Keepin’ it real

I was just reading a fantastic blog post at Inner Pickle, and felt compelled to write up my two cents on the idea of perfection in the blogging world.

I totally get what she is saying. There are so many blogs I see that can be intimidating. Why? Because I know I haven’t got it together nearly as well in day to day life as some bloggers appear to. As Inner Pickle has mentioned, as a blogger, I know I feel open to scrutiny and find myself thinking, ‘I can’t show my house looking like this!’ The temptation is definitely there to be as positive as possible, and not admit to as many faults, for fear of criticism.

Don’t get me wrong. If you (as a blogger or not), are more organised than I am (I’m sure 90% of you are), I take my hat off to you, and as a compliment, I envy you. As I read Inner Pickle’s post, I got to half way, and found myself thinking over and over again, ‘geez, I hope I don’t intimidate people, or make them feel inadequate or give off a false illusion of perfection’. (It would be hard for me to believe really, in hindsight, but then again, I don’t know how others see myself and my blog) Then, I got to the bit where she expresses the same hopes!

I think my topic the other day, slow down kind of touches on this idea for me. The pressure we all feel as mothers. No matter how much we do, it never seems enough. Sure, I might’ve had some quality time with my kids, but the house is a mess. Or in reverse, my house might be squeaky clean from ceiling to floors (a rare event, I can assure you!) but my kids are fighting for my attention.

As bloggers, we put a lot of work into our writing, preparation, photos, topic ideas and so on. Then we release it into the public, like a frightened little baby bird, and hope it will be received with love. What are we as bloggers so afraid of? Being real? Admitting to having flaws? That our readers won’t love us anymore?

So, for your (I hope) pleasure, I thought I’d point out a few flaws of mine for a change. I like to talk about good things, things that will make life better most of the time, so hopefully this will balance it. I’m not going to air my skeletons in the closet, although I can guarantee you I have plenty, as I’m sure we all do.

1) There was a potty full of poo that I only just cleaned.

It was sitting there for a few hours! It happened when I fell asleep this afternoon, and I woke up to it with a migraine. I kept vowing I’d get back to it any minute (and hoped and prayed my fiance would get to it first!) and I only did it just before writing this post up.

2) My children are constantly covered in bruises.

No, I don’t beat them! In fact, I’ve never hit any of them in their lives! But, they always seem to have bruises everywhere. I took my son to the doctor once when he happened to have a bruise on his face, and she wanted to take his clothes off and check his entire body for more bruises! I now live in fear of taking my kids to the doctors, because I know they will have bruises, no matter when I take them.

3) Last week, I forgot to send my daughter to school with lunch.

Ok, so I’ve done this one before, but this was the first time I actually forgot to go back to school to take it in! I still feel really awful about this one.

4) I have recycled dirty clothing a small number of times.

Oh, the shame! I can’t believe I’m telling you this! When my babies were little, there were a couple of times that I had forgot to wash my daughter’s school socks. We were running late, and yes, I was desperate enough to pick out some school socks from the laundry basket (trying to get the ‘best’ ones, if you can imagine)! The last time I did it, was the day another mum confessed to me that that morning, she’d done the same thing, but with an entire school outfit! I guess there’s hope…

5) I do use the TV as a babysitter.

Sometimes. But, I really make no apologies for this one, I’m afraid. I still make sure my kids are well supervised, but it just means I can get another job around the house done knowing that I’m less likely to get, ‘Mu-um…’ and interupted. Bonus? My eldest daughter then gets her school lunches and clean school socks!

So there you have it. The dark side of my life. I hope it drives the point home that we all have things we’d like to do better, but are doing the best we can. Maybe it’s just time we all stop beating ourselves up when (not if, when) we don’t get everything done exactly how we wanted to. This is motherhood. But geez, I tell you true, I hope it gets easier once all three are at school! I hope to god I then get all of it done. Or most of it.