Why moms love comparing their kids' feats?

A close relative is 5 months older than me. Her mom loved comparing every milestone of hers with mine..it was always a competition at home and somehow she was deemed better than me in everything that we did - socialising, studies, profession etc etc. It bloated their egos and made them feel good by repeating it over and over again. As a kid it did not matter to me, then in my tweens I wondered why this happened,in my teens it irritated me until I finally learnt how to ignore it in my twenties. But it took me more than 2 decades and patience of my mother to listen to the stories all the time. I have nothing against any of them, sometimes it is all so circumstantial.

A generation has passed. We had our kids in 2006 and as destiny would have it, they were again born a couple of months apart, with mine being younger than my cousin's. History repeats itself. The comparison continues. My cousin has a sweet little daughter. Every milestone of hers like turning, teething is the breaking news in the family. When my son got his teeth when he was 5 months and 4 days old, I mentioned it casually to them to which I was told,"Oh yes, she got it a few days back." The cousin's kid was 8 months old then." Now 3 months difference is a long time in infancy. But I chose rather not to respond.

I often see a lot of moms exchanging their kids' milestones given an opportunity - on e-mail, phone, a walk in the park. Has he done that yet? Oh this late, my kid did that when he was ..months/years old? Not yet potty trained? Not yet weaned and so on? I choose not to ask any of my friends who all have kids of the same age as to what their achievements are. Every kid is unique and let us grow them like kids. The Seniol said, "They are not doggies. Don't train them on everything." Comparison, the mother of all evils never ends.