How To Handle Competitive Mums (and dads)

Wednesday’s post about motherhood had a fair few people tweeting me that motherhood hasn’t been what they expected at all. The biggest gripe seems to be the behaviour of other mothers, especially competitive mums. We’ve all met them. The mums who have to tell you their baby was potty trained before 1 year, or walked at 8 months and read before school. The mums that also make a shocked face when you tell them your child isn’t Mensa rated and yes, still eats with their hands. When I was a new mum I thought (or rather hoped) that all the competitiveness about what our babies were doing would fade away. How wrong I was. What I didn’t realise was that competitive parents, always find new things to be competitive about no matter what age your children are. With my 6 year old the current competition is about what level reading the kids are on. Mixed with ‘What did he/she get for the homework’ and my all time favourite – who does what with the class teddy at weekends. Having said that thankfully not all mums and dads are competitive and over time I’ve found the best way to silence a competitive mum is just to refuse to be drawn in to the conversation. Believe me nothing stops a bragging mother faster than saying – ‘That’s great’ – to everything they say. In fact I would go so far as to say it actually drives them crazy. Anyhow that’s how I deal with it but what’s your experience of competitive mums? How do you deal with them? Let us know.