Judging the Failures of Another Before Recognizing My Own

No matter who you are, it’s easy to judge the behavior of other parents, especially when their behavior is just plain bad. I’m not talking about the ones who feed their kids too many chicken nuggets, or the ones who allow their kids to leave the house looking like superhero hobos, or the ones whose child’s meal came from the “leftovers” on the floor. (And really, haven’t we all been those parents?)

I’m talking about the ones who scream at their kids in public, or scream at someone else in front of their kids. Or the ones who use filthy language in front of their kids and maybe even allow their kids to use that same language. (And maybe, just maybe, we’ve been one of those parents too.) It’s easy to judge another parent when we witness their poor behavior in a public space. It’s easy to think to ourselves I would never do that.

And maybe it’s true. Maybe we would never do that, at least when other people are watching. But I’d be willing to bet that for many of us our private behavior looks similar to the public behavior of those we are judging.

After a recent incident where I found myself judging another parent, a fellow Christian, I realized that I could just as well have been judging myself. You can read about it here, in my latest piece for Hew View From Home.