Compassion for Mothers

Yesterday, I had my first experience of being treated not so kindly because I was a mother with a baby. It's interesting how some people see mothers and children as nuisances. Look, babies cry, babies talk loudly and babies are also a bit unwieldy to hold and do two things at once.

I was getting my license renewed at the Department of Public Safety. The room was small and full. I had brought Alexis' stroller in because I knew I would have to put her down to get my picture taken. Everyone was being so nice, smiling at Alexis and telling me how good she was being. Until, maybe 20 minutes into our hour and a half wait, a DPS employee came in the door. There was a long line at the time of people waiting to take a number and she couldn't get by them. I pushed my stroller back so she could navigate around the line. She promptly told me that I needed to move my stroller and get it out of everyone's way. She didn't say it harshly, but rather strictly and sounding a bit annoyed. No one had run into it or complained or anything. One girl immediately offered to move the stroller next to her, she was so sweet. I pushed it far to the front.

After I finished my business there, I was on the way out and accidentally stepped in front of someone getting his picture taken. My mind was more on the fact that I was balancing a baby and navigating a stroller in a tight situation. The guy was fine, the DPS employee gave me a look of disdain after I apologized.

So, I plea with everyone to have compassion on mothers. It's not our fault that we are trying our best to take care of our kids. Realize that a lot of us are stressed, busy and not altogether with it sometimes because we stay up late with sick kids, we get up early to wash their sippys and we are just hoping to get through the day without a major kid breakdown.

Today, if you see a mother struggling, smile at her, tell her it's okay and give her pat on the back. She'll appreciate it!