All hail the Pinterest Mama...
There seems to be a real thing at the moment about 'Pinterest Mums', I keep hearing the term thrown around, usually alongside people feeling inadequate or feeling that they must admit to not being a certain way - the way we had perhaps pictured motherhood before it became a reality?
So firstly, a Pinterest Mum is basically the mum that looks after her immaculate zero snot super clean happy children, in her super tidy, Ikea'd to the max immaculately kept home, making fresh healthy pancakes even morning before the fun (always on time) school run. the Pinterest mum is always well dressed with great hair, effortlessly stylish with a constant smile whilst baking gluten free sugar free deliciously fat free, vegan friendly, perfectly shaped cookies - that never ever get burnt.
As you've probably guessed already, I'm pretty sure the Pinterest mama doesn't exist. I'm pretty sure nearly all of us lose our $#!t from time to time and to live in a perfect home with no washing pile, no vomiting cat, no mess and no clutter may be near on impossible for the average mama bear.
The school run is sometimes manic, sometimes happy and fun and more often that not a real life slice of actual hell. Baking is fun, baking with children half the time is not so and there's a reason we only make pancakes on a weekend - as a wise woman once said 'ain't nobody got time for that'.
Now as much as I like sharing our crazy life, there's a very good reason most of what you'll see is the pretty stuff, a very good reason that many purely show the beautiful makes and moments and it's simple.
The reason that some come across as 'Pinterest Mums' when perhaps they aren't, is not that they are showing off, it's not that they're trying to make us other parents feel bad, it's just that really does anyone want to see the bad bits? I'd much rather see someone sharing pictures of their beautiful immaculate home than gaze at another cluttered mess like ours is currently. I'd far rather see a happy child on an adventure than a screaming baby elbow deep in their own poop or having a tantrum. We all have those harder times, those truly awful moments of despair and quite frankly as much as we want to know we aren't alone, we don't want to see it.
It's nice to feel inspired, to feel like you have something to aim for even if in actual fact that perfection probably doesn't exist (except yes I'm sure it does somewhere but hush it's not common).
So next time you're watching Topsy & Tim whilst willing their mother to just drop an F bomb or Tim to crap on the sofa, just think that there will always be bits you don't see, sad bits, messy bits, cluttered bits, bits covered with bits that they don't even know what they are and have to do a sniff test. Nobody is completely perfect, some people somewhere may well be, but we have nothing to live up to, we are all different living different lives.
