Mompetition

Being a mom can be a really hard job.  Many of us remember back when we had real jobs, you know the kind that brings in an actual paycheck.  For many women gossip and competition is an integral part of the job place.  This doesn’t change just because you’re not in the actual workplace anymore.  In fact I think it only gets worse in some cases.

My son crawled at 6 months.  Yeah?  Well my daughter walked at 7!  I can breast feed both my twins at the same time.  I haven’t slept in 3 weeks.  I haven’t slept in 6 months!  And it goes on and on.

Really, I’m not kidding.  Moms compete about the silliest things.  And other moms are the first people who are going to try to tell you how to raise your children, whether you want the advice or not.

I remember when Kaylee was 7 months old.  She was in the 95^th percentile for her height.  I had met 15 month olds that she was taller than.  So, the problem I ran into is that people would look at her crawling around and would ask me if she was walking yet.  I’d look at them like they’d grown a second head and tell them no.  Oh…  That would be most of their responses.  It wasn’t until a month into this that I finally discovered what was going on.  These people thought something was wrong with me or my daughter because she wasn’t walking yet.

Seriously?  She was only 7 months.  And even if she was over 1 year it’s not a big deal.  All children develop at different rates.  They all do things on their own time.  I let my daughter move at her own pace and I would never push her to do anything that she’s not ready for.

Mompetition is such a big part of the mom community.  The boards, the play dates.  It’s in all of those places.  On one of my mommy boards recently a mom actually posted this thread, “When did your baby…” and proceeded to ask when they walked, talked and crawled.  I hate this kind of thing because all it’s doing is opening the door for mompetition.

Mompetition…   Funny word.  I love it!  A friend of mine found this site http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7148143/why-i-cant-make-mom-friends.  I feel like I am the mother who writes these.  It’s exactly how I feel most of the time that I am interacting with other moms.

A friend of mine recently had her first baby and I am so proud of her.  Her little girl is so beautiful and amazing.  I just wish to give her and any other new moms out there some advice.  Watch out for mompetition.  It’s a crazy mom world out there and someone will always be trying to make you feel like you are doing an inadequate job as a mommy.  It’s so hard being a mommy for the first time, you have so many doubts and are constantly worrying that every decision you make may be wrong.  The last thing you need is other women, the people who should be supporting you, making those doubts worse or scaring you.

So, just think over the advice and things people tell you.  There is no wrong way to parent and unless your doctor is concerned about your child’s progress, you shouldn’t be either.