We started homeschooling this year, and my four year-old daughter has been comparing herself to her six year-old brother, then acting afraid to do anything when she doesn't measure up.
For example, she will ask to write, which she doesn't know how to do yet. Note this isn't an assignment we give her, it's always at her own request. I say something like, "Okay, let's learn to write," and give her something at her level, but a little challenging, like practicing writing an 'A'. Sometimes she does it happily, but just as often she balks away and whimpers.
I'm not sure the exact reason, but I think it's because it's not the kind of writing her brother does. Her brother did his first year at public school, so she didn't see his beginning steps of learning to write. To her view, when we started "doing school," her brother already knew how to write and she didn't. She doesn't understand why he can do it and she can't, even though she is far ahead of where her brother was at her age.
How can we help her understand and be happy with the level she is, and not be afraid to struggle with something she sees is now easy for her brother? Why does she ask to do something, then not want to do it?