(On a personal note, my beloved B. contracted a UTI as an infant, and spiked a fever of over 105F. I was 7 months pregnant with her baby sister at the time, yet RAN into an icy cold shower, bawling, praying her temperature would go down while begging her to wake up.)
This photo reminds me, so tragically, of that time.
Here's what I see: A father, heartbroken over his child's suffering, spending his time in the shower with his beloved child. Praying the illness will run its course without damage to the child.
But the internet? The Internet has chosen to vilify this father for "inappropriate" behavior. You know what's inappropriate? Letting a child suffer without his parent!
On the title of this blog, parenting makes way for so much insidious depression. The opportunity to be judged mercilessly, regardless of the decision made. For being too attentive/not attentive enough to a helpless infant. No matter the choice, the parent's is incorrect; the Internet *always* knows better, and society has never been quite so eager to contact CPS as the current generation!
As if being responsible for the life, health, and happiness of another human isn't stressful enough. There's always someone waiting to judge your next move. And the one after that. And after that.
Meanwhile, the alternative - a baby blowing chunks out of both ends and shivering with a fever, laying helpless in a crib - who does THAT appease?
Certainly not this mother.
Who spent an hour in a cold shower, begging through tears for my baby's fever to break. (We ended up spending the next 24 hours in hospital, after my husband called 911.)
Please, everyone focus on whether or not my breasts were covered sufficiently to appease the moral police. After all, a baby's life is secondary to the comfort of strangers online.
No comments:
Post a Comment