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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
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 OPINION 
2

Moms Deserve a Break Today

Think before offering 'constructive criticism,' then ... keep it to yourself: Warner

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(Newser) – The maternal resentment has evidently been building up for a while, and New York Times blogger Judith Warner is letting loose. She recounts slights perpetrated against her and her friends and wonders: "Why do people so often permit themselves to dump—verbally, emotionally, with a surgically precise ability to wound viscerally—on mothers? And why do we put up with it? "

"I suspect that highly successful working mothers suffer a disproportionate amount of scorn," Warner theorizes. She cites and commiserates with Ayelet Waldman, author of the headline-grabbing book Bad Mother. The condemnation isn't of a piece with "it takes a village" parenting, Warner argues, because however well-meaning, backhanded barbs "make a mother feel condemned in the court of world opinion."

Even well-meaning acquaintances can
Even well-meaning acquaintances can "manage to make a mother feel condemned in the court of world opinion," Judith Warner writes for the New York Times.   (Flickr)
If you have a problem with this baby being exposed to a computer screen, do everyone a favor and don't tell his mom.
If you have a problem with this baby being exposed to a computer screen, do everyone a favor and don't tell his mom.   (Flickr)
"I'm quite sure that dads don't get all the little snippets of insult that moms more or less expect will accompany their less-good days," Judith Warner blogs for the New York Times.   (Flickr)
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2 comments
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Nwambe
Jun 26, 09 6:34 PM CDT
I call bullsh*t. You ever notice that most of the people doing the criticising are mothers themselves? Reply
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Mad
Jun 26, 09 8:37 PM CDT
Women do tend to be their own worse enemy
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