In Defense of Mothers Everywhere

Okay -- let me just get this out there first -- I do enjoy the show Jon & Kate plus 8. I don't know what's going on in their marriage - but clearly enough to consume the last few covers of my UsWeekly. (clearly it's very slow in celebrity tabloid news) I mostly feel for the kids, because no child deserves to have their parents lambasted in the media like that. But I do have to get something off my chest that has been bothering me lately.

Why must we always blame the mother. I feel like a lot of criticism has been thrown out there about Kate's mother tactics. And what's worse is that there are family and trusted friends who are happily throwing her into the fire. Now, I am going to put aside any judgement on anyone for this ... but it breaks my heart when we have nothing to do but attack mothers who may create crazy rules to keep their premature, sensitive babies safe. Yes, she might have been upset because someone didn't wash their hands in the bathroom but came down to the kitchen to do it ... was it necessary for them to carry germs throughout the home of six small children who had compromised immune systems? And when it comes to other celebrities, it appears that mother is always in the wrong. Denise and Charlie, and Kelly Rutherford and whatever her husbands name is. Both couples divorce while the woman is pregnant with her second child ... and who gets the blame? The mothers.

It feels like our society is turning on women more and more for not being good mothers, for not fulfilling the rest of the world's expectations. Is this fair? A women turns over her body for the care, shelter, food and incubating of another human being for 10 months (do the math - pregnancy is 10 months, not 9) and the thanks she receives is exhaustion, a body she no longer recognizes, bouts of insanity, insecurity and loads of self-doubt. And then to top it off, the rest of the world feels like it's okay to criticize her every move as a mother.

Now mind you, there are some bad mothers out there. The women who locked her daughter up as an infant and basically treated her like an animal until the police discovered the feral child years later. Any parent who beats their child or neglects them. Yes, these are bad parents, but let's not shine the light on parents who maybe don't parent the way we would, but because they are in the public eye we have to hold them to a different standard. One step in a different direction, and you could be in the public eye. How would you feel about your parenting abilities being scrutinized for all the world to see.

UsWeekly please have a none J&K cover next week. Please!