Caitlin Fladager, a mom and writer [1], recently shared an Instagram post explaining how she was shamed for feeding her kiddos McDonald's [2], and is giving her honest opinion on the pressure to be the perfect parent every waking moment. Because Caitlin knows how much stress parents tend to be under, she's hoping her words can help others feel supported when it comes to dealing with common parenting stigmas.
"What's something you let your kids do that has been mom shamed?" she captioned her post. "Sometimes I make my kids awesome dinners and do fun activities with them, but some days I get them McDonald's [3] and let them watch a lot of TV (YouTube). I want to celebrate all we do for our kids, even the 'frowned upon' things. We're all doing the best we can!"
The "frowned-upon" things can be good in moderation, especially if they save your sanity on any given night. "I just feel like there's a lot of pressure on moms, especially nowadays, to always have it together and always have meals cooked," Caitlin told POPSUGAR. "I'm huge on normalizing what's actually normal and letting other moms know that they're not failures just because they don't cook dinner a few times per week. I want to end the stigma on a lot of mom shaming topics that I see on the Internet."
Fortunately, many of her followers agreed with what she had to say, as evidenced by the post's comments section. Some answered her call-out by sharing their personal experiences with being shamed for various less-than-perfect decisions, and we feel seen.
"Not having matching socks on my kids," wrote one mom. "Good Lord, socks don't need to match! [Having] something on their feet should be what matters." Another woman chimed in, noting that she gets heat for her sleeping arrangements. "Cosleeping with my almost 4-year-old, no shame!" she wrote.
The big takeaway here? You know what's best for you and your kids, and if that's a McDonald's and TV night to alleviate some of the other pressures of your day, no one has the right to tell you otherwise.