people hate momsAs I was reading, in horror, Tracy Moore's piece on Jezebel about how she and her husband only left home without the baby ONCE in her first year of life, I realized how all moms are wired differently. If I hadn't spent any time with the dude who got me into that predicament in the first place, without our result of unprotected sex, I might have lost my mind in those early parenting days. Moore felt the opposite.

Her argument for hunkering down with the baby and your partner was sound: everyone needs time to adjust, nurture each other, and themselves. It finally allowed me to "get" friends of mine who did the same thing, and regret always saying to them, "Girlfriend, you've got to get a babysitter." But what was really interesting about this piece on Jezebel were the comments. Especially the comments that had nothing to do with the issue at hand (parenting in the first year), and instead decided to attack any mom who dared to bring her baby to a restaurant.

Ummm, did these people even read the article before they decided it was the perfect moment to sling crap all over new moms and their offspring? Moore talked about leaving the hipster lifestyle behind -- temporarily, at least -- and focusing on her home life. The opposite of this is going out without your baby, who is AT HOME in the care of a sitter. No one mentioned taking a screaming (dirty? germ-ridden?) baby to a restaurant. Yet, the haters piled on. Most annoying comment:

"I think an important thing for any parent to remember is that we don't all find your baby/child as delightful, perfect, adorable, and charming as you do. If I go to a grown-up place, I don't want babies there. End of."

(Edit comment)I I can tell you right now that I would never want to dine in an establishment with this a-hole. I wonder if my favorite places could institute a "no a-hole" rule when I make a reservation? Because that, my friends, would rule.

Even before I was a mom, I never understood people who spit venom when talking about babies and their mothers (also, ever notice how the dads are exempt from this vitriol?). There are obnoxious people everywhere, some of them are moms, some of them are babies, and a heck of a lot of them are adults who either are not parents or simply don't have their kids in tow. You don't become a jerk just because you became a parent. But if you're a whiny bigot before you have kids, you will most definitely be one when you're exhausted from parenting a newborn.

So lay off, complainers. Moms deserve to leave the house too, with or without their babies. You don't have the market cornered on restaurants and parties because you don't have kids. Jerks.

Seriously, why do people hate on moms and babies so much?