Am I not doing enough...?

I have been struggling lately on whether or not I am doing enough for Mady. In all areas of her life. Is she playing enough? Being social enough? Active enough? Eating enough? Sleeping enough? Is she too spoiled? So many things come to mind when I think about this.

Man, being a mom is hard.

I was talking to my mom on the phone the other night about vastly different today's moms are compared to when my mom was a young mom with young kids.

She didn't send me to preschool until I was 4 which is what I thought was normal. Now, mom's send their children to preschool/mom's day out as young as 2. Am I not doing enough for Mady? Does she need that? If she does, I don't want to be holding her back.

However, after talking it over with my mom, I realized no, she does not need that right now. I can teach her the things she will learn in those programs. I can teach her shapes, and numbers, and colors, and her abc's in a fun, "non" learning way. Mady will go to preschool when she is 4. And I am sure she will be ready for it and love it.

But for right now, we can go on play dates, and to the park, and participate in different activities. She is a social butterfly. She does not need a program to teach her social skills. She is rocking it in that department.

Then, I see mom's doing flash cards with their kids. Again, am I not doing enough? Do I need to sit down with her for a certain amount of time during the day and teach her in a structured manner?

Again, the answer is no. Mady is not the type to sit down and "play" flash cards with me. She likes to run around and explore so I use that to my advantage and teach her things along the way.

I teach her in ways that work for Mady. Like when we play sidewalk chalk, we draw shapes and talk about what shapes we drew. Or when we are walking to the car, and we count to 10. Or we sing songs in the car, like the abc song.

I need to remember that I need to do what is best for my child. Not what every other mom is doing. Because, they have their own children and they can parent the way they see fit. Parenting comes in different varieties and forms.

It is one thing about the blogging/mommy world I don't like. The judging. The one up-ing. The comparison.

Because honestly, no two kids are alike.

And I need to remember that.

Do I knock mom's who choose to send their children to a preschool setting at the age of 2, absolutely not. They are doing what is best for their family.

Do I knock mom's who choose to do flash cards with their children. Again, absolutely not. Their children may love it and enjoy doing those activities.

We all just have to keep in mind what is best for our families and children.

But man, it is not easy.