Man Shames Mom For Looking At Her Phone Instead Of Her Kids, She Defends Herself And Shames Him Instead

It's easy to judge when you only get a snippet of the big picture. So when a stranger mom-shamed Tracy Bennett, she decided to respond with an open letter for everyone to see why sometimes you should keep your opinion to yourself. Tracy explained that the whole fuss began when she was shopping at Costco with her sons, Elliot, 2, and Isaac, 7 months. As soon as she sensed that her kids were heading towards a meltdown, Tracy tried to log on to the Costco app rather than continue waiting in line. That's when the mister approached her.

"My initial reaction was a defensive one," Tracy told Bored Panda. "I turned my phone around to show him the screen and said, 'I'm on the Costco app trying to get us out of this line.' He moved to the Returns desk (it was now his turn in line) and chuckled to himself. So I added, 'But thank you for the parenting advice.' His comment made me feel angry, of course, mostly because he interrupted an already stressful moment to make it worse. He took time away from me solving a problem for my kids by assuming I was neglecting them. Anyone who loves their kids deeply and pours their attention into them constantly is going to feel a little pissed off when someone accuses them of neglect."

Tracy set out to write an open letter to him because she was unhappy with her initial reaction. "Acting defensively probably only validated his opinion," she said. "I had better things to say to him about how those types of comments to mothers can be incredibly damaging. I just wanted to write down what was in my head since I did not run into him again in the store. I submitted it to a mom blog where I regularly see posts that I can relate to and thought, at the very least, other moms could get a good eye roll out of it or feel supported if they’ve ever experienced something similar."

However, the reactions she has been receiving for her sincere words are incredibly supportive. "I’ve taken away that mothers stick together even when they have no idea who you are. We are all doing our best and have earned our tough skin. Our babies are our world and I just hope they grow up to know to look at a stressed-out mom in a store and offer help rather than insult."