Competitive Parenting

When did parenting become a competition? Are there medals awards, trophies given out...? Did I miss something that I should be striving for? I have always known that people are competitive but I feel like it's getting extreme. We all have probably dealt with this--that friend or friends whose child is perfect or has everything worse than what your child does. I just don't get it? What does it matter if your child walks a little later than someone else's or if they say more words? I feel like sometimes I can't even talk about my boys without having someone say "Well, MY child...." like they have to one up me. We're parents--we talk about our kids and that's fine, but instead of saying something like "Your child does that? Mine never ______" or "Your child can only say 4 words? My child has been talking since 6 months", simply say something supportive and don't take it as a challenge.
If you are a member of any websites or social networking where you don't really "know" the other people or don't see regularly, you probably have seen what I have heard called the "Internet Baby Syndrome". These babies who do everything early, never get in trouble, do as they are told....It's frustrating! Do I really believe that your baby rolled over at 4 weeks, is talking in full sentences at 12 months, reading at age 18 months, never whines, sleeps 14 hours at 3 months, cleans their toys up without challenge, eats everything you give them....? NO and I don't get why you feel like you have to even say this. But whatever--it's the internet and it doesn't really affect my life, does it? It's just something that annoys me and I felt like discussing.
I just wish that I could have a conversation with my mom friends (dad's just don't do this as much that I have seen) without getting annoyed because they seem to be trying to make me feel like something is wrong with my boys or me as a parent.