Do you judge other parents?

Parenting is personal, yet it’s carried out in both public and private domains. Inadvertently it’s up for judgment, but unless a child is in danger, whose business is it really?

I was pondering this thought after reading a story in The Sydney Morning Herald about the dad who attended the Sydney Festival and found himself surrounded by security guards demanding he remove his son from his shoulders.

The guards claimed (likely with good intentions) the two year-old was in danger, but the father stood firm saying he had assessed the situation and made the call that what he was doing was perfectly safe.

Although an extreme example, it made me think about just how much parenting is judged. From disapproving looks at mums or dads with overweight teens to the critical headshake of onlookers when a toddler is in full tantrum mode on the floor on the supermarket, we’re probably all guilty of it at one time or another.

As hard as it might be to swallow, the choices and decisions made by mums and dads are the sole business of the family unit. So next time you’re tempted to pass judgment or take issue with someone’s else parenting style, perhaps stop to think what you might be witnessing is a small part of a very complicated puzzle - one that no-one understands or is better equipped to deal with than the poor parent under scrutiny!