Ain’t no judgment like mom judgment because mom judgment don’t stop! Raise your beverage if you’ve had your parenting style judged. Ten years of parenting and my coffee is held high! Being a mom is one of the highest-pressure jobs anyone can have. The minutiae that will be picked on is palpable, from the brand of baby wipes to the type of bread you buy.
Who is supposed to pick you up, dust you off, and kiss your boo-boos in the face of criticism? Mom. She’s the gold standard. Whether she was in the workforce and killing it at home or keeping the home moving like a well-oiled machine, (hopefully) she kept things together for you. Her way works. And now? Let’s face it, she wants you to do it her way too … or, she just wants to do it herself.
One TikTok strikes to the heart of the Mimi vs. Mom interactions.
Wearing a white T-shirt, pants, and glasses perched precariously on her nose, mom @callmekristenmarie on TikTok addresses the baby in her arms with classic passive-aggressive insults.
“Isn’t that nice. Your mommy still has you in PJs at 2 p.m.”
“Uh oh. Your socks are missing! Did you say 'Mommy I’m cold?'”
"It's me — your Mimi. You must not recognize me 'cause you don’t see me enough!”
I felt these barbs to my core, and the comments section exploded with moms who felt as seen as I did if not even more.
PJs Unmasked
“I’ll never understand why people are OBSESSED with babies/kids not wearing PJs after like 7 AM,” shared one commenter.
As a mom of two girls, I myself could clothe a town with the number of cute outfits my mom and sister purchased during the girls' respective infancies.
That super cute outfit was great for photos, but pajamas made for comfortable happy kids on the daily.
The Layer Conspiracy
Moms across the comments bonded over their moms’ and mothers’-in-law collective obsessions with layering the babies from top to bottom.
“My mother-in-law passive aggressively telling me my baby would get sick without a hat. Ma’am, I’m a pediatrician,” one medical professional chimed in.
“My mother in law and mother do this. Especially the sock… my MIL layers my kids like they are going to the snow,” another mom commented.
“They all own stock in big sock. That’s why they’re obsessed,” expounded another commenter.
Not Ready for Prime Time
One mom offered a sentiment her mom shared with her. “It’s so nice you play with your kids and don’t worry about cleaning the house at all,” she wrote.
Receiving notes like these are why a lot of us prefer to know when guests are on their way over. Even when the house is in great shape versus every day, my panic button goes back to the early days of baby and toddler when I had no time and less energy and I wanted to spend that enjoying my child(ren) rather than worrying about my MIL's expectations.
Ideally, you and your mom or MIL can have a conversation about the little digs she may actually think are helpful or perhaps not realize she’s doing.
If that doesn't go well, in the face of rampant refusal to change, you can always take the hilarious advice of one commenter and say to your baby: “Grandma doesn’t want to go to the nice nursing home, does she?”
