to ask what you see other Mum's doing that puts you to shame

[Totality22]

I just saw a mum jogging with her double pram.

Made me feel like shit so I've grabbed another slice of cake

Seriously though, is it normal to look at other Mum's and think "I wish I could do that"

mums who know all the makaton... i try really hard and only know a few, but my 15 mo DD knows 2

I remember seeing a woman in the supermarket once with a baby and toddler both siting naisely in their double buggy and an older one walking naisely and holding on to the buggy while she did her shopping and looked serene.

How, just how?

In reality, I was only seeing a snapshot of her life and I am sure (I hope!) she had her fair share of days when the baby and toddler were screaming and fighting in the buggy while the older one rampaged around them!

I did have a colour coordinated baby wardrobe I was a bit obsessed with their little clothes!

I should add that, despite their colour coordinated wardrobes, they still all mamanged to look like they'd been dragged through a hedge backwards most days!

Why would you compare yourself and envy another person. You can do all those things if you want, it's a shame.

People who tell their kids off & the kid just sulks but nothing else happens.

fevertree tell me the two she knows are 'chocolate biscuit' and 'milk'!

The best two

When my twins were babies, I used to see other mums walking past the window pushing buggies ... how did they manage to leave the house by 9.30am??!!

Now they are 4, we are up and out every morning, of course. I remember thinking I would never, ever leave the house before the afternoon again!

Clean children.
Mine always have faces covered in snot and fluff, even though I wipe them regularly and rather frequently.

Clean, neat clothes. Other than my work clothes, most of my stuff is well worn and often-washed. A friend recently came to help me declutter and she wanted to throw all my bobbled clothes but that wouldn't have left me with much.

Mums with clean clutter free houses
Just how????

I joined a Facebook group for sharing sensory play ideas and the time and money some of the mums must spend on their tuff trays and 'invitations to play' are insane. I thought I was being good for letting DD paint on bubble wrap and play with shaving foam every now and then, let alone coloured rice in every colour of the rainbow and light boxes!

I have to confess to knowing a lot of makaton, but my secret is that my brother has used it all his life so I've got a good 30 years on the other mums. I might keep quiet about how I know it now I know it might be considered impressive

+1 for the Elsa hairdos. I did Anna pleats for my DTs and I was mum of the month, then they went into nursery and DTs' nursery teacher can do diagonal French pleats on wispy shoulder length toddler hair. How? How does she even get them to sit still?

At least here in the US, not all strollers are designed to be used while jogging. If you want to jog while pushing your baby in a stroller, first make sure your stroller is intended to do that.

Kids with neatly combed hair, or (worse) elaborately styled hair. In my defense, 2.5 yo DD's hair looks like I haven't brushed it in days when I brushed it an hour ago. I think she inherited my fine curly hair with a tendency to frizz (and to stand up from static electricity). I was never able to wear heavy barrettes or hair clips (hey, I grew up in the 80's), and was never able to grow my hair long enough for any kind of elaborate style. Sorry, sweetie... But I feel like a terrible mom when I see other kids with neatly combed hair.

DD is a very picky eater. I wonder what I am doing wrong when I see other kids much more willing to try new foods, and eating a wider variety of foods than she does.

DD, DH, and I are all night owls. The upside of this is that I don't get woken up at 5am on weekends by a toddler who won't go back to sleep. But I often feel like a bad mom because she doesn't go to bed early.

Ones who remember to let their kids out of the attic for a half hour or so of sunlight every day...

I would love for my dc to do crafts all day. As it stands, he wants to play pretend games woth you all day and that sucks.

I envy mums whis children play happily in the garden alone for hours. DS (5) has to be coaxed there and he stays outside on his own for max 10 minutes. In fact I envy mums whose children are happy to play and potter around the house alone. The only things ds will do alone is watching tv or playing with the tablet.

I think the playing alone thing is partly a question of temperament. I was loner kid. If you wanted to make me happy, you gave me a comfy place to sit and something interesting to read (though I would play outside by myself, too, given the chance). My father, my niece, and I suspect my DD, want someone else to join them in any activity they are doing. It really is the luck of the draw. I'm an introverted child of an extroverted parent, and it looks like DD may be the extroverted child of two introverted parents.

Maybe buggy lady wasn't jogging but in fact late and running I used to envy a friend of dds mum she would present beautiful cakes for brownie coffee mornings I could barely do crispy cakes same mum would run up Halloween costumes I went into woollies

Lovely quiet children. My twins have really loud voices, you can hear them a mile off!

Clutter free houses - but with 5 DD's that's never gonna happen!

Those Mums who can remain cheerful through the 93rd rendition of Happy And You Know It that day.

Faint strains of "if you're happy and you know it go the fuck to sleep" might have been heard in our house this week. (DD is only 7 months, so we're not worried about the swearing...yet.)

I'm 23 weeks pregnant, tired, and finding any kind of physical activity is getting a lot harder. I feel guilty when I see or hear about women who have lots of energy and do lots of physical stuff into pregnancy.

What LadyGregory said. Why should I feel bad about myself because other mums do things differently to me?

I don't bake or cook

I don't do the tupperware boxes of cut up veg thing

I look halfway decent even 'groomed', but I'm probably wearing a bra that hasn't been washed for three months and have dry shampoo sprayed on my greasy locks (I may even have applied new make up over old on occasion)

BUT I'm bloody good to talk to, all my kids feel listened to and loved and they know I put their feelings and thoughts before anything else so who cares really!

Women who post photos on their blogs around Easter of their 'Left-over Easter chocolate' recipes. Usually a nice looking torte or something with kale.

What the bunny heck is left over chocolate? I've never had left over chocolate in my life.

I remember being at the park with ds, nice day so no coats. All of a sudden it absolutely poured down, super mum pulled out a packamac for each child and herself. We got soaked to the bone, ds kept sticking the knife in all the way home 'why did that mummy have all those coats and you didn't have any?'

I bought each of us a packamac the very next day, but rarely remember to bring them.