Do you ever fudge your parenting skills? By that I mean, do you make yourself out to be more experienced or skilled than you really are?
If so, you aren’t alone.
We live in competitive times and it can be a kick to your self-confidence to read posts by those perfect moms who create Bento Box lunches that are scale sized edible copies of a scene from Tangled before they stenciled their toilet paper.
Thank you, Martha Stewart.
It’s tempting to update Facebook with statuses that are… well… almost true. Sort of. We carefully craft those words so that others will think that we are amazing – and they will feel compelled to do the same. Eventually, everything that is written is fictional.
As a homeschooling mom, I have learned to do this with skill. The kids are just finishing up a quick cultural study on Japan.
Translated, that means that we have had an extremely hectic day and they got ramen for dinner.
It’s a gut response. I don’t think anyone intentionally lies about how they parent, but the temptation to have people think that you are amazing is huge. Is there really any harm in a little gilding the parenting lily?
There could be. There more dishonest that people are about their parenting experience, the bigger the potential for someone to crash and burn in the quest for perfection.
It’s like comparing yourself to one of the fake, computer enhanced models in a fashion magazine.  You can’t achieve it and it is depressing to try – but we attempt to look like them anyway.
Do you lie about your parenting and your lifestyle, or do you feel intimidated by others’ parenting skills? Comment below and I’ll check back. I am just on my way to sit down with the kids for their Italian lessons and then after that we are on our way downtown to hand out hand-knitted socks and hot soup to the homeless.
photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com via photopin cc
