Gwyneth Paltrow Thinks She's Pretty Great

Like most working moms today, I was chuckling along as I read the scathing New York Post article: A Working Mom's Open Letter to Gwyneth Paltrow. I have to admit, I was initially annoyed by Ms. Paltrow's out of touch comments to E when she basically said she has it so much harder than us silly moms working our sweet and easy nine-to-fives. In fact, I acted very similarly to the goat in Bob Shea's genius book Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great. I was all like, "OH! Gwyneth Paltrow thinks she's pretty great!"

Illustration by Bob Shea

I kept thinking all these snarky comments about Gwyneth Paltrow...that was until I got sucked into reading the comments on the New York Post article. On the surface it seemed like working women were uniting on a common front: We work hard! We commute long hours! We run ourselves ragged! We make dinners, do laundry, make lunches, clean houses, put the kids to bed, answer emails late at night, love and spend time with our kids, and work 40 plus hours outside the home on top of that!!! However, instead of raising each other up, the people commenting were tearing each other down in an impossible game of "I have a tougher life than you do!" Look, no one will win that contest. I am pretty sure the moms who have it toughest are too busy dealing with things that they aren't online reading gossip. So we all lose. And suddenly this is how I felt:

Illustration by Bob Shea

It is like that time when you kill yourself staying up at night trying to make purple cupcakes for your kid's class after the teacher asked you to bring in a purple snack for a lesson on the color purple and after you take into account all the allergies (making them gluten free, dairy free, and egg free) the cupcakes don't really turn out right....AND....

Illustration by Bob Shea

some other mom makes it freaking rain cupcakes!! True story.

Illustration by Bob Shea

Suddenly, you find yourself bashing that mom. You find a million reasons why she has it so much easier than you do. Obviously she has help- like a nanny and family and a cleaning person and well the list goes on and on. It is a rediculously human reaction. And, the thought process runs counter to those lessons you have been probably teaching your kids. This is why reading children's books with your kids is so important. Even as adults we need to be reminded on how to be a good person. It isn't just the kids that should be learning, we as adults should be absorbing the invaluable lessons that children's books teach.

When I was a kid and would complain at the dinner table that other kids have it so much easier than I do, my dad would always say, "Don't judge them until you have walked a mile in their shoes." I never really understood what he meant. It is a REALLY hard lesson to learn. It is an ever harder to take the a time out and remember that even though I think that Gwyneth Paltrow thinks she's pretty great, she may be going though her own struggles. The crazy thing is we know she is going through her own struggles. So, maybe as women instead of tearing her and each other apart, we should be supportive.

Yeah, maybe Gwyneth Paltrow is this amazing unicorn, but I have freaking cloven hooves. What I mean is this: We all have our struggles, and it may seem that the other person has it so easy. However, if we took the time to focus on the other person's strengths, we women would be an unstoppable team.

Illustration by Bob Shea

And that is why you should run out and purchase your own copy of Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great written and illustrated by Bob Shea. I think the book is genius. We read it again tonight after I realized I needed to be reminded of the awesome lessons taught in this book. 

Written and illustrated by Bob Shea

I purchased the review copy of this book for my own personal library.  (We love Bob Shea so much I ran out and purchased it as soon as it was released in 2013.)

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