We mothers are a bossy lot. We come by it naturally. I like to believe that God gave us a warrior spirit- the kind that sees red when someone tries to harm one of our kids. We are protective, territorial and, well, a bit rough to deal with when it comes to the health and happiness of our kids.

I was recently talking with Dave Ramsey on-air about being bossy and I admitted that I have a “side” to me. One woman once referred to me as a pit bull. I’m not exactly proud of this.

Protectiveness with our kids is generally a good thing. But it can also get us Moms into trouble. When protectiveness suffocates our kids, control stifles them and competitiveness brings out our inner beast, we need to change. These three are on the same continuum. One can quickly morph into another and get us into deep trouble.

When our children are born, we feel pressure to breastfeed. We are told that good mothers breastfeed. And we want to be good Moms. If we don’t breastfeed, we feel guilty. As our children enter grade school we look around the classroom to see how the other kids are…