This afternoon while doing my usual browsing of news feeds from the various blogger resources I am a part of, I came across this whole J. Crew ad controversy story.

My first though was "oh, wow, another mom painting her son's toenails?" 

I say this only because it's totally not my thing.  I mean, I have three vivacious boys that have honestly never even asked to hold or use my nail polish.  Ever.  But, even if they had, I can't say that I would have been open to them doing so.  This totally does not mean that I think there is something wrong with mothers who would or do choose to have their boys play with nail polish; it's that it's simply not for me.

My thoughts then went to "hey, wait a minute — WHY is this making the news?  Surely there are more newsworthy topics concerning the children of today."

Then after posting the news article and video on my Facebook page, I realized that there are A LOT of us who have differing opinions on this whole thing.  And in expressing those opinions, this can sometimes result in divisiveness between mothers.  Totally not cool.

Whether or not you agree that the ad should be considered controversial, what ends up becoming the real subject at hand (and controversy in and of itself), is how moms are pitted against each other whenever there's some sort of issue or ordeal going on in our society.

Remember that whole Similac recall when there were reportedly bugs found in formula?  The aftermath of that story ended up being formula-fed baby mamas feeling that they had to defend their decisions.  And in turn, fueling the debate (once again) over formula feeding versus breastfeeding.  Now, let me be clear that I am certainly a mom who breastfeeds and believe strongly in its benefits for my family.  But I would never, ever want (or try) to belittle or cause self-doubt within my formula-feeding mom friends because of their parenting decisions.

I think any "controversy" nowadays ends up being drowned out by the frenzy of debate that ensues afterwards.  It's a stressor that we, as moms, don't need or deserve!  Why have we become a community centered around controversy?  Do you try to stay an arm's length away from discussions centered around controversy?  Why or why not?