The BS that is Pinterest

For those of you who don't know what Pinterest is (Mom, Dad) consider yourselves lucky.

While I do like pins that make me laugh:

and ideas for new recipes are always welcome (just ask Rob, he makes most of them):

I feel like Pinterest is SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF CREATIVITY AS WE KNOW IT, specifically the creativity of motherhood.

Now when we women want to do something/plan something/make something, instead of using what's between our ears, we turn to the Internet. And I feel like it creates an unrealistic expectation for how things are supposed to look, what we're supposed to be doing, etc. etc.. I'm as guilty as the next person and stole several ideas off Pinterest for Faith's Sesame Street birthday party:

so I need to heed my own advice here. BUT, there are some things I consider sacred, and how to be a parent is one of them. I won't turn to Pinterest to show me how to spend time with my child(ren). (Gabby's too young right now anyway - the pin would just be a giant boob!)

I started a board to call out these "BS pins"after a friend repinned a photo with a caption "This girl just had a baby and still looks good" pin. Are you FREAKING kidding me? This is LABOR we're talking about. You are SUPPOSED to look BAD. And WHO REALLY CARES? (I am FEELING the ALL CAPS today!) Baby will not be like "Oh, this is my mom? Oh, yikes. She really needs some chapstick and could someone get her a brush before she holds me?" STOP THE INSANITY.

Anyway, the pins I want to focus on in today's rant are the lists of activities to do with your small children.

I get it. Trust me. I have a 3-year-old that can turn something I think will entertain her for hours into a few minutes of fun. A few minutes? Really, Faith. That is not enough time for me to even use the bathroom and certainly not enough for your dad. (Sidenote: what are men DOING in there?)

So, I feel everyone on how challenging it is to keep a kid busy without using our friends the Bubble Guppies, or Sponge Bob, or Dora, or any of the other commercialized cartoons my daughter loves. However, Pinterest is not the answer. When your child is bored, or just needs to be occupied, the best solution is not to say, "Now, honey, according to this pin, we haven't made a fort out of hand-carved twigs this year," or "Well, we really haven't tried numbing our brains with Origami yet, so let's cross that one off the list." NO!

Turning to Pinterest to help you parent your child is depriving them AND you of creativity. Allow me to share with you some of Faith's favorite activities that you will NEVER find on Pinterest. I say the name of a food and Faith gives it the thumbs up or thumbs down. That's it. Not real mind-boggling, but effective entertainment. Sure, she thumbs down most vegetables, and thumbs up anything with sugar, but hey, it costs absolutely nothing and most importantly was something we came up with just the two of us. She and Rob also have a fun game called "tickle chair." Rob holds his arms out like a chair and when Faith sits down, they become (you guessed it) tickle chair arms. Once again, no cost, hours of entertainment and something that would be hard to find on Pinterest.

She also likes me to say the words, "Who is the girl who wore this shoe?" 3,000 times in a row and each time she'll come limping in with one slipper on and say, "Me!"I could go on, but I think you get the point, which is, BE YOURSELF. MAKE STUFF UP. BE SILLY. DON'T CONSULT PINTEREST.

And if you don't always have time to be part of the action, that's OK. There's a reason coloring is a time-tested activity. They can do it a million times and nothing bad will happen to your parenting card. Also, and I am most guilty of this by always trying to set up some sort of fun activity (puzzles, games) for Faith when I'm busy, but LET KIDS GET BORED. The things that keep my 3-year-old entertained the longest are the wacky ideas she comes up with on her own. For example, the other night she lined up all her books from her room across living room and into the kitchen. Was it a giant mess? Absolutely! Did it take her 30 mom-free minutes to complete? You betcha! Will you find it on Pinterest? DEFINITELY NOT! And did I forget to take a picture? Of course. So here's a picture of her doing something else weird. Feel free to Pin it ;)