I love Instagram and I almost love Pinterest just as much.
But I find it's easy to get wrapped up in those pretty little images and forget they're often just staged, photoshopped little snapshots of someone's life, they're not always real life or at least not the whole picture anyway. We can sometimes be aspiring to be like something that isn't realistic or possible! Setting ourselves up for disappointment or a knock.
It's easy to muddle the beautiful ideas and projects for an image of the perfect parent. I'm fairly smart in that I know that perfect parenting doesn't exist. But sometimes that's hard to remember when you are surrounded by images of perfection. It's not about being jealous but setting yourself unrealistic standards!
I am never going to be that mum that can create those crafty masterpieces all of the time, or has one of those white sparkling homes with just little accents of marble and copper!
I love to get stuck into messy play, craft and baking but the majority of the time it looks as if a bomb has gone off in the house or the toddler leaves me stranded doing these things on my own after paddying that her paper dared to be the wrong way around or she all of a sudden had a hatred of getting a teeny splash of paint on her fingers, hardly Instagram worthy material! And don't get me started on our house... (Not that it's bad or filthy of course, just not picture perfect, I call it lived in!)
This isn't a rant against Pinterest, it's just a reminder that as magical as it can make things look that it's not always real and it's just a source of inspiration rather than perhaps a way of life we should all be living. I've come to learn that perfect pictures don't tell the complete story and actually would I really want life to look so glossy? The messy days can be the best ones!
I for one enjoy those beautiful images and the fun of trying out some of those new games and ideas and enjoy it for what it is, play time! I know it's not a competition and that sometimes people just have a really good knack for these things :) Me not being one of them!
And do you know what I'm pretty guilty of sharing images of perfect days out or holidays and what you don't see is the story behind it, the run up to the event or the aftermath, it's just a snapshot, a picture perfect moment.
A little something to think about...