Ever come across a mompetitor? (Are YOU one?)

September 21, 2010

A friend posted this video on her facebook page yesterday and I had to share with all of you—it’s a little parody of those super-duper, super-annoying, competitive moms who think they know it all/act like they are better than you/truly believe their kids poop doesn’t stink. It’s hilarious and definitely strikes a chord and rings a bell. I’m sure we all know a mom or two like this. Take a look and let’s discuss…

For me, the most common mompetition topics are as follows:

Breastfeeding: I’ve had many a run-in with breast-is-best mompetitors. I wrote a whole feature on it. And any time a mom asks me whether I’m nursing and then gets that tsk, tsk, holier-than-though look on her face when I say no, I want to scream.

Stay at Home Moms vs. Working Moms: Is it just me or is there a huge divide between these two camps? I honestly feel like SAHMs and WMs are different species who don’t understand the other’s language. And being a SAHWM myself, I’m always somewhere in the middle. But I literally hate when SAHMs at the YMCA mommy and me class I go to ask me how many days Alex is in daycare and what time I pick him up and look at me with a “how sad for you” look in their eye. Really? You know what I think? How lucky for me! (I know Sarah would agree.)

Organic food: I went to a kid birthday party recently where all of the food—right down to the brownies and the ketchup—was organic. I felt defeated. I try to make Alex homemade meals using organic foods as much as possible (I’m practically keeping Amy’s Organic in business) but my kid also eats crap sometimes. And by crap I mean munchkins from Dunkin Donuts, pizza from wherever and a bucket full of cheese balls that my mom bought him at Target the other day and that are so chemical tasting—and finger-staining—even I can’t eat them. And I live for orange-colored crap food.

Development: I have a friend who always asks me, “So, what’s Alex/Nora doing these days? Crawling, cruising, walking, clapping?” (This friend does not read the blog so to all my friends reading, it’s not you!) I don’t think she does it competitively but it comes off that way. And as a result I make a mental note to never ask any of my friends what their babies are doing. Especially if my kid is already doing it. I had a playdate recently with a friend whose baby is a little older than Nora. Her baby wasn’t crawling yet and Nora was. I was almost embarrassed to let Nora get down because I didn’t want to feel like there was any she-crawled-first anxiety. (My friend actually thought it was funny and her baby is now crawling all over the place and we laugh about it.)

Most of my friends and even mom acquaintances are not competitive at all. But every mom has her moments. I feel like sometimes I might come off as a mompetitor on the subject of sleep. My kids sleep great—because Nick and I worked hard to get them to do just that—so when people ask me about it, I tell them. No, I don’t get up in the middle of the night, no, my kids don’t come into my bed. And I probably come off like a know-it-all, show-off who thinks I’m better than the mom whose kid gets up five times a night. Which I’m not. I’m just better rested.

Do you know any mompetitors? Have any good stories to share? I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like once my kids are in school and playing sports or doing other things that actually are competitive. Should be fun!