Social media can be really bad, or really good. Sometimes it’s both.
Awhile ago, I made a poor joke on social media about moms with a lot of kids. “It’s your own fault!” I said, of the struggle of bringing multiple children to the store (a task we all know is difficult).
I should have known better, but that’s what I said. And I was called out on it, graciously.
Another mom offered me her perspective, and her own personal story. And it just wasn’t as simple as I put it. “It gets really hard always being the butt of the joke just because I have a big family,” she told me. I thought really hard about what she said, and apologized for my ignorance. It’s not easy to take criticism, but it can help us grow if we’re willing to consider what we’re being told and try to do better. It’s also not easy to admit my ignorance on this blog, but I’m hoping others can learn from my mistakes, and share their own perspective.
As a mom with one child, and may never have another, having a large family is something that is unattainable and more difficult for me to understand, even though I once wished for it. I don’t personally know anyone with more than four kids. If it weren’t for social media and this gracious mom, I wouldn’t have understood how this kind of “joke” can feel for someone who didn’t plan on having a large family and struggled between mourning the life they planned on and loving the life they ended up with. But those are feelings I can personally understand.
Sometimes it feels strange to put so much personal information and feelings out here on the internet. But moments like this make it come together for me. I gain perspective from other moms who have different lives, families, and trials than I do, and I hope I can give others perspective on what it’s like to deal with infertility, or have a small family of three, or even have a kid who wears an eye patch.
I’d love to hear from you, moms. What valuable perspectives have you gained from other moms from social media?
