I’m sure we
have all done this at least a few times, whether we want to admit it or not,
but do you ever catch yourself comparing your kids to others more than you
would like? Maybe it’s your nieces and nephews or your friend’s kids who are
similar in age to yours. Regardless, and maybe this is just because I don’t
have any experience with having older children, but it seems like it’s probably
even worse when your children are younger, like Myka’s age.
There is
such an emphasis on reaching milestones, especially for children under 3, it
seems. I understand the purpose they serve and why they’re important to keep
track of…but they also kind of drive me insane.
Ever since
Myka’s 9 month check-up last month, the whole milestone thing has been really
bothering me. I was less than pleased with what her doctor had to say, which I
guess isn’t really her fault. I suppose she was just doing her job, but I still
felt like Myka was being “judged” unfairly, which made me feel like I was being
a bad parent somehow.
Up until
this last check-up, Myka has been “right on track” for the most part with her
development and reaching these Godforsaken milestones. Last time, however,
there were some “issues”, shall we say, with her weight and I was told she
would probably start crawling and walking later than other kids because of it.
Like I said, doctor was just “stating the facts” like she’s been taught, but I
was still pissed upon leaving. Mostly because I was letting her make me feel
like Myka’s weight issue was my fault, which is stupid on my part because we
are far from over feeding her and don’t feed her crap. (Well, besides formula,
but that’s a necessary evil.)
I am still
struggling to get over it because I know I am/was overreacting some…or a lot. I
guess I just wish there were some sort of baby IQ test so I could at least
prove how smart she is, even if she hasn’t been reaching certain physical
milestones when she was “supposed to”. Lol I’m pretty sure Myka is on a mission
to prove the doctor wrong, though. In the last month she has started clapping,
raising her arms in the air for fun (you know, like “throw your hands in the
air, like you just don’t care”), doing the army crawl all over the place,
holding her own bottle (Ok. So I actually started making her do that like the
day before her appointment. I knew she could, she just didn’t want to.), and
going from lying down to sitting up on her own more regularly. (And by
regularly I mean all the time now!) She is even trying to pull herself up,
which is really exciting!
So, I
guess the moral of my rant/vent is I’m wondering if you catch yourself
comparing your kids to others more than you would like to or mean to. It’s not
really fair to ourselves or our kids, especially, but like I said, I think we
all do it whether we mean to or not. Have you ever had less than thrilling
check-ups with your kids? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Sometimes it is helpful to seek advice from other parents, but other times it just creates more stress. I am a member of an online mommy forum, but I only ever go on there if I REALLY need some advice, otherwise I would be picking apart every little way my daughter is not like other babies her age. But all babies are different.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes compare my own children to each other, but not to other people's kids. I have a family member that does, and always tries to one up everything. I hate how she makes people feel, so I choose not to do it. I know each child is different, and will choose when they want to do something.
ReplyDelete