I had a conversation with a Park Mom recently that left me a little annoyed.

Park Mom: Is he sleeping through the night? (referring to William)
Me: No. We co-slept with him until he was about 4 months old and he…
PM: (looking horrified) Co-slept? Like in the same BED?
Me: Yeah.
PM: Ugh.

Now, here’s the thing, I know that co-sleeping isn’t for everyone. I understand that there are those who would never ever bring their child into their bed, for whatever reason. And that’s ok. I have no interest in convincing anyone that co-sleeping is the only way to go, because it isn’t. And in the end, I don’t really care. Not “don’t really care” in a hostile sense, just “don’t really care” in the sense that I know that every family is going to do what works for them, and they should.

Park Mom, on the other hand, seemed to really care where my child spent his first four months of life. She didn’t bother to ask me about it, how we did it (with this), why we made the choice to co-sleep or why we were stopping. She just decided it was a bad idea and judged me for it.

I think the reason this exchange irked me so much is that if there is one thing I have learned as a parent is that we are all doing the best we can. We all make different choices, but we are making our choices based on what is best for us and our children. With that in mind, it seems ridiculous to me to judge any other parent for the choices they make. As ridiculous as judging someone for the color of car they choose or the breed of dog they have.

I’m far from perfect. I am pretty opinionated, generally think my way is the best way and am probably way more judgmental than I need to be about a lot of things. For some reason though, when it comes to parenting, I feel pretty strongly that different rules apply. With the exception of some clearly poor choices (schtupping your nanny while the kids are in the house with you comes to mind) I think most of us need to be left alone for the child-rearing decisions we make. I mean, I can barely figure out what is the best way for my family, let alone other people’s. Parent and let parent I say.

So, go easy Park Mom. I won’t tell you how to raise your kids if you don’t tell me how to raise mine. K?