Good Mail

I received some very good mail last week. A beautiful Spring fairy card from Amanda- paper crafter extraordinaire (some seriously cute ideas). A nice note from Laurie, who should be blogging. She is my, I think 2nd cousin? I am not sure but her branch of the family tree needs some representin'. Nanci, my hometown friend sent a wonderful card after we had a long phone conversation all about parenting insecurities (among other insecurities). Thank you everyone!

In the card Nanci sent she included this quote that has been on my mind ever since.

"Praise each child individually, help him or her escape our cultures obsession with comparing, competing and never feeling good enough"
-Elder Jeffery R Holland

If we can keep from comparing ourselves and our children to others....oh how happy we would be. I really want to be able to help my children overcome this "obsession" of comparing and competing. I remember when I was little I was so open to the world. I loved everyone, and there was no doubt in my mind that everyone loved me, or would love me once they met me. My parents did a great job of making me feel special and loved. And then, I lost it. Not completely lost it, but I think every year of school knocked me down a notch on the ole' self esteem scale. The crazy thing is, I actually had lots of friends, and did really well in school but I remember comparing my accomplishments to others and it seemed whatever I could do was never good enough (just as Elder Holland said). I need to go re-read the talk to see if I can get some insights on how to stop comparing myself to others, and then how to keep my kids from falling into the trap. In the mean time, does anyone have any ideas of how to get over this?