Pinterest is a place to get inspired from must-try DIY projects to recipes that will make you drool. (The pictures alone will do it, which I suppose, is the point.) I recently joined Pinterest at the bequest of my pinner friends. I must admit, I’m late to the party and I was seriously curious to see what all the excitement is about. I quickly discovered, however, that I am not a Pinterest mom.
Once upon a time my first born was an only child. I relished the thought of perfectly decorated parties and a nursery with lots of homemade touches.
For his first birthday, I bought roughly a zillion dollars worth of scrapbooking materials and handcrafted Elmo invitations for the shindig. I even made these adorable little Sesame Street character cupcakes for the guests. It was too cute for words.
It was also completely exhausting and he didn’t have a clue.
By birthday number two, we opted out of a party all together and took the kid to see trains. He couldn’t have been happier.
Instead of inspiring me to get crafty, Pinterest just reminds me that I’m not fancy. Not even a little bit. The attempt to create such amazing-ness would be futile.
With a full time job and a house that could rightly be compared to a circus, I’m in no state of mind to be using a dangerous weapon like a hot glue gun or a can of spray paint.
There are a ton of cool things on Pinterest, none of which I am the slightest bit interested in doing myself. (Can’t I just buy it instead?)
I can definitely see why lots of people are starting to get Pinterest anxiety. It’s all so pretty! (Look it up; it’s a real thing.) How can any of us parents aspire to create so much perfection? Apparently you just pin something you like and go back to it later when your sanity returns. It’s as easy as that.
I think I never really liked Pinterest because it’s just too perfect. What parent has time for that? Or the energy? If you do, I salute you. For the most part, none of us are pursuing perfection as much as we’re attempting not to cause irreparable damage to our kids and their childhoods, and that’s ok.
Thankfully for the “hot mess mom” like me, you can find more on Pinterest than just cakes you want to make but would never have the skill to pull off. There’s great articles and quotes and other inspiring crap there too! I started making boards to help me get through the day, boards that make me feel like it’s OK to be less than perfect, boards with solid tips on how to survive this whole parenting thing. (And a little bit of travel too because traveling makes my heart happy.)
So this Pinterest thing isn’t all bad, but it takes some getting used to. If you’re an experienced pinner, please tell me all about how you became a pro. I’m legitimately curious how you became such a rockstar without having a mental breakdown. If you’re looking for some inspiration on how to survive parenthood, let’s connect on Pinterest and we can make it through together.
Shauna Armitage blogs about the beautiful disasters that make up modern parenting over at The Violet Moon. In addition to being a workaholic, she’s the mother of three crazy kids who completely rock her world. Most days, she can be found with a glass of pinot noir, in front of the computer, making lists, with anything Elmo playing in the background.
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