Criticism Of Celeb Parents' Photos Of Kids' Car Seats Is Not Concern, It's Mum-Shaming

Children's car seats are notoriously tricky to fit correctly and I'm sure Teigen will have spent more than 10 minutes fitting the damn thing in the first place. So it is a sad state of affairs that she then needed to spend another 10 minutes questioning her ability to look after her child to a standard deemed acceptable by the social media community.

Chrissy Teigen has admitted to spending 10 minutes scrutinising a photo of her daughter Luna in a car seat before sharing it on Twitter - for fear of inciting a slew of criticism from "sanctimummys".

Children's car seats are notoriously tricky to fit correctly and I'm sure Teigen will have spent more than 10 minutes fitting the damn thing in the first place.

So it is a sad state of affairs that she then needed to spend another 10 minutes questioning her ability to look after her child to a standard deemed acceptable by the social media community.

Teigen's fears about mum-shamers were not unfounded - Kim Kardashian and Sam Faiers have both faced online criticism after sharing photos of their children in car seats.

And it's not just road safety that draws the parenting critics - Pink has been slammed for cooking with her kids in the kitchen (and sharing the most adorable family photo), and Teigen herself has faced condemnation of everything from her first post featuring a photo of baby Luna to her pregnancy cravings.

There is pretty much nothing parents can share on Instagram without opening themselves up to criticism - as proven by the telling off both David and Victoria Beckham received for such "dangerous" behaviour as kissing their daughter on the lips.

In the case of car seat criticism at least, those sharing negative comments may believe they are doing so out of concern about the child's safety.

But if that was honestly the case, then seeing just one comment already posted pointing out the "parenting fail" would be enough for most concerned citizens to rest easy - safe in the knowledge that there is no need to add their two cents as the mum or dad in question has been alerted.

Sadly that is not the case. A scroll through the timeline of any famous mum who chooses to share candid photos of their family life will expose the terrifying volume of comments criticising their parenting skills.

When it comes under the guise of "helpful advice" is when mum-shaming is at its most insidious.

Lets work under the presumption that all parents want to do the best by their children, but are only too aware of their lack of "expertise". As with most things in life, everyone is just muddling through and trying their best.

In which case, piling on the bandwagon of calling out a perceived "mistake" simply serves the purpose of making yourself feel smug in the knowledge that you aren't the one to be caught out "doing it wrong", while undermining another parent's confidence.

But it doesn't have to be this way. Parenting communities can be a great source of support.

At HuffPost UK Parents we have seen many a story of a mum shamed for sharing breastfeeding photos, so we decided to ask our Facebook followers whether their experience of feeding in pubic had been positive or negative and many came forward to share heartwarming examples of support they had received.

Offering advice can be helpful too, just please wait until you're asked to do so - unless you want your unsolicited guidance to get this reaction:

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