by Melissa Willets posted in Parenting

Yesterday afternoon in the preschool pickup line, a friend gave me a compliment on my outfit: "I love those pants." And here was me: "Oh, I wear them like, every day. They're from Target. Blah."
Like always, when anyone compliments me, I immediately default into self-degradation mode. My mom tells me my hair looks good, I'm all, "I haven't even washed it lately." My husband sweetly says I'm beautiful, and I retort, "I guess you like the unshowered, haggard mom look."
I don't know why I do it. Bad habit"
But in all seriousness, I left school wondering why I can't take a compliment. Why am I so resistant to anyone saying anything nice about me" My best guess is, as a mom, I am always so focused on my kids, when the attention shifts to me, I grow uncomfortable. But a stranger's recent praise made me rethink my automatic reaction to something nice being said about me. It happened at CVS of all places, while I was getting a flu shot. My 4-year-old daughter accompanied me as my support person. The pharmacist had just ushered us behind a privacy curtain to administer the injection.
She had me sit in a chair, and then knelt down to clean my arm, at which point I joked my daughter was afraid we were here for her. "But you already got your flu shot, right honey"" I prodded my little one, who was adorably closing her eyes in preparation for my shot.
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