R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Is it just me or do men get treated better when they're out with the children.

I can count on one hand the times I've been out with the children and had people offer to help me. I especially remember being in a Perkins restroom when my daughter was two and a half months and a very nice elderly lady was in there. I was changing Peyton and she came over and spoke. She then washed her hands and said "ok sweetie my hands are washed, what can I do to help." She was so sweet! I didn't need her help but I really appreciated her offer. Then there was a lady at Kraynak's in PA who was really nice this past Christmas. So there have been some really nice ladies out there but it is extremely rare.

However don't let me have a screaming, crying, child especially since my children are both big for their age. My daughter can get away with it still because she's still obviously a baby. But my two year old (who looks almost 4 in size) well forget it, I get the worse looks. They really don't bother me that much though. I've gotten extremely good at having a "don't say one word to me face" and usually people don't mess with me. I had one lady I could tell wanted to say something to me one time when my son had shut down on me in the store and I gave her a look that said "I dare you." And she let it go. Not sure if she was going to say something encouraging or negative but at the time I didn't care. I had shopping to finish doing and no amount of temper tantrums were going to stop that, I could've spanked him in the store but didn't want to, instead I chose to let him scream and I ignored him and shopped (he was about 20 months at the time). Did he disrupt the entire target yes but somehow I tuned him out and finished my shopping amongst the many "looks".

When my husband goes out with the children it's a totally different story. Women are something else. Despite the wedding ring and two kids they flock to him. He's like a chick magnet. I love to hear the stories when he gets home. One time some ladies loaded his cart for him at the register and then offered to take it out to the car (and he turned their services down of course). But still. When he comes home with them I'm amazed at the amount of help he's offered and the amount of people who talk to him (mostly women of course). And if the children are crying they take pity on him! It's amazing! They look at him like "you poor thing" with me it's "what a horrible mother."

Although he did get a really nice compliment from an elderly gentlemen in the restroom one time. He'd taken both children with him into the restroom for diaper changes and a man approached him and complimented him on being a "real man." That was an extremely nice compliment. But I must admit I was kind of jealous.

I take these beautiful babies out almost everyday on some sort of errand. Where's my "real woman" compliments? Not that I need them or really desire them but why is it a man is seen as some sort of superhero for taking two children out and for a woman to do it it's nothing?

Maybe that's a dumb question considering the number of single mothers out there and the high rates of divorce in this country but it still frustrates me that it's so uncommon to people that it has to be complimented so heavy when seen.

Sam is just as capable as me (if not more). To be honest with you Nathan actually behaves better with him (only slightly). So he doesn't need the added help really and of course he's physically stronger than me so lifting the children isn't as tedious for him as it is for me.

But I went through all those months of pregnancy and hours of labor for society to show him more respect? It just strikes me as funny sometimes.

But he is a wonderful man, a fantastic husband, a devoted father and a great provider so I don't want to take nothing away from him. All of the compliments are actually deserved, in fact he probably deserves more so I'm not mad about that. I'm just kind of mad at how women will throw themselves at a man who's obviously married and obviously has children. Yet when a woman is out with children there's some sort of stigma with it (not all the time of course but at times there is).

Also going back to the show Bachelor. Part of that man's appeal was the fact he was a single father. The women loved that and some fairytale was built around it. I honestly don't think a single mother would've had the same response.