It always surprises me that we think so locally when we compete. While the world carries billions of people, most of which we’ll never meet (and arguably don’t really care about), we decide it’s fit to challenge the others whom we’re close to such as our “friends” and family. Why do we do this? Why do we insist on comparing ourselves to the people we know and care about in a way that actually ends up damaging our relationships?
It’s beyond me, but I think we’d do so much better and be so much more constructive with our lives if we didn’t bother competing so much, especially in areas that don’t really matter. How far advanced your sisters son is, is totally irrelevant. Is your kid smarter than your neighbours? Who cares! In the long run, your kid and your sister’s kid are probably someplace around the median. It will do you no good to constantly compare the number of signs and the sign clarity to people you know.
As I’ve said many, many times, signing is meant to be fun and meant to connect with your baby. Can this be turned into some kind of race? Of course it can – my connection with my kid is stronger than your connection! How stupid and lame! Grow up a bit and learn that there’s more to life than such childish pursuits. The fact is that there is a huge spectrum of abilities and an early start in life is no guarantee of future success. You can bank on that – just do a survey of the most successful people you know. How well did they do in school? Did they sign when they were a kid. Not likely, and yet, still they fit into society just fine, got a job, married and all the other good stuff.
Just enjoy the time you get to spend with your baby when they’re young. Soon enough there will be much bigger and more important things to worry about!