The One Website I Am Addicted To That Is Ruining My Parenting: Confessions

Hello!

I am aiming to post every other Wednesday because I said I would so ... however we have been travelling so much and then recovering that I haven't been able to. Here it is, one day late, I do hope you will forgive me ;-)

Tuesday we travelled from Romania to England to my parents house, which door to door is a 16 hour journey. It was just me and my little fluffy head (4 year old daughter) and we had a lovely little time together. It dragged so much and there was a lot of waiting around but she did so well and I was so proud of her. She said she was proud of me too and I did really well haha. Bless. It is so lovely to be here in England at my parents for a little break and fluffy head is completely in her element here! We missed everyone so much!

Ok, well, back to the post. Short and sweet this week because it's just a thought really. Something I was musing recently. I do like to muse! Something that I believe a lot of people have said but perhaps not publically. I have to admit, I am addicted to a website that affects my marriage, household, faith, health, personal life, diet but mainly my parenting. I have a love/hate relationship with it and today I am here to confess. Please don't judge. Promise? ...

It's......Pinterest.

Oh, I'm sorry, what were you expecting it to be?!

Anti-climax perhaps, but it's true. Now, I am pretty sure that's not the purpose of the site. I am also sure that it improves many people's lives. I can say that it has improved some areas of mine and given me great ideas for recipes and other little DIY hacks around the house. However, in terms of parenting I believe it really is doing more harm than good. That is if I am not very, very careful. Let me explain...

Let's start with those 'Essentials' posts. For example, '10 essential baby products I couldn't live without'. I mean, I know these types of titles draw the reader, and that is the goal of any blogger in all honesty, but I disagree with most 'essential' posts anyway. Who defines essential?! A £150 steriliser wasn't essential in raising my first child, nor a £189 bouncer with chirpy noises and vibrations and a £49 swaddle cloth (which without your baby probably will never sleep...ever...apparently). They completely make you feel like if you don't have them then you will be a terrible parent and everything will go to pot. It wont. Trust me.

What really is essential in raising a child? I would say love. Probably nappies and clothes are important too. Prams can be bought cheap as chips from ebay and maybe you need a car seat if you will be travelling. That, my friends, really is pretty much it.

Another of my frustrations with some articles on Pinterest is the contradictory advice. For example: '5 reasons you should tell your child NO!' .... '10 reasons we should find NO alternatives.'
Oh please! Just use your common sense! Of course I understand there is some psychology that goes into a lot of these articles and many of them are written by academics, doctors and health care professionals who do have reasons for what they say. However, I would prefer to click on an article that talks about 'Reasons I don't know what I am doing but this seemed to work one time'...It's honest. Probably written by a real life parent who is speaking from experience not theory. I just think these articles can cause parents more confusion than good. They do for me anyway. We need a bit of wiggle room. A bit of open ended advice and room to make mistakes. 'Do what suits you as long as it isn't dangerous' would be my perfect parenting advice!

Finally, I admit I have found great ideas for things to do with Sophia in our free time and lots of

freebies like printables etc. However, if I spend too much time looking through these blogs and articles I just get demoralised and feel that I literally am not spending enough time with my daughter. Mummy-guilt sets it. A feeling ALL mummies know only too well. Of course the purpose of these mummies posting what they post is to help other mummies have ideas and provide inspiration for their own families and I am not bashing them. I just think that when I personally spend too much time looking through what they do, it ruins my own parenting and I become dissatisfied with how I am doing things, even if what I am doing is working for us.

On the other hand, I must say that I will continue to visit the site for inspiration and simply take the posts with a pinch of salt. All parents can do with advice, tips and support for different stages of our children's life and some things have been a revelation to me. I have found great ideas for things to do with Sophia when I have been really stuck for new things to do. However, if I am not careful, it can risk ruining my parenting. Parenting is hard enough without adding to the pressure!