Parenting: This is the landscape. It’s hazardous, dangerous and difficult.

We’re so quick to toss out the “bad parent” label, not even thinking about what we’re saying. When you call someone a bad parent, you are digging into the very core of their being and spitting on their soul.

It’s hard enough being a parent nowadays. Arguably, it’s harder now than it’s ever been. Parents have never had more competition. Never. Every time your kid goes outside, turns on the TV, goes on the Internet, goes to school, he is immediately bombarded with a thousand nefarious forces trying to pull his heart and mind in a thousand different directions. Buy this! Do this! Wear this! Eat this! Try this! Say this! Listen to this! Believe this! Think this! Be this! Become this! It’s relentless.

Yeah, I’m sure it wasn’t a breeze raising kids on the old frontier, but at least you knew that YOU would be the one raising them. Sure, you’ll all probably die of cholera next week, but until then you’ll be a unit. Together. A family. Now, the entire deck is stacked against the family. There are powerful agents out there that want nothing more than to drive a wedge between you and your child, and many times they are successful.

This is the landscape. It’s hazardous, dangerous and difficult. And how do we react? By cannibalizing each other. Instead of looking with love at a mother out with her child we focus on what we feel she could be doing better.

It takes a village to raise your child? No. It takes you to raise your child. The village needs to mind it’s own damn business. As for whose “side” I’m on: I’m on the side of moms who love their kids and are doing what they need to do to care for them. Period.

1) Love your child.
2) Protect your child.
3) Serve your child.

And serve them not like a maid or a butler, but like a leader serves those he’s leading.

Some moms are made to feel like lepers if they feed their kids formula, others are painted as exhibitionists if they use their breasts.

Why should it matter what I think about how you care for your kids? Why does it matter what anyone thinks? There is no One Right Way to raise your offspring, despite the thousands of hacks and charlatans that have made millions convincing you that they possess the secret guide to perfect parenting. There are only a few essential ingredients that all parents should have: Love, compassion, and a pinch of patience.

So if you are feeling down about your parenting due to what the rest of the world is throwing at you just know that your little one thinks the world of you and that's all that matters! As I always say for anything in life: "You Do You!" the rest will follow. And if you haven't heard it lately, good job.