Just that really. I'm wondering if anyone has got to a place with parenting where they feel unaffected by the judgement of others? I homeschool my nearly 6 year old for a variety of reasons but have had major judgement for this, both from parents with kids in mainstream education but also from the steiner/waldorf/attachment parenting parents who tend to make up a lot of the Home Education community in the UK. I don't subscribe to any of these philosophies or any philosophy really, I home school my son because I feel that it was the right choice for him and because we were privileged enough to be able to afford to do it. I'm not closed to the idea of school at some point if he wants to go, at all. I don't think that mainstream education is rubbish or that all children would be better off home schooled (used to be a primary school teacher in fact). I really feel that I don't judge anyone else for their choices one way or the other but I feel consistently judged for mine and I don't know how to not let it affect me. I put a lot of thought and research into homeschooling in particular, it wasn't something I just did on a whim, and I make sure (in normal times!!!) that he has ample opportunity to play and socialise with other children and all the things that people worry about with homeschooled kids. This has not been easy at all because like I say I feel I don't fit in with many other homeschooling parents as they are often very much in the steiner/waldorf type vein and I am not.
I've always felt really affected by other people's opinions and I don't know how to overcome it. Common sense tells me that I have happy, well adjusted little boy who is clearly thriving but then I think what if others are right and everything I do is wrong? I've felt like this right from when he was a baby, it isn't specific to homeschooling.