"Dear Stranger at the Park, Please Just Shut Up!"

This mum has had enough of total strangers at the park judging her parenting skills and even her kids.

Dear “Stranger from the park”
F**k off.

Do you know how many times I’ve told a complete stranger to politely F off since having a child.
In the form of a smile and awkward shruggy movement.

Because a stranger’s just asked me;
“What birth control are you on to stop this” or “maybe he just needs more food he’s a big growing boy”.

So many times.
And frankly I’m sick of it.
I’m sick of feeling like I’m not a magical, mammary, mothering, unicorn.
I just wanted to get this off my chest.
Because I’m so quiet about everything else. HA!

So I’m sitting at the park the other day and a woman takes one look at my one year old eating dirt and says
“Oh isn’t she walking yet; that’s odd, and she’s getting dirt inside her mouth”

Now at this point I’m almost positive this women isn’t aware that I’d had a total of 45 minutes sleep in a week , I’d just drank my second cold coffee in 14 minutes and I had managed to get four children out of the house and to the playground clothed.
FU#KING CLOTHED!!!!!!

Because I’m fairly certain if she had of known all of that information she would have just handed me my gold medal and sash and got the f*ck on with her day.

I stared right back at her face and said nothing; I said nothing for so long that she scuttled of awkwardly.

That was probably for the best.
She probably thought I was crazy.
She’d be damn straight; I have six children, and they’re all mine out of my special bits and then I made the brave decision to take four of them out with me in a public place.
Where people could see us.
Alls I’m saying is ;
I would not fight me in a bar.

So here it goes.
Annoying park stranger.
Just to clear things up.
Number one: “ there is nothing “odd” about my daughter not walking”
Number two: “hello complete stranger that has only been sitting here for four seconds and knows nothing about myself or my daughter, how can I help you with your enquiries”
Number three: “she hadn’t eaten yet this morning so dirt seemed better than nothing and I planned to offer her some water to go with her dirt if you just gave me a second; I’m not a complete animal”.

But lastly and honestly;
SHUT UP. Just shhhhhhhh.

Look I get it, your Uncle’s, Sister’s, Aunt’s Daughter has 2 perfect children, who sleep through the night and eat only what they’re told, they are reading novels at five months old while using the potty and are on the wait list for Harvard.
And when you tried to feed them a french fry; they politely decline and asked for tofu.
What f*cking Einstein’s .
Aren’t they so spectacular.
I mean this child is Completely f*cking mythical mind you.
But sure let’s go with your story.

And then you’ve got my children.
I literally was wondering the other day if a boarding kennel would take them if we went on a weekend away; same logistics.

They scream at the shops at some high pitch frequency which makes my face go pink and my pits start to sweat.
They’ve figured out how to take their nappy off and pee into a cup.
But can’t quite figure out how to walk yet.
They like to wake up at approximately 11pm just for a quick “wats happeninnggg” sesh.
And only speak in full sentences when no one is around and make me think that I’m going bat shit crazy.

So. Park stranger.
I just wanted to get something out of the way if I could.
For all of us mums.
Who have tried everything always.
Who don’t need any answers.
And certainly cannot cope with the questions when we’re so sleep deprived we’re not even sure who drove the car to where we were.

NO they are not too cold
NO they are not to hot
Yes they are dry
Yes they are full
NO they are not teething
No they do not have a temperature
No it is not a leap week
No they don’t walk
Yes I’ve tried panadol
Yes we’ve tried control crying
Yes we’ve tried more love
Yes we’ve tried less love
Yes they have enough food
No they don’t have too many naps
YES they are getting enough naps
Yes we’ve taken them to a doctor
No it can’t be fixed.
And we can’t give them back.

But just finally, my answer to all of your questions, always, is; “She’ll be right mate”

Enough is enough.
So this is just a little message.
From us, to you.
Shut up park stranger.
You are not helping anyone.
D*ckhead.

Sincerely.
Krechelle.

This post originally appeared on Eightathome Facebook.

Can you relate?

Share your comments below.

Image via Facebook

32 Comments

- - mom414719 said
  - 30 Dec 2019
    9:49 am
Why do people feel the need to judge? Every kid is different and all parents are different. They don’t know their background so they shouldn’t be putting their opinions in.

- - mom111059 said
  - 01 Aug 2018
    8:44 am
No need to speak about it in this way. Sometimes people mean well when trying to help, if not then just ignore or move away.

- - tessie said
  - 25 Jul 2018
    9:17 am
I love this. It’s so true. That’s how I used to feel.

- - rovermum said
  - 23 Jul 2018
    11:00 am
It was obviously not a good day. We all do our best with what we have available to us. People should just be kind.. all people, to all people.

- - rachel1970 said
  - 22 Jul 2018
    2:44 pm
Words fail me. I have four kids and just put up with the remarks people say to me as, mostly, they are made out of kindness, not judgement.

