Motherhood...

So today's topic has to be Britney Spears. I am not a Britney Spears fan, nor will I ever be (though I do still love the cover Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa did of Hit Me Baby One More Time.) However, I think the media is going overboard with her. Sure she's young, she's possibly inexperienced, but she's also HUMAN. She has made mistakes, haven't we all, however every time the press has been right on her tail ready to catch her and then proclaim that she's a horrible mother and that the child welfare department has been called in.

So the first time, she was trying to escape paparrazi with her young son on her lap. That was a mistake, she admits it. But why are the idiots who were chasing her not held to blame? Where does the stalking law come into play? Any mother's gut instinct is to protect her child. If I had photographers chasing after me I think the first response would be to get your child to safety. These same idiots then turn around and sue for getting their feet run over. I want to see the stars grab cameras and then start hounding the hell out of the paparrazi. That would make for a fun show!

The next occurrence, her nanny dropped her son while lifting him from the high chair. I'm still unsure why this was Britney's fault. The nanny admits she dropped him. The kid was checked out and he was okay. Move on. He's not the first kid to squirm out of a caretaker's grasp. Meanwhile, there are kids out there who are being beaten on a daily basis and child welfare never show up to help. How about that kid in I want to say it was Chicago who was watching his mother die and 911 refused to believe him? That child suffered tremendous trama and the 911 operator and her boss state they had every reason and right to tell him he was going to be in trouble for lying. I find that far more detrimental!!

The last thing that happened, a pregnant Britney tripped on a curb and almost dropped her son. The key word here is ALMOST. So again she's a horrible mother to the media. I shudder to think what they would have said when I was carrying my squirming 2 1/2 year old out to the car in the garage. The steps into our garage are narrow and there is no rail. She squirmed, I tripped, and instinctively put her on top of me so that I'd take the brunt of the fall. Regardless, she got up and was fine, I was scraped and bruise, but was fine. However, I find that far scarier than tripping on a curb. The point is - we are all human and mistakes happen. Tripping on stairs, a curb, etc. is not an uncommon event.

Other things that I've done that would have created a media frenzy had I been a star. I put my 2 month old on the sofa while I was folding laundry. I turned my back for about ten seconds to fold a sheet and he rolled off onto the pile of clothing I had folded and had sitting on the carpet. I still don't know how a 2 month old could roll, but he did and I bawled for an hour after that. Meanwhile, he was fine and my pediatrician at the time said to get used to things like that because kids are full of the unexpected. I still shudder at the thought of that, he was fine, he landed on a cushion of clothing, but I felt like a heel.

Another time, my daughter was playing on the deck. She was about 3 and we had a heavy swinging gate on the deck. My son had forgotten to latch the deck gate. Jess got her hand trapped in it and her fingers were swelling up. I rushed her to the doctor to make sure they had not broken. She got interviewed to make sure someone hadn't hurt her while I was out of the room. That disheartened me, and in the end her story gave them all the proof they needed to know for certain that it was an accident. This was a first time we had to take her to the doctor for an injury, and here in VT they waste no time thinking it is abuse and then disproving it after. Guilty until proven innocent. That's what happens with Britney, I'm sure, and it's not right.