One year ago, mother of three, Molly Lensing was photographed (without her consent) in a US airport with her (then) 2-month-old daughter on a mat on the floor in front of her.
The image was posted on social media and quickly went viral, depicting Molly looking at her phone while her young daughter rolled around on the floor at her feet.
People were very quick to shame the young woman for her apparent ‘lazy and irresponsible’ behaviour, and as with most of these viral memes, no one took the time to find out Molly’s side of the story.
Molly with her husband and three daughters, including baby Anastasia.
As the photo did the rounds on social media, some commenters even identified Molly by name. People began to harass Molly on her personal social media accounts, calling her a ‘bad mother’ and a ‘terrible parent’.
Speaking to Today, Molly was finally able to reveal the truth behind the photo, a truth which includes 20 hours waiting in airports with a two-month-old child.
“We had the unfortunate luck of being stuck in the middle of the Delta computer shut-down,” Molly explained.
“Anastasia had been held or in her carrier for many hours. My arms were tired. She needed to stretch, and I had to communicate with all the family members wondering where the heck we were.”
The mother of three also revealed to Today that she works as a pediatric nurse and lived in fear that her employees or co-workers would see the image.
“I absolutely feel as though my privacy was violated. I had recently started working on a labour floor, and I was terrified of my co-workers or boss seeing the photo and comments and believing that I should no longer work with infants. Thankfully, this never happened.”
We’re very quick to jump to conclusions, especially when it involves mum shaming.
No one is immune to this kind of vicious hate, not even popstar Pink, who was recently mum shamed after cooking with her kids.
Flipping a pan full of vegies while carrying her six-month-old son, Jameson Moon Hart, the mum-of-two caption the snap: “Dinner time.”
What followed was a hoard of people slamming Pink for her cooking-cradling approach.
“Cute photo but please don’t cook wearing the baby,” one person wrote.
“I’ve read some really horrific stories about terrible accidents that have occurred doing this.”
However, others took Pink’s side, with one user saying:
“All the mamas that have done everything every other person agreed with and never dared a disagreeable action whilst parenting pat yourselves on the back and ride your high horse into the sunset!”
So, where do we stand? On the Pink case at least, we agree that there could be merit to both sides.
“It’s a real shame that so many women are quick to judge other mums. Yes, there is a danger to baby wearing while cooking as food or oil can quickly splatter and scald the baby,” Mother & Baby editor Erin Mayo warns.
“However, I’m sure Pink is just like the rest of us – doing the best she can to raise her family.”
“It’s so lovely to see celebrities share intimate, candid shots of themselves and their families, especially since it opens them up to the wrath of the mum-shamers.”
“We should be embracing other mums, rather than being so quick to judge.”
