There are days. There are days that drain you. Drain you so much, that you can’t complete a sentence, you stand in awe of yourself, or everything. Today was one of those days.

I was strutting around, on a high from yesterday’s awesomeness. Everyone got along, things fell into place, there was sleep, and loads of laughing. Those are the best days. Today, today was not that day. Today was the opposite of those days, except I didn’t know it until it was too late.

I, perhaps stupidly, thought that it would be a great idea to invite my (judgmental) grandparents over for lunch and playtime. The monkey has been sick, you see (a post about that later), and he has enjoyed being center of attention. The grandparents arrived and the Peach got attention. That was unacceptable to a little man and he made sure that everyone knew about it.

Now, as a parent, I am never truly pleased with the job I am doing. I walk around knowing my kids deserve even more. I think this is normal. If not, please don’t tell me.

Particularly today, I wanted to parent like a rockstar. People were watching. Judging. Anxiously waiting for their chance to give advice, interject, be better. It is the worst thing about the “Parenting Wars”. Every generation was doing it right. Ask someone, they’ll tell you. Every one thinks how they put their kids to bed was the best, formula better than breast and vice versa, car seats, cribs, the list is never-ending.

Well, my rockstar side must have stayed in bed. I was told that I was too hard on my kids, my son, especially. That stung. I wasn’t yelling, I didn’t strike him, I simply asked him what was wrong and declared his behavior to be rude and not was is expected. I couldn’t say anything, I just sulked away, ashamed. ASHAMED of MYSELF for parenting the way I saw fit. How many times did they question my parenting?

How does one handle a harsh (unjust) criticism from someone you thought respected you?