The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side
Monday, February 6, 2012 at 3:23PM
Ever catch yourself saying, "You're so lucky," or "I wish my kid [fill in the blank]?" I spent my first four months of motherhood with this perspective. I longed the cooing, smiling, easy-sleeper baby that many of my close friends so enjoyed. Early on in motherhood, I felt like I struggled while other moms had it easy.
But, I've come to realize that every mom struggles at some point. I'm part of a large mommy group. Some have children who are great sleepers but picky eaters, or great eaters but experiencing terrible tantrums, or great sleepers and eaters but experiencing a terrible bout of separation anxiety or children who are super adaptable/flexible in their environment but don't sleep through the night.
My point is that no matter what the situation, as parents we all have to deal with different struggles in raising our kids. Moms feel so much pressure to have a perfect child. The reality is that we only see a glimpse other children and we do not know what parents struggle with on a daily basis. As Jennifer clearly points out, motherhood is not easy.
Just remember, if you catch yourself saying, "You're so lucky," or "I wish my kid [fill in the blank]," remind yourself that parenting is a constant struggle. And while your struggles may not be the same struggles as your mommy friends, a struggle is a struggle and we need to be supportive of each other. It makes parenting a whole lot easier to get through.
A good friend of mine said that we [mothers] get too caught up in what our kids are not doing rather than what they are doing.
So be grateful for everything your child is.
Reader Comments (1)
Great post Alex. I also feel that as moms we don't really like to celebrate the accomplishments of our little ones are good at -- at least not yet. :) Like if a mom says, oh Ricky is such a good eater. Instead of saying yes, he is - I am so thankful, the other mom tends to say Oh, but sheila has such a good demeanor. Or I've often found that a lot of moms together complaining about a topic - like babies sleep, it's not a good idea to say, oh, our little one has been sleeping through the night since they were XX. I guess that's just being more polite than boastful though :).