Yesterday, reality star and mother of two, Draya Michele was dragged on Twitter for posting a very revealing look into her version of mom life.
Her teenage son Kniko was assigned a 4-minute speech on American history in education to memorize. His teacher required he practice the speech five times per day and that each time her practices it, his mom signs a paper to confirm that he did. After a month of hearing the speech and signing the paper on a daily basis, Draya had enough:
As a mom, I have to say a part of me sympathizes with her.
Children are not some Instagram fantasy of perfection and beauty. Motherhood is not a Beyonce photoshoot. Its a relationship just like any other and it has it's ups and downs, especially as children begin to grow into their own people.
My son (who is 5) has to read three books per day and I have to read him at least one book per day. It sounds like a sinch until you factor in dinner, work, conference calls that run long, days my son is an emotional mess, days I'm an emotional mess, nights when we're both tired...etc.
On those days, I'd be lying if I said I didn't opt out of the nightly reading routine and instead read him a story in the car on the way to school the next morning. It happens very rarely, but it's happened.
I'm not on board with mom-shaming.
Unless you've lived her life, and her children's lives you have no right to pass judgment on how a mother runs her home. All of us can remember a day when our mom didn't want much to do with us because she was worn out. It built our character and we learned how to fend for ourselves a little (and forge a signature, come on, Kniko).
That being said...
Come on sis, this is motherhood. We signed up for this and it's not always easy and fun. Draya might be experiencing mom burn out, and simply needs to remember that she got this. Getting our kids into college and ensuring they understand the level of hard work that is required from them is part of our job. This is the gig. It's tiring and repetitive and sometimes seems meaningless to us. But if your child is showing interest in something and staying disciplined to the process, support it as much as you can.
Period.
It's a little hard for me to buy into the pampered mom life of a celebrity who doesn't have to deal with the day-to-day grind most moms do. If money wasn't a constant concern of mine, my patience for my son and the demands of his education would be extended by ions. Without knowing what it feels like to walk a mile in Draya's shoes, I can only assume that if she had enough time to write a post on Instagram about her son's homework assignment - she could have also signed the damn thing and been done with it.
My mixed bag of emotions has me kind of mad at everyone over this. Black twitter for being low class enough to mom-shame. Draya for being petty. Kniko for not signing the paper himself and that teacher for forcing an irritating assignment onto the parents of her students. All in all, this is a lesson we can all chalk up to mom life 101. Instead of tearing a mother down for being transparent, how about we all just remind her to breathe it out and press on.
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