- - musicmum said
  - 21 Jul 2018
    10:29 pm
Not an enjoyable read,especially with the language, this women is too stressed out, she is judging those who judge her, so it does not make sense, most people mean well so just smile politely and get on with your life or just ignore them.

- - mom215581 said
  - 21 Jul 2018
    7:23 pm
This is just an awful article. Each to their own but I wasted 2 mins of my life reading this that I will never get back. I really don’t appreciate any of the rant, language included, even if some of it is censored…

Wish MOM would NOT promote articles like this in the future…
- musicmum replied
  
  21 Jul 2018 , 10:24 pm
  I agree, MOM stop posting such rubbish.
- - mom111059 said
  - 21 Jul 2018
    3:46 pm
Mmmm too much bad language to take too much notice of this one.

- - cherz said
  - 21 Jul 2018
    2:54 pm
My reaction and comment has not changed. The only difference is that mom actually said they would reduce this type of language but alas it has risen again 🙁
cherz
cherz said
20 Dec 2017
10:06 pm
I gave up reading 1/2 way down dearie and while I’m here I would just like to ask why are you soooo vocal now but said nothing at the time?
And secondly I am disgusted with the language but more disgusted mom actually printed and published this story if it was me swearing like this I would be receiving an email telling me it would not go to print and why.
- mom215581 replied
  
  21 Jul 2018 , 6:57 pm
  Absolutely agree. Maybe I’m old fashioned but as a young mum this was way too verbal and graphic for me..
- - sambii said
  - 21 Jul 2018
    12:03 pm
BAHAHAHAAAAAA this made me laugh so much! People just need to mind their own business, if you want to make conversation with someone and can’t find something to talk about other than their parenting and offering unsolicited advice then just be quiet!

- - mom305419 said
  - 21 Jul 2018
    7:58 am
Yes, yes, yes, yes, all the yesses!
I agree, some people need to just fark off! They don’t know anything about our kids yo’
Yes, I can see my son running around in a tshirt and shorts and it’s -7degrees out, I’ve already had a screaming match with him to try rectify this, the same fight we have every. Single. Day. And he has the same argument every single day- ‘ I love the cold, I love being cold’

At this point with 5 ( sometimes 7!) kids in toe you should be bowing at
My feet just at the fact we got out of the house, clothed, fed and let’s face it, alive!
That’s a big deal mate!

- - nadine_hill said
  - 20 Jul 2018
    9:32 am
People can be so judgmental and offer unwelcome comments – especially where children are concerned. You know your kids are healthy and happy – ignore the sticky beaks and do-gooders (who, incidentally, do no good at all!)

- - mom101628 said
  - 09 Jan 2018
    10:05 pm
As a mother you have to grow a thicker hide than you needed as a young woman, and even then you needed a hide to escape feeling bad about comments. My child ate snails – no idea why, but she is still OK today. Her children in the photo look great, and who is to tell you how to live your life?

- - sars_angelchik said
  - 09 Jan 2018
    1:48 pm
Well said! People do need to just mind their own business. I do wonder why the daughter wasn’t walking at 4 though, or maybe the stranger hadn’t been watching for long enough?

- - june11 said
  - 03 Jan 2018
    5:46 pm
Did she really take her daughter to the park before feeding her?
How many kids have never eaten dirt or something similar?
Our theory is as long as they loved, fed and in clean clothes when you leave home, let them be kids. Bath and feed them at night (or reverse the order).

- - Shell24 said
  - 31 Dec 2017
    10:35 pm
Oh My God I love this!!!! Well said Mamma! What do some people have to be so judgemental, we are all trying to do our best to survive on what minimal sleep we get and make sure our child is loved, fed, clean and dressed!

- - tessie said
  - 24 Dec 2017
    10:49 am
Just take no notice of what any stranger says and get on with raising your children. No one knows them better than you do they

- - mom94125 said
  - 23 Dec 2017
    10:25 am
i get the idea behind this but there are classy ways to say what you mean. i am not one of these mums in the park though and i frankly don’t care what you are doing because i have my own kids to watch lol. Controversy sells though and maybe there are more productive/important things to get riled about!
- mom93821 replied
  
  23 Dec 2017 , 12:57 pm
  I agree – we are always far too involved in everything we are doing to monitor and judge other people.
- - mom93821 said
  - 22 Dec 2017
    1:29 pm
I don’t understand why parents are so concerned about the judgement of other people. I just don’t concern myself with anyone else’s judgment or opinions of my parenting. I am confident in my parenting style.
- Shell24 replied
  
  31 Dec 2017 , 10:37 pm
  But that’s they thing, not all mums are confident of their parenting.
- - mom19782016 said
  - 21 Dec 2017
    9:01 pm
Although I understand where she’s coming from (I do think sometimes we are a bit of a judgy society) I would say as a Mum, you also need to develop a thick skin. It’s nothing new – people judge people ALL the time especially mums. There’s nothing stopping you from saying your opinion, but do you really need to plaster it over social media. It’s not a new story. I think I’ve read about 5 similar whinges yesterday. Man up and get over it.