Baby vs. Baby

I know you have this image of two little tykes in diapers sitting in a play pen with their wild-eyed mothers shouting “Take him down!”

No? Just me? Well sometimes it can feel like that when you’re talking to other mom’s about what milestones your little ones have reached.

Yes, we all do it. We compare our children to others and it can quickly turn into an unspoken competition. In fact I think it’s human nature -- you know survival of the fittest and all. We do it to assure ourselves that our kids are developmentally similar to others of their own age; to determine whether we need to stage an intervention early on to help our children advance; or to confirm our assumptions that our children are far superior than others. Healthy or not we do it; even if we keep it to ourselves.

We compare everything.

Who poops more often, who sleeps longer, who’s bigger, who’s crawling, scooting, rolling or walking. Who’s eating more, who babbles, blows bubbles, squeals, or says mama. Who claps their hands, plays pat-a-cake, or can turn a page in a book. Who’s talking, singing or dancing. Ugh.

We’re all told by community health nurses that babies and young children develop at different rates so we shouldn’t be comparing our children. Unfortunately, sometimes we can’t help it. It’s a fast-paced world out there and no one wants their child to be left behind in the dust.

All this competition can sometimes leave us feeling a little self-conscious about our parenting abilities, especially if our little one hasn’t reached all the milestones that his best bud has. So what do I do?

Lie.

Sure this photo looks like Sophie is just playing with fridge magnets like any other two-year old does…

But a close up of the finished product shows her mad skills at long division; Uh huh, who’s smarter now?

And this photo looks like Willow is drooling and slobbering all over a block like any other 5 month old…

But there you have it; she’s stacking irregular shaped blocks, amazing!

So this strategy is not honest, but if you have a friend that always has to one up you on what amazing thing their kid is doing, this will certainly get them to keep a lid on it next time. Can't argue with hard photographic evidence. Tee hee.