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When we asked real moms from around the country to share their biggest parenting mistakes, we could feel the cringe -- and the sense of total relief as women heard each other's experiences and totally related to them. We don't know how many moms said they had done #1 on this list, but it was at least a dozen, and they all felt horrible and like they were the only ones -- and that makes sense, because moms have it tough. Not to make it all about gender, but when a dad in the grocery store deals with a crying baby, people tend to look over and smile, like he's being such a good dad for parenting his kid. But when a mom in the store has the same experience, she does not get the same reaction -- instead, people tend to look at her and judge her performance as a mother, wondering why her kid is crying like that. (Uh, dunno ... because babies just cry sometimes?)
Fortunately, we're not alone in the shared experience of motherhood, as much as it sometimes feels that way. Some moms have been extremely brave about coming forward about some of the difficulties and judgments they face. For instance, we were genuinely inspired by celebrity moms sharing their postpartum depression battles. It really means a lot when people choose to leverage their status by sharing that this has happened to them because it helps normalize an issue that is very common and needs to be destigmatized. But it's not just meaningful when celebrities share moments that might be difficult. For instance, check out moms who 'came out' to their children. That's a potentially stressful moment, especially for anyone living in a more conservative area, and we're grateful these women chose to share their experiences. Of course, we love moms revealing the most mortifying thing that happened when they were pregnant and real moms sharing the parts of birth no one warned them about. Most moms can relate to the vast majority of these.