It’s Wednesday so it must be time for… Mom-Shaming – yay! I was getting nervous that we wouldn’t have a famous mom to call out for a random act of parenting but thank goodness for singer Pink and her despicable act of cooking dinner for her children. Here is the photo that set off the latest controversy. Trigger Warning – this image shows a person cooking vegetables:
The complaints about this photo were that her baby, Jameson, is too close to the stove and pan. Most people were up in arms that he was going to get oil splattered on him. Others were upset about Jameson’s proximity and Willow being up on the counter. You can read a collection of the criticism here. Many are fellow moms who see their kitchens as death traps. One asked if Pink was “insane” (she’s not) and another who called it “stupid” and listed her qualifications as a “mum of 4 boys not allowed in the kitchen when (she’s) cooking.” I understand that someone who does not have kids or was new to babies might wonder if this posed an issue. But like most situations in life, the individual assesses the risk and proceeds accordingly. Were Pink making fried chicken she probably would not have Jameson strapped to her. This is a light sauté over a low to medium heat, it’s fine. It’s family time, it’s a slice of their life and I think it’s sweet. As for Willow being on the counter, we call our daughter Gollum because that’s how she looks when she is perched on a counter getting into a cabinet. But, again, I know my daughter. I know her level of control and care when she climbs things. I know that I climb things and have my whole life. We should have more faith in other parents and allow them their moments. And Mum of 4 Boys needs to let her sons in the damn kitchen, she could be denying us the next Thomas Keller.
To be fair, most commenters came out in favor of Pink. As for Pink herself, I don’t think she’s paying it any mind. She mildly responded when the Perfect Mom Brigade attacked her for microwaving coffee while pregnant. Her social media approach is honest parenting, where she is willing to show you the good, the questionable and the fun. She knows full well that people are going to make negative comments about her photos and I think she’s fine with that. Pink isn’t living her life for them, she’s living it for her and her family and, in my opinion, she seems to be winning.
Photo credit: WENN Photos and Instagram
She and Carry produce some beautiful children. That’s all I got.
He’s gorgeous.
That was one of the sweetest things I have read from a man to his wife. I am sure a lot of you experience beautiful addulation from your husbands, boyfriends, significant others, and just read through it without much emotion since you have it. Unlike me I never had it with the man who made me feel, like his insignificant other. So happy for Pink to have found blissfullness
The gushing and lovely post was FROM Pink TO her husband, Carey, not the other way around. Much happiness for them and their little family. You have to find peace within and love yourself before you can ever have bliss with someone else.
Isn’t that asparagus? I’m sure she was being careful…not like she was frying bacon. I let my four year help me in the kitchen all time, to a certain extent. She gets on the countertop and loves to help.
Also if you look carefully, Jameson is wrapped on her left hip, and she’s coming with her right hand. In a second she could turn to the side and he’d be 3 feet away behind a wall of mom. He’s fine here.
Also, she it moving the pan away from them, not towards them. So if it spatters, it spatters towards the back of the stove.
if you have a kid that likes to grab stuff, or doesnt listen well if you tell them not to touch stuff, then I could see having kids in the kitchen as you’re cooking to be a problem. Otherwise, I dont see the harm. Willow was probably on the counter to grab spices for her mom. I think its a good bonding moment.
If you have a grabby kid that doesn’t listen, that is more of a parent your child better problem…
As a non-parent (but someone who works with kids) this just seems like such a non-issue to me. Surely having the kids around and included in the process will help them get cooking skills? They’re probably going to be less picky eaters if they can see the whole process too. The idea of barring kids from the kitchen like mom of four boys suggests is a bit weird to me!
I thought that was strange too…like not allowed in the kitchen when moms cooking..that’s nuts. Nothing wrong with your kids helping and learning the dos and donts.
Exactly! I feel sorry for the women who end up with those 4 boys.
The women who end up with those four boys will be just like their mother: someone who can only find validation through her kids/husband.
I mean, just look at the user name FFS
If I ban my kids, it’s because damn it I want a podcast and some peace and quiet. But I love my 4 year old helping me! I make them back up when there’s possible splatter, but if it’s a low key simmer or anything other than oil splatter, she’s all up in there watching! And she and my 2 year old eat more when they see the process. They taste the ingredients raw, we talk about what they are, what they feel like, and experiencing them all mixed together is such a proud moment for them. Love Pink. My girls love Pink. She can keep on.
I don’t have kids but I have had kids with me in the kitchen and no one was maimed. I grew up in a house with a large kitchen so me and my sister were constantly in there (floor was perfect for playing jacks!). I came out of that experience unscathed and a pretty good cook. These people must have all their furniture wrapped in plastic and floor covered in mattresses because I guarantee you the kids are jumping off the furniture in the next room!
I read this as “mom shaped”.
