloth diapers or disposable diapers.

I guess what I really want to say here is when was the last time that you told another woman that you thought she was a good mom?  Or if you don't really think that, then pick out something about her mothering skills that you do like and be sure to compliment her on it - what will it cost you to do this and what will you gain in return?  Do you ever remember a time that you were having a very difficult day (for whatever reason) and what it would have meant to you to have another woman simply tell you that she thought you were a good mother?