Anna Sharp (September 14, 2011) - You know all the things you swore you'd never do when you became a parent, i.e. wander around the grocery store wearing sweatpants with spit-up on them?

I was never, ever going to be one of these moms who chauffeur their firstborn from one enrichment activity to the next--mommy and me yoga, Wiggleworms, pre-ballet for godssake--while the second child ends up spending most of her formative first year whimpering in the car seat.

Oops. Parenthood is humbling, to say the least. I know I'm not alone whenever I come across one of those studies that confirms the obvious (well, obvious to anyone with a box of designer dresses in storage, size 3-6 months): families invest more time, money, and attention in first-born children, and there's a snowball effect--the more firstborns are nurtured, the stronger (academically, athletically, musically, whatever) they become, which prompts us to invest even more.

Our older daughter has thrived at Language Stars, so to begin trying to balance things out, we enrolled our younger daughter this fall. To celebrate her first class, she got to wear a real outfit and everything, not just a hand-me-down hoodie to cover up the stains on her pjs.

There's a parenting book called Siblings Without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish that has been setting on my bedside table for two years awaiting a thorough read, but already I've found many gems just thumbing through.

"When one child stakes out his or her area of special competence, be on guard about excluding others from that area," the authors say. "No child should be allowed to corner the market on any area of human endeavor."

The joys of foreign language are for everyone, and I want both girls to know that early on. After all, what if Serena had decided tennis was really Venus's thing?