Pinterest Barbie

Updated.
This morning I LOVED waking up to find "Pin This" as my friend's latest "Share" on Facebook.  FINALLY a REAL mom! :

 Pin This is a blog entry. 

It's a real mom's compare/contrast with Pinterest to her reality.  I've never seen her blog before, so I have no idea what the rest of the site features, but the above entry is pure gold.

In light of several conversations with friends lately, I recently posted this:

"Of my 246 pins on Pinterest I have now done 12. Honestly, that's 12 more than I thought I would do when I started pinning. Happy Pinning, Everyone!"

My girlfriend and I JUST talked about how Pinterest has produced a new version of the Barbie Doll Effect.

 PINTEREST BARBIE!!: She not only has the perfect curves, but she dons a perfectly astonishing hair style complete with embellished bobby pins and homemade hairspray.  Her apron is handcrafted, no sew from a Target tablecloth, and in her hand is a tray of homemade cupcakes with hand sculpted sugar doilies.  Accessories include: two children in hand sewn outfits playing at a table made from crates and baskets, spray painted, labeled and organized.  Also available: ingredients for children's homemade play dough and homemade colored rice.  PRICE: Utter Exhaustion.

Now we're not only to have the perfect body and curves, we are now to have the picture-perfect home, stimulating crafts for our children, and dinner should belong in those glass displays meant to entice diners at restaurants. 

Girls, just like with Barbie Dolls, we need to realize the truth: just as Barbie's curves are impossibly unhealthy so too is the standard we set for ourselves when we envy others lives through the lens of social media. 

Can you imagine how much Barbie's SHOES cost - custom jobs required.  Or her chiropractor, for that matter.  With feet permanently molded for 6" heels, she's bound to have problems, not to mention her other, uh, notable features that HAVE to cause back and neck pain. 

It's just not healthy to be that perfectly molded.  With this added layer of crafty perfection, she's not only perfectly molded, but she's EXHAUSTED and BROKE.

As little girls we used Barbie as our measuring stick for beauty, and now we seem to use social media in much the same way.  We need to keep in mind that there is a reality beyond the screen.  Many of the pictures on Pinterest are probably snapped in the two minutes before the kids wake up from nap or come home from school. Or the photographer zeros in on the beautifully shaped cupcakes, cropping out the Disaster Area that was once the kitchen. 

But let's not be too quick to judge.  We're probably all at least a bit guilty of polishing our lives for the snapshots we offer the world.  When we know someone is coming to see us, we put out our best stuff. 

We run around and pick up the dirty socks, put the toys away, and take out the trash. We dust off the smiling family pictures on our mantle, and perhaps we throw together some freshly baked cookies or a meal for our guests. 

And we will PRAY no one opens the closet, medicine cabinet, or goes into THE MASTER BATHROOM!!!!  (though Pinterest probably has an idea for how we can take care of those trouble spots, wink wink).

Facebook is another way we let people look into a window of our lives, and we know they're dropping by, so we dressed it up a bit. 

On Facebook Moms often have posts about their parenting adventures.  My post might say something like:

"My boys are all playing quietly in their fort together! OH brotherly love. Bliss!" 

But, just as there is a moment when our guests leave and life gets back to normal, there is always a status beyond the status, and a scene beyond the social media. 

For example: my four boys played beautifully together for about 20 minutes the other morning.  They pulled every single cushion, blanket, sheet, pillow, and stuffed animal into the den.  They set up the card table over it and dubbed it their "Fort."  YES I love their creativity and willingness to work together.  But it was followed by two hours of frustrated effort to get it all cleaned up again.  No perfection here!!

My simple status following that episode may have simply been, "I love chocolate."

Getting back to Pinterest,  we need to remember that the pictures on Pinterest are not even from our own homes or real life, but rather they form a WISH list!

 I take comfort in the fact that the pictures on Pinterest and the social media statuses of perfect parenting aren't all from ONE WOMAN or ALL IN ONE DAY.  They are highlights from several women, showing that no one woman possesses utter perfection all at one time. 

I remember the day I was introduced to a spiritual version of "Pinterest Pressure" in the Bible: Proverbs 31:10-31 - WOW. Talk about intimidation!  It's overflowing with qualities a "wife of noble character" might possess. 

It could be an overwhelmingly high bar for a girl, but a wise and wonderful friend (and mother of 6 children), told me, "First of all, this is an EXAMPLE of a woman.  Secondly, she isn't all of those things all in one day. She possesses a collection of those qualities over a lifetime."

Proverbs 31 doesn't mention the flaws that she undoubtedly has.  Instead it's a list of her positive features, her highlights over time.  It's a polished snapshot of an ideal woman.  Whew! THAT'S a relief!  With that lens I can see a more realistic ideal woman.

 Pintest Pressure and social media statuses of perfect parenting beg the reminder that no two women are exactly alike, and we are who we ARE, and not what we DO.

"Psalm 139:14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."

So, Pinterest Barbie, with your handcrafted apron, perfectly styled hair, and hostess tray filled with homemade delights, you go ahead and be yourself.  I might make an apron, and I might even use your recipe for sugar doilies.  Some day.  But not today.  And probably not all at the same time.  And maybe not at all.  And I'm okay with that.