For all of us moms of cute kids!

Ok, so I know there will be someone who's child walked, talked, and ate steak with their 6 teeth at 1 month old that will be offended by this, but this is for the rest of us.

I use to have this friend who compared EVERYTHING about our kids. Her kids always walked sooner, talked sooner, ate strained vegetables sooner. To hear it, you'd think they were reciting their ABC's at birth and penned their first memoir just in time for their first birthday. This friend was always doing her best to make me feel that my children weren't up to par because they walked "late", talked "late", etc. I long ago became comfortable with them hitting these milestones when they were perfectly ready to do so, but admittedly felt that mama bear twinge at every "MY child should show YOUR child how to do it" she muttered.

So, while listening to the radio yesterday I had to laugh. I laughed so hard my Dr pepper came straight out my nose. which stings y'all (but not as bad as tequila, which is a story for another day). I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes and my makeup smeared so bad I was a hot mess all day long. But it was worth it.

The guy on the radio talked about this research project that was done in some remote safari or something off the coast of Africa. He noticed that the ugly offspring in any given litter seemed to become independant sooner than the attractive offspring, and offspring of less attractive parents (who were as such less than Ideal themselves) became independant sooner than the attractive offspring of attractive parents.

He also noticed that uglier offspring tended to be pushed out of the nest sooner than attractive offspring and were the last to be moved to safety in the event of a predator approaching.

He surmised that these ugly offspring, by some genetic prompt, became independant sooner because of the risk of being abandoned by their parents.

So, the next time someone else's kid is walking at 9 months and yours is still happily crawling? You can turn and walk away with a smile, knowing it's because your kid is cuter.