Mommy Competition

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Your child may call them "show offs", we call them "brag hags"... and 82% of you claim to abhor the type and those gnarly feelings they bring out. Every time you come across HER she's hinting subtly, or gushing like a ton of bricks, about her child's lat

Do you have a friend who brags too much about his/her kids?

17 comments on "Mommy Competition"

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annemarie said…

hmmm…interesting topic. Yes, I think we all want our kids to be #1 in some aspect. It’s funny! I would love my lil’ A to be the next Picasso, and my lil’ N to be the next Beckham.

I also have twins, and they are each others best friend but aren’t as immediately social with others as I see with ‘singletons’. I find myself really caring about them wanting to make friends and be with others. That’s my focus right now. Can’t wait to blog about it!
sarah said…

There is simply no such thing as “mommy competition”. Yah, right. I feel it most, not when someone speaks highly of their own child – that’s fine by me – but when they choose to discipline my child or tell me about something “wrong” mine has done, even when they are completely right to tell me (and I want them to). Sadly, I don’t seem to have the ability to accept this as objectively and as well as I’d like to. It’s just like talking smack about someone’s else’s mom. I mean, I can comment on my own mother’s failings all day long but you say one negative thing about her and I about lose my head. I’ll be the one to say my child is annoying THANK YOU! Workin’ on it.
hattie said…

It is very hard for me to listen to someone else talk about their kids or grandkids without jumping in to talk, well brag, about mine. I understand that I need to listen politely, but I am always eager to get a turn to say how great my children are. I am so lucky to have many, many reasons to be boastful. It is hard to know where to start. If you think it is hard to limit bragging about your children, just wait until you have grandchildren. It is true that it is best to keep it to a minimum. Thanks for reminding me of that, JBJ.
reba said…

With the highs and lows of parenting, I get excited when my close friends share the highs, especially if they have had some lows, because you feel both with them. If I don’t know you and you are sharing your kids resume…yawn…really do you think I want to hear it?
alphamom said…

I’m totally gonna brag.

I know well three moms in this video from three separate parts of my life.

AWESOME. bwahahaha
candidcarrie said…

I am a braggess (doesn’t that sound so much better)! I do it to dazzle some, I do it to silence some, I do it when my kids are listening to get the biggest buck for my brag. When I announce report card results (stellar report card results, people!) I do it in front of my kids so that they can hear how proud I am. It is one thing to talk them up in your own home when no one is listening but telling your BFF in the aisle of the grocery store … well then this is seriously good report card stuff. I will go back and tell said friend from grocery store, thanks for listening to me babble about the report card status because Little Johnny needed that ego boost.

To me bragging is cool when done in moderation with friends or co-workers that are all about the sharing and the loving. I think the video is actually speaking about one-up-manship which is a wicked, wicked sin.
nicole said…

I disagree with Austria’s comment that if someone tells you their six year old is reading chapter books she’s lying… I have a five year old who is reading chapter books among other things. I HATE to tell people about my son because I feel that people will think I’m lying. Needless to say, they are surprised when they see that he can in fact read. I will have to post this up on my blog- because I have been bragged to and been the bragee. Is that such a bad thing? Why shouldn’t we as mothers cheer on our own children and the children of our mom pals?
birdlady8170 said…

I brag when it is due. Hey every mom has the right as long as it is done in taste.
trendytykes said…

I don’t think there is nothing wrong with bragging (in moderation). However, I do not want to hear about PERFECT kids ALL.THE.TIME.
It’s annoying to only hear what they did RIGHT or GREAT. They are the best blah blah blah… I have friends that do nothing but brag. I honestly want to set up hidden cameras to see just HOW GREAT these kids are when no one is looking.

hmmmm
trendytykes said…

and I used a double negative up there….oops! “I don’t think there is anything wrong with bragging.”

That is better.
junkinmytrunk said…

I was a reading specialist in an elementary school. During kindergarten pre-testing every parent who came through “warned” us that their child was “gifted”. Some of these “gifted” children didn’t know their colors. I cringe when I look back at some of my own bragging!
nodramamama said…

I am a confessed “bragger” – but i try to keep it real, even for myself – i talk highly of both my girl’s traits and imperfections! It is the reality: she surprises me one minute with some out of the chart comment and a meltdown worth of “i want to be a runaway mommy” the next. I have no problem with moms talking about their child’s “gifts” – but i cringe with the ones who never give in to a bad moment they’ve had…
nodramamama said…

By the way, i also know someone who does “reverse bragging” – she only talks about how bad her kids are, how sick they get, how they never do what she wants, and how they may be adhd or autistic or allergic or else and how they need special school, special everything, and there’s always a negative comment to be made. I know her kids and they are beautiful, smart, and behave just like normal kids… is it another way of getting mom attention for their own insecurities?
shanni said…

I’m both – I talk about both the bad and good in my kids, and the bad in good for me for that matter. But I’m also a believer that there is truth and falseness in all things, an equalibrium – a happy medium. Give credit where credit is due. I think that when there is real bad in a kid, that moms should not talk about that with others, that makes the mom just as bad, if not worse. I have some of the same issues with my child, but I also know that don’t we all – that’s what makes him a child. And what your talking about is munchausen by proxy which is not a cool thing for kids to do to their children
shanni said…

I’m both – I talk about both the bad and good in my kids, and the bad in good for me for that matter. But I’m also a believer that there is truth and falseness in all things, an equalibrium – a happy medium. Give credit where credit is due. I think that when there is real bad in a kid, that moms should not talk about that with others, that makes the mom just as bad, if not worse. I have some of the same issues with my child, but I also know that don’t we all – that’s what makes him a child. And what your talking about is munchausen by proxy which is not a cool thing for moms to do to their children
shanni said…

sorry about the two posts – i goofed in the first one at the bottom line where it said its not cool for kids to do to their children, I meant moms, I corrected in the second one after I clicked to add my comment – I couldn’t stop it, sorry
liamandcaleb said…

I like to think I’m a sane, non-competitive mommy (yes, that is my husband howling with laughter in the background) but when my son’s kindergarten report card came home, all my sanity went flying out the window as I realized he’s not at the top of the class. I hated my reaction not only bc I think the whole idea of grades in kindergarten is totally ridiculous but also bc it meant I wasn’t seeing my son’s achievements in their own light, but instead was framing him with my own concerns and worries (which of course we can’t help doing, as parents, but still, a gal likes to think she can rein it in sometimes!) I wrote about all this here: http://www.nycmomsblog.com/2010/04/its-only-kindergarten.html