Judgement from strangers

If you thought walking a dog was an amazing way to get strangers to randomly decide to talk to you, just wait till you take a baby for a walk.

Everywhere you go with your child, people will look at you, and look at your child.  And without knowing anything more than how you look they will form an opinion about you and if you are doing a good job or a bad job.

Is your child a little too old or too young for this venue?  As the parent you know the maturity level of your child.  But strangers will still feel free to let you know if they think you have gone astray from what they think is age appropriate for your child, even if they are not entirely sure what age your child is.

How your child is dressed, too warm too cold?  Should your child have a hat on?  (did your child just take off what you put on them?  Strangers may not know or care.)  Is your child in costume even though Halloween is not even near?  When kids start dressing themselves you may be in for interesting times.

Feeding a child where others can see? They will have an opinion on that as well.  It doesn't matter if you are breast feeding or handing your baby a bottle.  People will think you either shouldn't be doing that in public or you're being a bad mom for not breast feeding.  Hand your child a snack they can munch?  People will have thoughts on if the food you are giving your kid (to keep them from crying in hunger) is a good choice.

I figure as long as you are doing your utmost to be the best parent you can, you don't need the input of strangers.