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Grocery Store Judgement

Why are we so quick to judge?

The other day my family and I went to the grocery store, and right as we turned to the produce isle we saw friends that we stopped to chat with. We happened to stop right between the avacado display, and the flower display. Luckily for me, Wyatt quickly turned his attention to the avacados spaced in a way that bothered him and not to the vases of flowers that were not lined up in size order.
I allowed him to shuffle the avacados around because it meant he would be quiet and mostly still rather than having a meltdown before we even had a chance to start shopping,

An older woman walked up as Wyatt stacked the avacados on one side of the display. She very loudly expressed her disapproval by clucking at him. I shot a glance in her direction, but very specifically chose not to acknowledge her. Then she began to lecture Wyatt about not moving the avacados because he was going to bruise them. Wyatt stared blankly at her, my husband politely joked with her, and I bit my tongue behind my polite smile and prayed my eyes would convey the message that her opinion of my child was not welcome here.
We saw her a few other times in the store and I saw her shake her head in disapproval at God knows what.

See for us, this was a GREAT trip to the store. I even remember thanking Wyatt when we got back to the car. He was quiet. He followed directions. He didnt beg for items we didnt need, and nothing sent him into a meltdown.
It was a freaking success!!

But this woman and her judgement had no idea about that. She had no idea that a year ago he would have screamed through the whole store. She had no idea I used to carry a purse full of snacks to bribe him with. She had no idea large groups of people like that used to make him panic.
She had No. Freaking. Idea.

And it got me thinking; What about her own life made her think she had the right to judge the way my son acted in public?

Really, what gives any of us the right to think we get to judge other parents and their children? Just because you raised well behaved kids, do you suddenly become the expert authority on parenting everyone else's children?

Let's set the autism thing aside for a second.
Is there a single parent on this planet who wakes up and says "You know what? I think it would be really great if my kid just lost her mind in the middle of the store today." Or "Man, I'm going to make sure my kid screams through the entire flight so everyone is miserable".

No!!

So why on earth do we stand there in smug indignation and act like these parents are failing their children?

Could it be because we are insecure about our own flaws, and it feels better to think about how other people should fix their lives than how we should fix our own?

Could this woman who cared so much about 98 cent avacados feel better scolding my son, because maybe her kids have done worse?

At the end of the day, mamas, we all struggle with the exact same insecurities! They come in different packages with different tags, but inside they are all insecurities just the same.
Its cliche, but truly, imagine how the world would change if we chose compassion and grace towards our fellow man over judgement and anger.

That's a world I want to live in.
My kids are the people I'm raising to make that world a reality.
Judgement has no place in that.

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