Having kids - H

I'm procrastinating. I spent an hour at the DMV waiting to renew my license and finally change my name and address on it. Then, I went food shopping for a few things, and now 4 hours after I started my day, I still have a full to do list. It's lunch time though, and I'm starving so I'm taking a break before tackling the rest of the list.

I thought that the height of comparing yourself with others was over in high school. I think I'm beginning to realize that it can be worse when you're a parent, maybe especially a new parent. Am I doing the right thing? Why isn't my kid doing ...? Should I be pushing my kids to do ... like all the other kids? Is my child going to be behind? Should I be doing ... like the other parents are? Then there's the struggle to want to keep up with the others, but what if you have a different philosophy about X, Y, and Z than they?

I guess I can be an anxiety stricken new mom or I can just take everything in stride and let it be okay that I feel inadequate sometimes and that my kids might not know all the "tricks" that other kids were taught. Others have said that there will always be someone who is one up on you, and I imagine that's true with everything and not only parenting. I want to be careful about all of the unspoken lessons and messages I'm teaching my kids by what I emphasize through my actions. Gosh, parenting sure is a lot of responsibility. Lord, help us!