What did you do in the Mummy Wars, Tearfree?

Please tell us where you stand on this hot-button issue.

All the Mummies I know go out to work – except for one and she takes care of other people’s kids at home, so essentially has a job too. If I hadn’t read about these Mummy Wars, I wouldn’t even know they were happening.

Tearfree, have you ever criticized anyone’s mothering skills?

Behind their backs or to their faces?

Let’s start with behind their backs..

All the time, a few of us Moms will get together over Mojitos and start talking disparagingly about other Moms who sign their kids up for too many activities. Or we’ll diss the overprotective parents who won’t let their kids take public transport. Or we’ll criticize the parents who just seem to have children for ornamentation and never seem to spend any time with them.

What about criticizing other moms to their faces?

Well, I glare at Mummies with screaming kids in restaurants. And once I told a former friend who was going on about how much she missed her baby that she shouldn’t have left him alone for weeks on end if she felt that way. That’s pretty much why she’s a former friend. But really, it seems pretty basic to me, if you can’t bear to be without your child then don’t be. I find it all very “the lady doth protest too much.”

Have you ever been criticized for your mothering skills?

Yes. When Tearfree’s child was a toddler there was a spectacular airport temper tantrum that took place while frequent-flying execs looked on horror. “That’s on your flight,” one business type said to his buddy.

That’s it?

No, once I let my child cry and cry at the end of a transatlantic flight because I was just too exhausted to do anything else. And I could tell everyone on the plane was really pissed off at me.

I’ve also gotten the dreaded phone call from a teacher at school. We addressed the problem together and worked it out.

Nothing else?

Lots of stuff but nothing too significant. Once a radical hippy type Mom cut us off because she decided we were too materialistic. Another time, I made the mistake of thinking Team America was suitable for children and my brother brought it up at Xmas dinner with the entire family presenet. Luckily no one else had seen it so they all thought it was a nice cartoon too.

Do you get mad when other people criticize your parenting?

I think it’s a natural first reaction to bristle, but I also think you have to ask if there’s truth in the criticism. Sometimes outsiders will see things that you can’t so it’s important to strike a balance and ignore the non-justified criticism and listen to the stuff that might be important.