Mamas, Let’s Lose the Labels

I was on Pinterest one night when I should have probably been cleaning or something and came across an article that was talking about being a “crunchy, scrunchy or silky mom”. I had no idea what it was talking about so I was curious and clicked on it.

As I read the article, I was taken aback. I seemed to fall pretty clearly into a certain category. But that category made those moms seem lazy and uneducated. I know that the author may have not meant it like that, but that’s how it came across. Here I am on Pinterest of all things and am now feeling bad about how I parent. What’s wrong with that picture?

The more I thought about it, the more these terms, silky, crunchy, scrunchy, etc. got under my skin. Maybe I am the only one annoyed by these labels, but why in the world are we creating more labels for moms and parenting? Isn’t there enough division among moms already? We already have fights over working moms vs. stay home moms, breast feeding vs. bottle feeding, home schooling moms vs. public school moms. The list could go on and on. Why add more division and judgments? Why make new labels? Haven’t we learned from all the previous controversies?

All labels do is divide us. Think back to high school. Was your high school divided into different social groups? I know mine was. Geeks, jocks, hipsters, goths, etc. Did labeling people in their social group and choices help everyone get along? Absolutely not, it just kept everyone separated more. Why are we now doing the same thing with moms?

I think we should get rid of the silly labels and instead just start calling each other what we are…moms! We all do what is best for our babies and while you might not agree with every decision every other mom makes, creating labels does nothing to help anything. Instead it takes us further and further apart.

As moms, we need to start celebrating what we have in common and encouraging other mamas, not judging other moms for their different decisions. So can we all please stop using labels and just start saying, “I am a mom who tries to do the best for my babies” because that’s what we are all trying to accomplish. Lets work on loving and encouraging other mamas, not labeling and beating each other down. Because in the end, we are all loving our babies and just want to do what’s best!