The over-competitive mother.....

Competition has always been a part of my life. From the time I started taking voice lessons I started competing against other singers. I fought my way through a tough performing arts high school and took on many other performers for jobs after high school. However, I never knew true cut-throat competition like the kind that exists in the world of motherhood!!!

When Jax was first born I found myself aching for him to accomplish milestones. When we got around other kids his age I could not focus on anything except what they were doing or saying and how it compared to Jax. I would make comments about what he could do, and hope all the other mothers would be amazed and ask me how I was doing such a fabulous job raising my highly intelligent child! I decided to chalk it up to first time motherhood, and relax a little when Cash was born! It's amazing how kids progress naturally and don't do anything faster when you spend your days bragging to others about them :)

Now that I have done my best to put myself on the outside looking in, I do enjoy watching other mothers freak out about their children!!! I hate to say it, but there is something so amusing about a mother that thinks her kid is the ONLY one doing whatever it is he's doing. For example, the other day I heard a woman tell the nursery coordinator, "If my son gets bored in that nursery, you can move him up. You'll see he's very mature for his age!" WHAT???? Since when is a 2 year old mature??? Did she really think that he would get bored hanging out with other kids for an hour of his life??? I guess in case the blocks and cars in the 2 year old nursery weren't enough, he could go in the other room where the much higher educated 3 year olds were and delve into required reading of some sort. Now, I am not saying that I myself don't think that Jax and Cash are the greatest and smartest kids in the world (mainly because I'M their MOTHER), but lets be serious. I don't think at the ripe age of 3 I'm going to be able to tell if rocket science is in their near future! I do appreciate this mother's confidence in her child, but I just had to have a little laugh at her seriousness in it all.

The reason I can laugh at things like this is because I'm happy to say the mothers I spend my time with are wonderful. I am amazed by them all and how smart their kids are. There's no competition in the group and I like to think that we all help each other out in this whole motherhood thing we've gotten ourselves into. However, I must say that my kids are still the greatest in the world! Okay, maybe I'm not all out of my competitiveness :)



Cash passed out in his chair!!!!