I can’t believe the Mom Brigade attacked her for microwaving decaf coffee, are people actually insane?
The Mom Brigade is. I’ve done mommy blogging and I’ve blogged about hackers and the mommies are meaner.
Honestly, if you as a celebrity post pictures of yourself on a public forum, EXPECT people to have an opinion in whatever is going on in said pictures. Thats all.
Carey is SO. HOT.
I always thought moms were very busy people who barely had time for a minute to themselves since they are always looking after their kids. I guess I was wrong. I guess a lot of moms have time to go on-line and post complaints about dumb sh*t. If these moms have so much free time, they should probably look around in their own communities for children that are actually being abused.
Well, SOMEONE has to make sure other people are doing things right 😉
With the Perfect Mommy Army, there’s always time to shame others. It’s part of their supernatural, time management skill set.
How do all these super moms, who make everything organic from scratch and are with their kids 24/7 and would NEVER let them do something that might turn out not 100% perfect and safe and blah blah blah, have time to be on instagram criticizing others? OMG who’s watching their kids when they’re yelling at celebrities on twitter!?!?
I have a friend who’s turned out like this, she had a kid two years ago and she’s become so damn uptight about everything since, the kids not allowed to go anywhere, or eat normal things, everything’s a problem, sugar is a toxin and bla bla bla. She’s become unbearable and her kid is unfortunately whiney as heck now, to the point where even the grandparents have started refusing to babysit him! I don’t want to babysit him either because he’s high maintenance to the nines through no fault of his own. Better to be a “good enough mother” and let the kid live I think.
People really need to get over themselves, let other people parent their children the way they see fit. My oldest son would cry and scream if you dared put him down as a baby. I had to pretty much carry him in a sling while doing everything from cooking to cleaning. Was I supposed to let him cry his heart out as a newborn or not clean.
Seriously, how idiotic.The Mommy shaming brigade rarely have a valid point. Cooking with kids is a great bonding experience and unless your children are out of control and refuse to listen, perfectly safe. She wasn’t flambeing or juggling knives. I spent most of my childhood perched on the counter watching and ‘helping’ my Mother and Grandmother cook. I was my Father’s helper as well. I got to flip the food on the barbecue and lived to tell the tale. I learned a lot doing it. So have my own children. Unfortunately now that most share their lives on social media, they open themselves up to criticism from the masses. To the Mom of 4 whose boys aren’t allowed in the kitchen when she cooks, get over yourself. Where do they think their food comes from? They’ll end up the kind of men who sit waiting for a woman to bring them their food and clueless as to the effort that goes in to food preparation.
I survived a 70s latch key kid childhood and I look at this and cringe. It -does- look precarious. Call it Murphy’s law – but something could go wrong in a millisecond. I’m the parent of an Olympic athlete – so I certainly haven’t overly protected. Cue the criticism of my opinion – but if a celeb posts photos- it’s an invitation for just that – opinions!
Not sure what being a parent to an Olympic athlete has to do with anything at all, but ok.
#humblebrag #regularbrag
Actually, a lot of elite athletes are coddled beyond belief by their parents. I went to school with someone who participated in two winter olympics and he was the most spoiled, special snowflake I’ve ever met. I’m sure his Mother even cut his food for him rather than risk Mr. Precious holding a knife. Opinions are one thing ,but there is a group of supposedly perfect Mothers, who troll SM, criticizing everything. I don’t know when they find the time to be so perfect, because they spend such a huge amount of time focusing on what other women are doing wrong, rather than their own children.
Dear mother of 4 boys,
When your sons turn out to be a$$holes who can’t even make themselves a sandwich, don’t come crying to us.
Let me guess, you don’t make them clean the bathrooms, because chemicals. Even though it is their pee all over everything.
I feel for all of their future relationships.
Signed,
Fed Up
You had me at Gollum.
I hate the mommy mafia with a burning passion.
Mind your damned business.
It seems unhealthy to bar children from the kitchen, and that it might teach boys that cooking is women’s work and all kids that cooking is some scary task and that processed foods are easier. My 4-year-old niece helps her parents with simple cooking tasks and watches the harder ones. Hopefully she’ll learn that cooking is a normal part of the evening for the whole family, that vegetables are tasty and easy to prepare, and other good lessons.
I do hate the phrase “mom-shame” though.
Meh I don’t think it’s great to have a kid climbing around an open flame or hot pans and oil. I have two different friends who still have scars from serious burns they suffered from kitchen accidents when they were young. Both came from caring households. This isn’t an example of mom-shaming.
Like, *definitely* keep the kids in the kitchen but keep them aware of the potential dangers. They don’t have to be jungle-gyming over burners and sizzling saucepans
Thank you- I’m not “shaming” this photo for use of “imperfect” nutrition or something obsequious- it’s just visual deduction for two small children to acquire possible burns etc. sheesh. Step down mommy shamers of mommy observers.
