Parenting fads come and go, but one trend never seems to go away: mom-shaming.
"Mom-shamers" are people who cluck their tongues and judge women for how they parent their children. Whether these bullies know the mother in question or not, they always seem to have an opinion about her choices. But a clever photographer is here to clap back.
Abbie Fox's "Anti-Mommy Shamers Unite" photo shoot features kids proudly holding up signs about their mom's parenting choices. Abbie came up with the idea to "spread a little more love around."
The internet can be especially brutal to moms, with fellow moms being some of the worst shamers of all! Tired of all the bullying, this Las Vegas, Nevada, mom decided to use her best weapon — her photography.
Abbie's photos touch on hot-button subjects like vaccinations, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and homeschooling.
"In this technology world where we spend tons of time on Facebook and in Mommy groups we find one major thing every day… Mommy Shaming. People roll their eyes and say it doesn't happen anymore but it is alive and well, and it can be brutal," Abbie wrote in the caption for the photo shoot on Facebook.
She told Romper that she's been wanting to do a photo shoot like this for quite a while but hasn't had time until now.
"These sessions take months of prep work. I also knew it would be controversial and needed to make sure I did it at a time I could fully be there to make it right."
She took inspiration from her own life as a mom for the shoot.
"I am in dozens of mommy groups and one day I was reading posts and the moms were just being awful to this one mom about sleep training," Abbie said.
"I had also been shamed for sleep training and I thought, man I wish she had a little more support and knew she wasn’t alone. Then I thought I needed to do something on the subject."
Abbie didn't shy away from any topics for the photo shoot. She used volunteer subjects to touch on as many different issues as she could.
Like different birthing options or sleeping techniques.
Sleep train? Co-sleep? It's all acceptable.
Even really controversial choices, like putting your child on a leash, were featured in the photo shoot.
"When I was a first time mom I would cry for things people said to me," Abbie wrote, "and the main culprit were other moms. Why we can't just get along is a question I ask all of the time. If our kids are healthy, happy, and thriving, who cares if our parenting styles are different?!"
"Yes, there are things I would never personally be able to do because of my beliefs, but I know there are things I do with my kids my friends are appalled at too."
"We are all doing our best to keep these little humans alive all while keeping our sanity. We all have our differences in parenting and need to realize that everyone is raised differently and have different values and things that are important to us."
Abbie's "Anti-Mommy Shamers Unite" post went viral. It's earned over 55,000 shares so far.
Over 21,000 people have commented, many of them fellow moms. Most of the reactions have been overwhelmingly positive, Abbie reports.
As Abbie said in the post:
"We need to spread a little more love around."
Mission accomplished.
