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Maci Bookout shares her ‘unpopular’ opinion about parenting

Maci Bookout Teen Mom OG
Maci wants other parents to consider giving themselves more credit. Pic credit: MTV

Teen Mom veteran Maci Bookout has some parenting advice for her fans.

The 31-year-old mom of three recorded herself as she was winding down for the evening and shared her thoughts with her 4.4 million followers on Instagram in her Story.

Sporting a Things That Matter t-shirt from her lifestyle/clothing brand, Maci told her fans, “Okay, in a world full of unpopular opinions, I’m gonna throw an unpopular action at y’all.”

“How often, as parents, at the end of the day, do we sit down when the house is quiet and it’s just us and our own thoughts?” she continued.

“How often do we criticize ourselves and think about how we could have done things differently?”

“How we could have done things better? How could we have shown up the way we want to show up?” Maci continued, “Versus, how often do you sit down and say, ‘You know what? All those little people, that little young person that’s reliant on me, went to sleep peacefully knowing they’re loved and feeling loved.'”

Teen Mom star Maci Bookout challenges fellow parents to pat themselves on the back rather than criticize themselves

Maci encouraged her fans to consider whether they know that the people who rely on them went to bed feeling peaceful and loved, and if so, to pat themselves on the back, and if not, to give themselves some grace.

If not, Mackenzie urged her fans to wake up the next day and show gratitude for being given a second chance to try again.

“We got this,” Maci ended her message.

Maci has three children — she and her ex, Ryan Edwards, share their 14-year-old son, Bentley, while she and her husband, Taylor McKinney, have two children, Jayde, 7, and Maverick, 6.

Maci and Ryan split in 2010. Two years later, she met Taylor, and they announced the birth of their daughter, Jayde, in 2015. The couple welcomed Maverick in 2016 and wed later that year, as Teen Mom OG viewers watched during Season 6.

Ryan was once a major part of Maci’s storyline on the Teen Mom franchise. However, in March 2021, Ryan and his family — including his soon-to-be ex-wife Mackenzie Edwards and his parents Jen and Larry Edwards — were fired by MTV.

Sources claimed that Maci had something to do with Ryan’s firing, as she no longer wanted her issues with him to be the focus of her storyline.

Surprisingly, Ryan briefly returned to the Teen Mom franchise last year. During the finale for Season 2 of Teen Mom Family Reunion, Aftermath, Ryan appeared on stage with Maci.

Maci’s ex, Ryan Edwards, remains MIA in their son Bentley’s life

Ryan got emotional as he discussed his co-parenting relationship with Maci and how much he missed spending time with Bentley. Ryan admitted that he wanted to spend more time with his son after being mostly absent from his life.

It looked as though Maci and Ryan were beginning to make progress in their co-parenting relationship; even Dr. Cheyenne Bryant called their progress “really beautiful.”

However, with Ryan’s recent legal issues, it’s not likely that he’s spending any more time with his firstborn child. Ryan is currently serving time behind bars at Silverdale Detention Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for nearly the next year, as reported by Monsters and Critics.

After a string of arrests dating back to February of this year, Ryan was locked up while Mackenzie currently retains custody of their children, Jagger, 4, and Stella, 3. Mackenzie has also since filed for divorce.

Teen Mom: The Next Chapter is currently on hiatus.

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