I don't know if any of you have seen this, but NBC is going to run a Mother's Day program called America's Favorite Mom which sounds great in theory. Let me say that again, it sounds GREAT in theory, but not so much in practice. You see I have a major problem with this.
Gee, what's wrong with this...?
The Non-Mom Mom
Grandparent, stepmom, or mom to adopted children, each one raising and loving a child. A priceless gift for everybody.
You see, according to NBC, all of us A-moms (and A-moms-to-be) are non-moms.
Apparently, when Little Maple will get up in the middle of the night with a night terror or with a fever, it will be someone OTHER than her mom (or dad) who will get up and hold her, or who will wipe away her tears. When she has a play at school, it will be someone other than her mother who will be sitting in the front row beaming with pride. When she has a scraped knee, it will be her non-mom who will put a band-aid on it, kiss it and make it all better.
Just because Little Maple will not have been born from my body, does not make her any less our child or us her parents. Have we not been through enough heartache and pain? Why is it that at every step through this process that we have to be faced with ignorant people?
NBC should be ashamed of themselves to put such hurtful things on their website, and moreso, Marie Osmond should not be associated with such a show considering the fact that she is an A-mom as well.
If you'd like to complain about the contest, you can contact NBC at 1-800-225-7435 (though you can only leave a message there, I just tried). You can also email them at support@americasfavoritemom.com
***I'm sure that NBC and Teleflora (the main sponsor) were inundated with a ton of emails and phone calls from our very vocal community because the website now mentions "Adopting Moms" instead of "Non-Mom Moms". It still doesn't make me feel any better that their site had that listed for DAYS only to be corrected today. I hope the asshat who created the program gets fired for this.
The thing that still bothers me about the program is this: the various categories, whether they're 'working moms, single moms, military moms or chariman of everything moms' aren't there adopting moms in each of those? Why do we have to be singled out like we're so different? Why do we have to be singled out AT ALL? Why can't we just be considered moms?
Teleflora and NBC, we don't bite...much.***
12 comments:
I'm so furious right now, but not too furious to make a few phone calls and emails!
Us bloggers will have them on their knees before Sunday!
Hayley
WTF???????? Seriously?!!! I am also going to put a post up on my blog too. And I will definitely be making a phone call.
Wow, that sucks...
Is that NBC's definition??
WTF??!!!
It's crap. I can't even believe that no one at NBC would stop to think that this may just offend someone.
I wonder how I would explain to Sophia that I'm just her non mom, but I'm her brothers true and glorious mom.
It pains me so much to see this in print and to know that this is how adoption is viewed, even if it's just by some idiot at NBC.
I am just furious and the more I think about it, the madder I get.
This just goes on to show how the media keeps portraying adoptive families as second best and not real families. Why do they have to keep making distinctions? Just let it be! It's so tiring and infuriating.
I don't have kids (except for the furry beast kind, which by the way, I did adopt LOL (true)) but I completely agree with you - the mother of the child is the one who raises the child, loves the child, cares for the child - I hadn't heard of this until now but it really is unbelievable that they would use the term "non-mom", and especially when everyone is so careful to be "politically correct" all the time - how is it possible that calling a mother who adopted her child a "non-mom" is not offensive? That's really amazing, and I'm glad to hear they changed it.
Well said!
This pissed me off so much that I couldn't even respond yesterday. I just sent my e-mail off. Why are people so stupid? I mean really, how many people did that go through before it was posted on their website, and why wasn't it caught before that? Is that really how people view adoption? In this day and age? Really? I guess I am an idiot then, because I am adopted and I'm really missing my "Non-Mom" this Mother's day. AAARRRRGH!!!
Okay, I feel slightly better now. Thanks :)
And that was a lot of "reallys" I used there. Sorry.
Hmmmm... now that I think of it when Larkyn calls for me she doesn't say Non-mom... yup... I'm sure she just say's mom, just like my other two kids... Instead of trying to be politically correct all the time NBC needs to say what it really is A mom is a mom end of story.
Have a wonderful day regardless of NBC..
Wendy
Hi, another non-mom here as well as a fellow waiting non-mom-to-be (June 06 LID). I had steam coming out of my ears as well. I blogged about it, too.
And their apology wasn't enough. Seriously -- "one adopted child and one OF HER OWN" -- that description made me gag a little.
I now consider The Today Show a non-show. And Teleflora a non-florist.
Having been away and out of the loop of the 'Non-Mum' thing and now just learning about it... I am with everyone else WTF... I maybe a non non-mom right now but geez... about bloody time they changed it but I think the damage is done... take care
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