My daughter taught herself to ride a bike sans training wheels yesterday and I couldn’t wait to yell it from the roof tops. I posted it on Facebook. I worked it into conversations, not just with good friends but random strangers.
In short, I had become one of those mothers I despise – the one who is always bragging about their kid. But I couldn’t stop myself. I was so darn proud of her. She achieved something that I never could have at that age. My heart overflowed, followed by my mouth.
So the question is why? I don’t think I’m deeply insecure as we so often assume those braggarts must be. I didn’t feel the need for validation of my parenting, since to be completely candid, she wouldn’t let me help her (which is probably a good thing considering I wouldn’t have known how). So why did I need to blab? To brag? To share?
Pride. I was really proud of my child and wanted to share it. I honestly didn’t mean to brag. I had no hidden competitive agenda. I was just a proud mama, but possibly annoying to others anyway.
So, what do you think? Have you ever bragged about your kid or rolled your eyes as someone else did?
2 Comments
I agree it is all in your attitude Its not a new thing that Parents are proud of their kids and they talk about it. it is new that the insecure punks who get defensive over well anything are telling you you can’t say anything positive about your child with out making them feel bad people are ruling the social norms. If the parent or child can’t handle hearing positive things about another person with out feeling like their self esteem is on trial then they need therapy and you shouldn’t worry about it unless you are intentionally trying to make such a person have a mental break down and then you may need therapy.
Maybe it’s because my kids are still pretty young (14 months) and were born super-early (at 26 weeks) and i’m still a new mom who doesn’t know all the “rules”, but i NEVER feel bad about bragging about my kids! I couldn’t wait to tell everyone when they first crawled or took their first steps or even put the blocks IN the bucket instead of dumping them out! And whenever i hear another parent tell me about their kid’s accomplishments, i genuinely feel happy for them. It’s easy to tell when a parent is bragging just to brag, or if they are truly proud of their kid – and fortunately i don’t think i have any friends who do the former.