Perfection Pending

By Meredith Ethington

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Humor In the Motherhood Motherhood Parenting Perfection Valentine's Day

Pinterest: Giving Moms an Inferiority Complex One Valentine At a Time

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You know what gives me nightmares? Something that really constricts my chest and makes my heart beat a little faster?

When I spend too much time on Pinterest.

My friend texted me today asking what I did for my kids’ valentines for school. I texted back that I printed something out from the internet, and slapped a sucker on it. I failed to mention that I also had my kids color them with markers and we matted them with scrapbooking paper and used washi tape too.

She was texting me because she had seem some crazy valentines come home. You know the ones….the ones from Pinterest. The truth is, they aren’t from pinterest, they are from an actual live human beings (moms) that puts this kind of stuff together. There are people behind those pins and that’s what makes my chest constrict and gives me heart palpitations.

My friend is not on Pinterest. I have warned her to stay away. She asked when this fad of Pinterest was going to end in her text…in other words…when do I have to stop worrying about my kid being the only one in the entire universe with a mom that isn’t on Pinterest making ridiculous cutesy stuff? I responded sadly, “I’m afraid this is the new normal.”

As soon as I texted it I felt all heart fluttery and light headed. For real? IS THIS THE NEW NORMAL?!! I started to panic. Because I’m not going to lie. Pinterest has skewed my perception of reality a little bit. It has made me think that every Valentine that will come home in my kid’s Valentine’s box will look like this:

P1050428

 

Yes. That’s a juice box (that was so obviously not cute enough by itself) so it needed starbursts, nerds, a heart, a robot sticker, and some pipe cleaners so that it could magically transform into a robot that would let my child know he was loved by some random kid in his preschool class.

DEEEEEEP BREATHS PEOPLE.

Let’s slow down for a minute. Surely they can’t all be this elaborate. Can they? So, I frantically dig through his bag. And found this:

P1050433

 

This far less superior robot-like Tiki Punch, Superhero Nerd creature just screams of a Pinterest attempt that didn’t quite hit the mark. Phew. I feel better already.

Until I pulled this one out:

P1050437

 

Well played kid in the preschool class who can only write the first initial of his name. Well played. Star Wars huh? Well, I will counter you that star wars sticker Reeses Valentine with this one:

P1050438

 

A homemade pinwheel on a pixie stick. BAM! Beat that! The rhinestone in the middle is what does it for me. Obviously.

P1050432

 

And no longer is a piece of bubble gum sufficient. Now, we have to have a cute quote to go with it too, with cellophane and coordinated bubble gum pieces. Because the child totally cares about that while chewing wads of gum that will lose its flavor in 10 minutes.

Surely this isn’t the normal. TELL ME IT ISN’T before I die a slow and painful death of an inferiority complex. But, luckily, I kept digging and found this.

P1050431

 

A good old fashioned paper Valentine. No candy. A few scribbles that looked like kids’ names on the back. Never have I been so happy to see SpongeBob Square Pants in my entire life.

And, I would say that in my son’s haul, it was about 50/50. 50% over the top cutesy and 50% normal old fashioned valentines. So, maybe there is hope. Maybe some moms out there are refusing to get sucked in. Because this mom almost got sucked in this year. Who am I kidding? I DID get sucked in this year.

And, like the child whisperer I am, I coached my kids through glueing, coloring, and spreading Valentine’s Day love with these Frozen printable valentines.

30f25a582301c885c713e33525a64f1bAdorable Frozen Printable Valentine courtesy of Sweet Creek Moon

We didn’t go “all out” by printing them in color, but we did color them ourselves, paste them, and matte our way to the top of the ridiculous list. I imagine another mom (maybe the one that I admire that gave the Spongebob valentine) pulling out mine and saying to her friend, Psssh….Who does that mom think SHE is? That mom must have a lot of time on her hands! As they secretly wish they had thought of it first.  

Valentines

And, I will answer: I have no idea who I am. Pinterest won. Next year, I will try to be better for the sake of all the moms of the universe. But, I’m making no promises.

 


17 Comments

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Comments

  1. Mary Widdicks says

    February 14, 2014 at 4:31 pm

    Oh my gosh, I’m going to be such a disaster when my kids get to school age. Better start practicing my craft skills now. I loved this post. I think I’ll put it on Pinterest 😉

    Reply
    • Meredith says

      February 14, 2014 at 4:33 pm

      ha! Yes. How ironic if it gets pinned a ton, right? 🙂

      Reply
  2. Jen Groeber says

    February 14, 2014 at 4:37 pm

    Oh, Meredith! You need to e-mail me when this happens… At midnight! Even with the time difference we might experience we’ll still be in the same boat. (Except I still have no idea how Pinterest works or what exactly it is..) I did make Lego and heart crayons by peeling and up-cycling the contents of the crayon bin. The actual valentine though? Foam puffy stickers of the kids’ name in neon pink/chartreuse/red with whatever weirdo designs my kids felt like drawing. They looked drunken! (Drunk on toxic crayon fumes that is.) My bedtime? 1:30am. 😉 Craft on, brave Mama!

