Wednesday 11 April 2012

Mommy-wars, blogs, Pinterest

I've read a few articles lately about the Mommy-wars that are raging. If you haven't heard this term yet, it has been coined to denote the harsh judging of one mom against another because of differing methods of child-rearing. And the main reason all this exists is because of internet tools like Blogs, Facebook and Pinterest.

Now, I love all three of these programs, and I use them all daily. I love to be inspired by other moms' adventures on their blogs, see what my friends are up to on Facebook, and gather neat ideas from Pinterest. But it's just as easy to browse these sites and start to feel down about yourself. If you aren't careful, feelings of inadequacy could start to creep into your mind. I mean, look at all these amazing parents and all the amazing things they do with their kids and in their homes every day. Then you take a look around your home and see clothes strewn about, the kids plunked in front of the TV again, no idea what to start for dinner and a bathroom that hasn't been cleaned in forever. Yeah, I can see where the problem might start.

But once again, this is a good time to remember that we can't compare the very best of everyone else to our worst? No one out there is posting about the play dough experiment that ruined their best pot, or the terrible discipline moment when you lost your temper and yelled at your kids, or the pot roast you burned. We need to push the mommy wars aside and simply celebrate the victories when we have them. Because when you're knee deep in toys and toddlers and diapers, sometimes the victories feel few and far between.

So here's my victory for the day. My interest was piqued by a post on Pinterest on how to set up a play room. We have a play room that is often the bane of my existence, given that it is on the main floor of our house, in full view from the kitchen and living room where any and all guests can see it in it's glory. So I clicked in for ideas on how to optimize the space and hopefully gain a few organizational ideas. The article was great...and it made me realize that my play room already incorporates every fantastic idea the author had. It was a really neat validation that I needed to see...this is one thing I'm already doing really well. It just took this article breaking down the different facets of a play room for me to see the amazing space I've created for the boys.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Two things:
1) I've always loved your playroom. You've mentioned in the past how even when the playroom is in a different part of the house, the kid is apt to bring his toys to the room where his parents are and play there to be near them. I see your playroom as being the best of both worlds. They can play in their playroom AND be near the hub of activity. And the fact that it's a sunken room is a plus too. Imagine if it was level with the living room how many more toys would migrate!

2) Go to your email that you hardly ever used. I accidentally sent something there that I sent to other friends who are moms too since I was just typing your names into my recipients line. What I sent was a link to a post about the mommy wars. It's beautifully done and made my day.