Thanks to social media, in recent years people have gained the ability to share every single part of their life with their friends, family and even total strangers. It's debated in society that this ability has produced a superficial, overly happy and perfect persona which many reflect on their social media feeds, to show off to fellow peers.
It's thought that this culture shift has led to an 'appearance mean everything' mentality. In previous years, it was a lot easier to go about your day looking like you'd just woken up without a second thought, but now, we find ourselves dressing up, spending hours on how we look to perform the most mundane of tasks. We might even stop to take a quick snap of ourselves, picking up tomatoes for dinner that night, looking like the queen Bey herself!
It's apparent these trends have even leaked into the lifestyles of the older generation when we look at a recent survey conducted by www.VoucherCodesPro.co.uk. In the study they found that over two thirds of British mothers admitted to being concerned about what other parents at the school gates thought of them.
This statistic might shock or upset people but it isn't surprising when following perfect parents with flawless looks and little to no problems has become the hip thing to do. Parents will follow these bloggers, vloggers and instagrammers hoping to get tips or information on how to do things as perfectly as they do but the presentation these personalities choose to show on their social media channels is unachievable, meaning those who are trying to emulate it will never quite get there.
It doesn't stop people from trying though. According to the poll almost two thirds of the mothers questioned admitted that they applied makeup purely for the school run, and over half had worn sportswear to give the impression to other parents that they planned to work out that day or had already done so.
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What's possibly the most worrying statistic in this is that 91% participants stated they thought other parents were often judgemental at the school gates. With this in mind, it's no shock that so many mothers feel the need to put on a layer of makeup or spend more than half an hour on their appearance before leaving for the school run (37%).
Being a parent is hard enough without the added pressure of appearing perfect, like our social media idols, to other parents loitering at the school gates. Part of being a parent is making mistakes, doing simple, everyday tasks looking rundown and not getting enough sleep. No one should be made to feel bad by other parents, who should know the challenges faced by those with little devils (or angels). It's sad when playground behaviour transfers to the school gates and this whole attitude of having to 'one up' each other or appear like the perfect versions of ourselves at all times is just ridiculous.
Allow yourself the pleasure of not having to care about what other parents think when you go to pick up your children from school. If other parents judge you for this then instead of feeling bad about yourself, you should feel bad for them. They obviously have nothing better to do.