    Reply
    • Meredith says

      February 14, 2014 at 4:42 pm

      Stay away from Pinterest as if your life depends on it. The world NEEDS more moms that do not think that pinterest worthy crafts are the way to go. I myself feel like I’ve turned into the biggest hypocrite on earth. :/ ha!

      Reply
  3. Destiny says

    February 14, 2014 at 5:59 pm

    Love this. It’s crazy how far people are going with it, but I think you’re right it’s the new normal.

    Reply
    • Meredith says

      February 14, 2014 at 9:24 pm

      I know. That’s what worries me! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Mike says

    February 14, 2014 at 6:03 pm

    I haven’t spent but a few minutes on Pinterest but some of female friends are on their all of the time. I’m always so envious of folks who have an artistic hand with crafts, Meredith! No offense, but that juice box Valentine made me burst out laughing (more than once as I scrolled up for a second glance). Sounds like you’re doing great! Btw…Star Wars rocks 🙂

    Reply
    • Meredith says

      February 14, 2014 at 9:24 pm

      Star wars is pretty amazing. Especially when you have two boys and a husband that are obsessed. 🙂

      Reply
  5. Rayna says

    February 14, 2014 at 7:25 pm

    How dare you lie to me!!! You ARE that Pintrest mom you warn me about!!! That’s it…I can no longer hang with you. LOL! I guess I will stay abnormal alone now. 🙁

    Reply
    • Meredith says

      February 14, 2014 at 9:24 pm

      No I’m not. Because if you saw them, you wouldn’t think they were that cute. Trust me. I will be back to my store bought routine next year!! Especially when both kids have 25+ students in their class. There is NO WAY I’m making 50 valentines from scratch. Forget it.

      Reply
  6. Tracey Tobin says

    February 15, 2014 at 10:32 am

    This post absolutely cracked me up because I’ve been the mom on both sides of this particular coin. I’ve looked at photos that other moms posted of clothes they made from scratch, elaborate meals they’ve concocted, and the amazing things (like the Valentines above) that they created for their kids’ school events and I’ve thought, “WHO THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE?!”

    On the other hand, during my daughter’s last birthday I built her a custom-made dress-up trunk from scratch (because I couldn’t find anything in stores that I liked), and hand-decorated over a hundred little mini-cupcakes to look like the main characters in My Little Pony for her party. At the time both projects felt like completely normal, doable things, but when I started posting photos to Facebook all my friends and family members were like, “HOLY CRAP YOU MUST BE THE BEST MOM EVER.” lol

    I think, probably, most mom’s are on the “who the hell has time for this nonsense??” side of the coin, and with good reason. Then again, it all really comes down to how important you think the particular issue is. Super-elaborate custom-made Valentines for preschoolers? Uh…yeah, no. Awesome birthday party with a one-of-a-kind gift? Okay, yeah, that’s more worth my time. 🙂

    Reply
    • Meredith says

      February 15, 2014 at 10:36 am

      I TOTALLY agree. I made a very elaborate cake for my daughter’s 3rd birthday. She didn’t care. I mean, she liked it, but I really just wanted to do something extra special. And, it was something that I WANTED to do in that situation. So, I agree with you 100%. I’ve been known to go a little crazy too. The only thing that worries me is that it will become the new norm where that is what is expected all the time. I will NOT be happy when that day comes!

      Reply
  7. Lindsey says

    February 15, 2014 at 11:36 am

    Seriously, don’t all these moms have houses to futilely clean like the rest of us?

    Reply
    • Meredith says

      February 15, 2014 at 1:08 pm

      They must have maids. Speaking of…I need to hire one.

      Reply
  8. Kerry says

    February 16, 2014 at 8:27 pm

    You are so right, Pinterest IS the new normal. While it has saved my meal planning panic, it kills me with all of the damn crafts! Thankfully, we didn’t get any super cute Valentine’s in my daughter’s Valentine box so the other moms are just like me. There were a few handmade ones where the kid basically folded a small piece of construction paper and wrote their name. I went to Walmart and let my daughter pick out which Valentine’s she liked best, the good ole fashion way, knowing that any super craft would be done by me as she’d lose interest early on as she did just writing her name 17 times. Beware though, the new Pinterest is Etsy…one of my best friends is the mom that pisses most moms off (just not me because I love her) and she ordered personalized Valentine’s from Etsy then crafted them in some Pinterest style. If I didn’t love her so much, I might hate her. 😉

    Reply
    • Meredith says

      February 16, 2014 at 8:31 pm

      Ha! That’s hilarious. And I’ve probably made fun of her. 😉

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Fruit By the Foot Printables for Birthdays and Valentine's Day - Perfection Pending says:
    January 15, 2015 at 4:19 pm

    […] help myself. Yes, I know I’ve been known to have heart palpatations at the thought of overly cute Valentines, but this one really is SO easy. Simply print out the printables, tape them to a fruit by the foot, […]

    Reply

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Welcome! I’m Meredith.

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