Keeping up with Mrs. Jones

I know lots of moms. Some are crafty, some are incredibly active and others are unbelievably excellent cooks. Then there are the ones who make the whole work/life thing look ridiculously easy. It's that last set of moms that get to us. The ones who seem to have the perfect children, house, marriage - the ones that make us question how we are lacking in our own lives.

And all those thoughts are causing problems.

Researchers have found that moms feel that they are under pressure to keep up with other mothers, and oftentimes this leads to depression.

This is going to have to stop.

We've talked before about changing your inner mommy-logue and altering your negative thoughts, but we moms have to work on not comparing ourselves to other moms. Instead, we have to work together. We need to leverage our collective mommyness.

Once upon a time, I issued a grandparents challenge to teach my son the skills I don't have. Now I'm issuing a similar challenge to myself. I need to figure out the areas I normally shy away from (Sports. It'll be sports.) and see if there is a way to introduce them to my son. This might be through organized activities or something we learn together, or even with some help from another mom. 

I'm not doing this so that he can be better than another child, but to broaden his interests in life. No one should be stuck with the legacy of their parents' hobbies/sports teams/university because they were never given the opportunity to develop their own tastes.

What can't you do that you wish you could? Play piano? Speak another language? How will you give that opportunity to your child to see if he or she is interested in it? Tell me in the comments.