Friday, January 16, 2009

The Mommy Competition

“I am so glad I took the day off...I signed Joey up at Tumble Bee, organized all my closets, ironed on name tags for all his clothes for next year and made dinner for the next ten nights. “

“Oh—my Caitlyn and I went to kiddy yoga, picked-up her violin for the new Suzuki method training, and put her on the wait list at Harvard.”

The women politely turned to me. I was sitting in a waiting room for one of those endless “Well Baby” visits while The Beast sat on my lap happily drooling and chewing on her baby board book. “Oh...well I also took the day off...the monster actually took a nap so I made myself an iced coffee and sat outside and read a WHOLE magazine article!..in the New Yorker!” It was one of the best days I have had in a long time.

For some reason they did not share my joy. One of the woman actually said—”I don’t even know you, but I hate you. “

It is my fault I know what my priorities are?

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a competitive mommy situation? I hardly notice it now, but it is a constant here in the wilds of the upper middle class suburbs...who is the better mommy, the most saintly, the most giving, the most organized, the one who can position her child in the best social/academic/sports circles...

I find it all very tiring and I assume it will only get more intense as the kids head off to college.

2 comments:

SJC said...

These mother competitions happenings always make me feel the worse mother in the world. After the fact I come to my senses I realize that it is impossible that they do what they claim to do. It is not humanly possible, at least for me.

LazyMom said...

Even if it is possible, I feel life is too short. Let the house be messy. Let the kids have a free Saturday. Step away from the mommy rat-race and relax with a cup of coffee.