If you suffer from low-self esteem, you may experience less certainty around your decisions.[1] Parenting requires dozens of decisions each day, sometimes before 8AM. From before our children are born, we’re asked and we ask ourselves, “Natural birth or medicated? Circumcision or no? Breastfeeding or bottom? Cloth diapers or disposable? Work or stay home? Crib or cosleep? Each purchase has implicates for our child and our family, from safety to cost to the “brand” we project as a mother.
Our uncertainty makes us more likely to compare ourselves to others, and that comparison can make us feel defensive before we even meet someone. This makes the difficult process of making new friends as an adult even more challenging when we become mothers. We view other’s choices as an implicit judgment of our own. If another mom is breastfeeding in the park, wearing a baby in a carrier, or, the big Mommy War, staying at home or working, we get offended just by seeing the opposite decision of what we’ve done.