Making moms feel bad one pin at a time

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I have a confession to make.

I’m addicted to Pinterest.

Where else can I find tips that make frosting a cupcake look much easier than it really is, cozy interiors that my kids would destroy in 3 seconds flat, seasonal decorating and craft ideas I’ll never put together, or photo after photo of shoes that are completely impractical and out of my price range?

Pinterest makes me want to convert my house into an organizational marvel at every turn. Bins here, baskets here, all beautifully designed and every room smelling like cookies, which really has less to do with organization and more to do with my love for cookies.

My house is not meticulously organized, nor does it smell like cookies. In fact, right now it’s sporting a kind of burnt popcorn aroma.

As a stay at home mom, I do feel that its my duty to carry the majority of the domestic load. I keep up with the laundry, I keep the kids and husband well fed, and so far we’ve avoided the house being condemned.

But as I pin and repin and scour other design, organizational, and cooking sites in my spare time, I wonder how some of these women do it. I mean, the Pioneer Woman cooks, cleans, gardens, home schools, and takes amazing photographs of it all. Oh, and then there’s that little TV show she now has. Surely I can manage to clean off my dumping ground of a dining room table and sweep the crushed Cheerios off the floor from this morning’s breakfast, right?

With the advent of sites like Pinterest and The Pioneer Woman and many other cooking, craft, and home, and parenting blogs, it’s easy for us to feel like we should be able to juggle taking care of the kids, easily complete all the housework, whip up a gourmet meal, and hand make all of our kids’ Halloween costumes using only felt, a glue guns, and a whole lotta gumption. And we should look good doing it.

But what’s the real story? Seriously? How many of us end up staying in our pajamas on days when we don’t have to leave the house? How many of us struggle to keep things picked up and organized past your general end of the day toy clean up when you’re so tired you just want it off the floor, so who cares if it’s in the correct bins?

How many of us remembered to brush our teeth this morning?

I’m a mom. I’m a writer. I’m an okay cook. I’m a mediocre housekeeper. I’m not an organizer. My house is not always company ready. My bed isn’t always made or the floors always vacuumed, and if they are, you can thank my husband.

Every woman has her strengths and her weaknesses. Every mother has her top priorities. Comparing ourselves to others only makes us feel as if we aren’t cutting it, like we are failures if we don’t have a piping hot gourmet meal on the table, our three gorgeous and well groomed children playing together beautifully, and ourselves in our pearls and heels, waiting to greet Daddy at the door with a scotch on the rocks when he comes home from a hard day of work. Okay, that might really be a stretch, but it wasn’t so long ago that this was the norm.

The fact of the matter is that we can’t hold ourselves up to the unrealistic examples — you know, the ones that have the hugely popular followings and the TV shows. Because those are the minority.

Those moms who seem to have or do it all have their weaknesses too. Things they wish they could improve, things they see in others and say, “I wish I could do that!”

As for me, I’m going to keep reminding myself that they can’t do it all either.

I like to believe that the Pioneer Woman has a closet somewhere of junk that she’s avoiding.

Tagged as: Family, moms, organization, Pinterest, The Pioneer Woman