Do you have to give birth to know how to mother?

Question

The other day I saw a mother hitting her child in the face with a lot of force and anger. He may have talked back to her but I have no clue. It caused the child to bleed and I said something about it. I don't care who you are, if you're 8 feet tall, 350 pounds and have a gun, I'm going to protect any child from harm.

The mother presumed to forget her child in pain and confront me saying "until you've popped a kid out of you, don't try to be a mother."

I don't think because I've never popped a child out of my vagina that I can't see the right and wrong way to parent. I'm a nanny and have been for 9 years, I know some stuff!

Do you think just because someone hasn't had a child they have no right to step in when a mother isn't (in your eyes) doing the right thing? Can you only be a mother if you've given birth? I vote no.

Answer

I don't think that you have to give birth to be a mom (ie adoptive parents, foster parents, surrogates etc) but I do think you need to be a guardian of a child to understand what it's like to have to make decisions that affect that person for the rest of their life and what it's like to be in certain situations. Obviously most people understand right from wrong as you did in that particular extreme situation but there are some situations that non-parents simply can not understand until they're in the position themselves. Like every day things. I thought I knew exactly what kind of choices I'd make as a mom and I judged others until I became a mom and realized that I had most of it wrong and that being a parent is much more complex and emotional than I had originally comprehended.

Answer

Please tell me your reported this to DSS or CPS or whatever version of the alphabet your state has.

Answer

Some women who birth aren't "mother material " u did the right thing girl.

Answer

If somebody can sit there and inflict real physical harm on their children they don't deserve to be a parent.

Answer

i think you can technically only be a mother if youve been pregnant or given birth. you can know how to be a good mother without having done those things though. i also think people who have kids aren't necessarily all moms either. just because you're a "mother" doesn't make you a MOM.

Answer

I brought up both my youger siblings from the age of 11, as my mother was hospitalised. I had to learn to feed, change nappy and everything, but I havent given birth myself, so then how are both my sisters now healthy children? That lady did not think twice before speaking

Answer

No. Some people just weren't meant to be parents period.

Answer

I cannot tell you how pissed off it makes me that I've been told "you know nothing of being a mom until you've had a child". Oh, right. So that means just because everyone who spits out a kid means they're a mom, or a good one? No. Here is a difference between a mom and mother. A mother gives birth. A mom raises a child. But just because I don't have a child doesn't mean I don't know how to raise one. Sure, I don't know everything. There are plenty of things i haven't thought of that I will come across when I have a child. But that doesn't mean I don't know the basics of being a mom, or a good one.

Answer

Please, she clearly said the first thing she could come up with, which was stupid. You'd have to have head trama to not be able to detect abuse -maybe why she couldn't?

Answer

No I don't believe yiu have to give birth to be or know how to be a mother. I've always had mothering instincts, to the point my group of friends nick named me mother. I've babysat my brothers since the age of 6 and started babysitting others kids at the age of 12. Everytime I babysat I had kids asking me to be their new mommy (some were being abused but no one took my word for it because I was a kid). Even though I am pregnant with my first I feel I have always known how to be a mother.

Do you have to give birth to know how to mother?

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