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Don't judge me cause my kid wears PEP clothes

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Earlier this week I read a blog post by local blogger Anniemation Floe on how she got humiliated by another mom for where she shopped.

You see, Annie was minding her own business in a supermarket line waiting to pay for some groceries, when the woman behind her saw the PEP shopping bag in her hand and asked her why she shopped at PEP for her son. It's appalling. I had no idea that Mean Girls existed outside of high school or teen movies. But it seems they do and you should read the full blog post if you want to see for yourself.

Also read: The mommy wars: let's be nice

Surely once you're a grown-up you should know better than to say to a child, “Shame, your mommy really enjoys embarrassing you.”

Aside from the complete and utter rudeness, I fail to comprehend why society has this perception that cheaper clothes are of a poorer quality. Or that it's embarrassing to wear something that doesn't come with a certain label or price tag. It's juvenile thinking. I bought vests for my son at PEP and from a more expensive store as well. Plain old white vests. And guess what? The PEP ones are still going while the more expensive ones are so stretched out.

Let me point out that Kanye West is selling a plain white T-shirt for $120. It's not made of gold. This obsession society has with labels and price tags is insane. Just because it costs $120 must mean that it was made from angel tears and will therefore last until Doomsday and also give you special powers. Nope, that's just a T-shirt you're wearing. Also you're $120 poorer.

It just makes no sense to me to buy my son a R300 pair of jeans when for that same amount I can get him an entire wardrobe of clothes that I won't have a panic attack about him destroying. Because let's be honest, kids really put their clothes through the ringer.

Here's the thing: kids don't see labels. They don't know what is expensive and cheap – all they know is that they picked out that dinosaur T-shirt and it's the best thing ever. Kids learn judgement and discrimination from their parents, just like this woman's teen son who laughed along with her as she humiliated another mother for the clothing choices she made.

Mothers more than anyone else should be supporting other moms. We more than anyone else know how hard this mothering thing is, so why belittle someone else? Bullying has never made sense to me. Making another mom feel like a bad mom even for 5 minutes is just not okay.

Also watch: Hilarious video shows how ridiculous the parent wars are

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