Nadia Suleman may be one of the most famous single moms around right now. Giving birth to eight children at one time, to bring her grand total to fourteen was something most of us saw as outrageous, especially since she had no way to support them.
Rarely do I sympathize with her, although I do worry about her children. Recently her hairdresser took some pictures at her home and gave them to a media outlet to show that the children were being neglected. First, if you are really concerned you would have called child welfare services instead of going to the media for a payout, but that is beside the point.
One of the pictures shows her toddlers using potty chairs outside. Apparently her plumbing wasn’t working, but I remember when I was the mother of one toddler and the potty chair was a fixture every where. If we were playing in the yard the potty was out there. Toddlers get easily distracted and don’t always realized they have to go until it’s too late. If you have eight toddlers how do you possibly watch for those signs that let you know your little one needs to go NOW! Personally I don’t think it’s a big deal for a toddler to use a potty chair outside.
The rest of the story dealt with the condition of her home. It was a mess. Really? Have you never spent time with a three year old? I can’t imagine being the single mother of eight three year olds and six other kids, I really think in that situation cleaning the house would be my last priority.
As for the graffiti, well, that was a little extreme. If it had just been crayons and markers we would have all sympathized but it looked like spray paint. That may be teaching children something you don’t want them to learn.
Although Octomom is not anyone’s vision of a perfect single mother, I can’t imagine how she does it. Just thinking about chasing after fourteen children, every single day, by myself makes me extremely tired.
No, she shouldn’t have had so many children alone, but they are here now and the most important thing is their well being. I don’t think our children are damaged by being raised in a messy home and I’ve certainly seen worse when they show houses of drug addicts that have had children living in filth.
So Nadia, as a fellow single parent, my hat is off to you, I have no idea how you do it. Or how you could have ever thought this was a good idea.