“Really, it’s just a sugary, Southern way to say, ‘Get back in your lane.’ The highest compliment a young lady could receive was to be seen as ‘a sweet girl.’”

‘Now, honey. BE SWEET.’ In the heart of Alabama, if you hurt someone’s ego with valid criticism, women are fussed at.’: Mom defends daughter’s right to speak her mind

‘TikTok people are making fun of kids like my six-year-old son, and I am not okay with it. It completely devastates me.’: Mom of autistic child reacts to TikTok bullying, ‘We need to do better’
“They are at home making videos about how people like my son move, jump, flap, bounce and dance to express themselves. We are supposed to laugh and be entertained? Well, we are not.”

‘I was staring at my massive basket of pre-kids clothes I refuse to throw out. ‘My body size can change.’: Woman struggling with body positivity says ‘I don’t exist to fit clothes, they exist to fit me’
“My husband saw me staring at them. My heart skipped a beat. I’m not a size 4 anymore.”

‘Today I ran into an old acquaintance I haven’t seen in years. She told me, ‘You put on weight!’ Her words still cut deep today.’: Woman struggling with mental health says ‘I am more than my physical appearance’
“I never comment on anyone’s body because I know. You’re right. I have put on weight. She meant it as a compliment.”

‘Out of the blue, my 17-year career ended. I lost all three of my brothers by 40. It felt like a divorce’: Woman says ‘there is no way to compare grief’
“At 40, when the kids are older and kind of self-sufficient (somewhat), you should be hitting autopilot. You feel like your crap is together and BAM…ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. Well, at least it did for me.”

‘What will you tell your kids? They look trashy.’ I’ll tell them what my tattoos mean to me.’: After lupus diagnosis, sexual assault survivor uses to tattoos to ‘help me reclaim myself’
“Unsolicited, I have been ‘advised’ on my body art. I’ve been asked, in horror, ‘What will you tell your kids?’ I’ll tell them what my tattoos mean to me, and when they’re older, they can get tattoos if they want them. ‘You’re inviting people to judge you.’ Actually no, I’m not. ‘Can you get a job with those?’ Firstly, none of your business. Secondly, yes. Then there are the people who find my tattoos TOO appealing. ‘Where ELSE are you inked?’ ‘So, you like pain, huh?’ ‘Wanna see MY tattoo?’ Seriously, be less sleazy.”

‘No, no, don’t sit next to him darling, move away.’ This sentence cuts like a knife. It shatters my heart into a million pieces.’: Mom of autistic son wishes no other parent to ‘experience this ignorance’
“We were just waiting to see Santa. I will never forget that room, it was so beautiful. All done up with snowmen, lovely lights, Christmas Music playing. It was sensory heaven for my little boy. I will never forget that woman. I will never forget the way she looked at my little boy. The way she stared. The look of disgust on her face.”

‘How did you know?’ My little baby went completely silent, no words, no babble, nothing. There were warning signs, we just didn’t know.’: Mom’s journey with autistic son
“Does this make me feel guilty? Of course, it does. As a mom you are meant to know these things, you are meant to protect your child. Parents have pulled their kids away from him. They leave him out of play dates. People ignore him, because he cannot talk. This is heartbreaking, but they simply don’t understand.”

‘Once again, I would get shivers in the pew this morning. This generation is not interested in who is right. They are interested in truth.’: Mom realizes important lesson on faith at church
“BAM. So, we get to church, and the sermon was, you guessed it, ON THIS VERY TOPIC. Well played, God. Clearly God is listening to us around the kitchen island, too.”

‘Why am I so excited to leave work just to go home to an empty home and spend Friday alone, again?’: Woman urges to find ‘true friends,’ not the ones who ‘pass judgement’
“I definitely don’t want to hang out with the friend who tells me my husband walked about because there was obviously something wrong with me. My best friend, my soul sister, told me ‘I can’t even keep my life together’ because I was not able to keep my marriage together. Ouch.”