You post a picture of your gourmet dinner and all three children eating, no fits, no meltdowns, no tears, no fights.
You post a picture of your baby sleeping peacefully in the crib. But what you don’t show what your face looks like. I bet exhaustion. Real, deep wrinkles, maybe a tear or two, and a whole bunch of frustration, and also relief.
You post a picture of your baby’s first birthday. It’s perfect, really. The cake is perfectly decorated, the house is full of balloons, tule, ribbon, oh and it’s immaculate. Good job mama. But you didn’t show how hard you worked, how many times you yelled at your other children to stop making a mess or how you begged your husband for the 50th time to wipe the dust off the ceiling fan, because yes that’s important.
You post a picture of your hair. It’s washed, curled, and falls just right on your shoulders. Also your eyeliner is flawless, how’d you manage that since you must have children pulling and tugging on your leg 24/7, right? How did you not stab your eye with the mascara wand? I bet you didn’t show a picture of smudged mascara on your cheekbone or on your eyelid. It’s ok. I’m sure I’m the only one who struggles with that.
You post a picture of that perfect date night with your hubby. Girl, your marriage looks blissful. I’m super impressed. No arguments on where to eat? No yawning during dinner? You have the perfect marriage I’m sure.
You post a picture of your home, the nursery, your toddler’s room, and the master bedroom. Please share your secrets with me. Did you hire Chip and Joanna Gaines to design the entire house? And no food stains on the white sofa or no sticky finger prints on the mirrors, windows and doors. You’re practically perfect.
I also love how you take bathroom selfies and your bathroom mirror is spotless. Please send me an email with your tips.
So dear Instagram mom, you’re perfect. Just don’t consume yourself with too much of your perfection, it might rub off on a few of us. And while you post pictures of your perfect family and your perfect body, I’m over here trying to remember the las time I showered and please forgive me because my eyebrows are so bushy and overgrown.
The Reality IS…
You’re fake. Why do we create this “picture perfect” image of ourselves and our families on social media? We’re trying to hide the real mess underneath it all. And when we all talk about stopping the mom wars and accepting every mom and cheering here on, we’re not doing that when we post these unrealistic images of our pretend and make belief family. In fact, you make me feel sucky. Like I can’t measure up to anything good because I totally didn’t cook a Pinterest dinner last night.
Don’t mind me, I’m just nursing my daughter.
I struggle, you struggle, we all struggle. Most days I don’t wear makeup. I brush my teeth, but never my hair. I also always wear sweat pants and t-shirts. I totally have body image issues (a work in progress), and I care too much about perfect and not letting things go.
Sometimes I swipe through my pictures on my phone to find that perfect picture of the kids or that perfect selfie. It’s not there. I have a one and a two year old. Two year olds refuse to stay still for a darn picture and I haven’t slept in years so my face is far from Instagram worthy, or at the very least it doesn’t measure up to you perfect savvy moms out there.
Stop Comparing Yourself
The truth is, there isn’t a perfect Instagram mom out there because every single one of us struggles. We can all fake it pretty good. Heck man, I fake it all the time and no one knows that I took those pictures of my kiddos in my underwear and stinky morning breath.
We all know social media lies. We become another little square on Instagram portraying to have a pretty little normal life. I kind of feel like we all need to film 30 second shots of what’s actually behind each of those photos. Because reality is: we’d all probably feel a whole ton better about our parenting skills. Just saying.
So quit being perfect.
What’s My Point?
We’re not helping each other out when we’re posting these unrealistic images of ourselves, or our families. Heck if you’re a fashionista, Pinterest mom in the kitchen and totally kicking butt with this motherhood game, you go girl. But don’t sweat over the real messes that tag along with everyday. And hey, power to you mama if you’re that pretty Instagram mom. I, on the other hand, tend to have a whole lot more “keeping it real life” moments.
Toodles.
