Us stay at home mom types don’t really get a whole lot of feedback on how we are doing, this can be both nice (no sweating those annual reviews) and hard (how am I doing). I think a lot of moms use comparison as their marker to see how they are stacking up against moms with similar aged kids. This too can be dangerous. On Sunday I went to a brunch for other expectant mamas and there were quite a few of us with 15 month old boys, my son is still very quiet and not talking much other than a few beginning sounds here and there, the kids at the brunch were asking for juice and one was even putting together some simple two word phrases. I was blown away by how far behind my son really is. I just couldn’t help but wonder what had I done wrong and how could I quickly get back on track. After a few sleepless nights that I’m working with my son as much as I can and his speech delays aren’t actually a reflection on my parenting skills. It’s something I’m sure a lot of parents with kiddos with delays struggle with, it’s so hard to ask yourself what am I doing wrong, instead of patting yourself on the back for all you are doing right.
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Hi. This is my first visit to your blog, so I’m sure I’m missing some key parts of the conversation. I just want to ask you if your son has been diagnosed with a speech delay? I would gently caution you against comparing your son too harshly with other children, unless you have had a specific diagnoses. Kids really do develop at different rates, and if you are exposing him to conversation, words and stimuli, and he doesn’t have a medical condition, I’m sure he will come along in his own good time. Hang in there!
Thanks for stopping by-my son has been diagnosed and is making great progress for him, it’s just always not to be discouraged when I hear where his peers are at. Thanks for your support!
I understand. And it’s got to be hard not to get discouraged. I hope you’ve got the support and resources that you need. Blessings.
My son has always had speech issues and I know how hard it can be to not “compare”. As long as you have in therapy and work with him as much as you can then the delay in NO indication of how you are “doing” as a mom.
Keep working at it! You are doing great!