I was sitting in the waiting room at the Pediatrician’s office with my six month old daughter for a scheduled check-up a few months ago. Another mom was sitting with her daughter, our girls looked to be the same age. After a few seconds of chatting, the other mommy started grilling me with questions and offering unsolicited answers – “Can your daughter wave? Oh, mine can. Does your daughter crawl yet? Mine is super close. Does your daughter sleep through the night? Mine sleeps great…” By the time the nurse called us, I all but jumped out of my seat, scooped up the baby and went running into the examination room.
But the damage was done, my mind started racing: Was it strange that my daughter wasn’t waving? Should I be worried that she wasn’t crawling? Why wasn’t she sleeping through the night? And then the worse one: Was I doing something wrong as a mother?
Suddenly a lightbulb went off. I had allowed the mommy in the waiting room to make me feel inadequate with her string of questions and answers. Then another thought: just when did motherhood become a competition?
Fast forward to this afternoon. While stopped at a traffic light, I started grooving out to Elmo’s Theme Song playing on the radio as my kids danced in their car seats. As I was flailing my arms wildly, I realized the women stopped in a mini van in the lane next to us was watching me. I froze in embarrassment only to see her throw her fist in the air at me a la “power to the people!” I waved and she honked, then the light changed and we drove along.
We can all agree that motherhood is comprised of one challenge after another. It’s time we all start grooving to the music and throwing our hands up in support of each other rather than making everything a competition. After all, aren’t we all running the same race, hoping to be winners in our kids’ eyes in the end?
So, from one mom to another, my hands are up to you all.
Sincerely,
From the Stork’s Nest-
Liz
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