Is Your Kid Normal?

Isn"t it crazy how your kid can be in a room filled with toys and all they are interested in is a plastic lid or a piece of paper? It"s not that kids don"t like toys, it"s that we put so much pressure on ourselves for toys to be educational, engaging, and fun. It seems like the science of early childhood education has caused our society to make thousands of checkpoints that your kid needs to meet from birth to preschool. Your kid seems to have all their steps mapped out for them. Then when your wife is telling you that according to some book or website, your kid should have had 4 teeth, able to pinch a cheerio, and giggle on demand by this time, you feel like your kid sucks because he can"t do any of those things.

You love your kid. You know that. But you may have this big fear that they won"t add up and you have society telling you that less than normal is bad. This is crazy and wrong and downright unhealthy. You may spend your kids entire childhood wondering if they are normal children and next thing you know they are teenagers.

Every one is different. Kids are no exception. I sure wish my daughter was potty trained the same way her friends are. But her friend"s parents might be wishing their kids could spell their name like my daughter can. Get educated on the key developmental checkpoints and communicate your fears with the pediatrician. Just whatever you do, don"t pressure your kid to conform to a set of standards written in a book.For peace of mind I have listed 10 checkpoints for you to tell if your kid is perfectly normal.

10. Your kid defies physics by seemingly poodadding sideways.
9. Your kid can laugh, cry, then laugh again in less than 1 second.
8. Your kid plays by himself during the entire game but during overtime, he suddenly demands full attention.
7. The one time you let your daughter drink her milk in the living room is the one time she spills it…all over your leather couch.
6. Your kid worships the Wiggles the way you worship the Pussycat Dolls: They don"t know their names, but they want to.
5. Your child has their diaper weighted down to their ankles and they still say they didn"t poodad.
4. Your kid knows the name of Elmo"s fish. So do you.
3. Your kid can sort out a single pea in a heaping spoonful of apple sauce
2. Your kid can accidentally bump his head and cry bloody murder for 30 minutes then fall off a chair and tear a chunk of skin off of his head and be perfectly fine.
1. Your kid is smarter than you. A lot smarter.