Sitting on the kitchen counter watching my mom and helping her make dinner are some of my favorite memories as a kid. She’d tell me stories and teach me how to make meals and that cooking is a way to show people you love them. I still carry that with me (when my friends are sad, I feed them!). Maybe these mommy shamers should be spending more time doing things like cooking with their kids instead of sitting behind a computer and being rude!
Pink seems like a good mom! I really like her. And how sweet is Willow for wanting to help shelter animals! She’s a girl after my own heart.
Thanks for the post about something nice (not the mommy-shaming, but the family), Hecate!
I guess I’m a shamer because I think it was stupid to have the baby so close to the stove. I wasn’t bothered by Willow. But overall shamers need to calm down. A lot of comments make me think they are calling DCF. Things are questionable but not dangerous or neglectful.
OMG Parents are very intense nowadays. Back in my time I basically roamed around the kitchen freely and thanks to that I inherited the skills, patience and passion for cooking that I have as an adult. So do I have to say that I am a kitchen or reckless adult’s survivor? LOL.
The kids are beautiful and they seem a happy family.
What a cute family!
Oh my god, the human race has survived this long. If kids were as fragile as some of these pearl-clutchers assume, we wouldn’t have made it this far.
No kids in the kitchen? What’s next, no candles on birthday cakes? One of my earliest memories is burning my finger on a birthday candle, and I probably did it again the next year. It’s a miracle I made it to adulthood with all my fingers still attached – I was fascinated by open flames and sharp knives.
I’m a parent shamer (not just moms, but dads too). My standard is, would a reasonable parent allow a teacher to babysitter to place their child in this position? That’s why I thought that British couple who left their toddlers alone in a hotel room while they went out to dinner were wrong. I wouldn’t accept that from a babysitter, so I don’t think parents should be held to a lesser standard.
As for cooking, I can’t make an unbiased judgment because of what happened to my neice. Years ago, my niece burned her hand badly while under the care of a babysitter. She’s all grown up now, but the permanent scarring caused problems when she tried to take the California bar exam, because they couldn’t get finger prints from her. Any pics of kids in the kitchen make me nervous. It’s ok if they’re being closely watched, but is the mom in this instagram photo really watching the little girl kneeling on the counter? It doesn’t look like it.
Comparing this to what Madeleine McCann’s parents did is a bit unbalanced. Pink is supervising her kids and what they do – she’s with them and it looks as though she’s being careful in how she uses the pan and both the kids look happy.
The McCanns left a toddler and two babies alone in a hotel room night after night and didn’t check on them to make sure they were safe and happy. The kids were reported to have cried for hours and hours one night. This is not the same thing.
BTW, is parent shaming your job or your hobby?
About the fingerprint story— Wouldn’t scarred finger tips create very unique prints, and the presence of scars shouldn’t throw a scanner off, should they? Especially a scanner for a testing identification system. Don’t they do thousands and thousands of scans a year? Huh…this is interesting…I’m off to Google this!
How did we bring up sitters? Pink is the mom of her own kids. Let her and any other mom with good intentions do what they want! And I don’t believe just bc you open yourself up to social media she should be shamed. It’s kinda her job to be active on social media. I swear everyone needs to relax! Obvi many aren’t children of the seventies with no car seats and being flung around in the back of a green/brown station wagon. And living on TV dinners! We made it! And I like to think of myself as a good mom. And I use a car seat!! 😜
How did we bring up sitters? Pink is the mom of her own kids. Let her and any other mom with good intentions do what they want! And I don’t believe just bc you open yourself up to social media she should be shamed. It’s kinda her job to be active on social media. I swear everyone needs to relax! Obvi many aren’t children of the seventies with no car seats and being flung around in the back of a green/brown station wagon. And living on TV dinners! We made it! And I like to think of myself as a good mom. And I use a car seat!!
Oops. 🙁
Dear mum of 4 boys,
How about I shame you for having an unreasonable number of children that the planet can’t sustain, and point out that breeding to excess is unfair on the environment and the rest of us.
See how rude and inappropriate that comment was, and how self-righteous I’m being?
You’re welcome.
I do not cook with my baby (7 mo). When I was 8 or 9y/o, my mom was heating a pan in preparation for dinner. The pan exploded on the cooktop launching molten teflon (I remember it was plasticity?) all across the kitchen. Lucky for us, my brother and I were playing in the living room. I’m sure this is a 1 in a million event, but I am guilty of warning my friends of the dangers. I would never call anyone stupid, insane or question heir parenting.
That’s me on the counter all the time. Being short is hard y’all. As for the mommy shamers, or self proclaimed ‘parent shamers’ have fun with that. I’m sure your outrage cycle is totally healthy and makes a huge difference to the people in your lives and the strangers you troll on social media.