Sometimes I wonder what kind of mom, or to be honest what kind of person in general, I would be without Facebook. I mean would I feel as guilty as I do sometimes?
Facebook is not the devil, but like everything it can go either way, depending on how we respond. And I am the one with the issue...not Facebook or even the people that share and post on Facebook. Its definitely me...not them.
But do you ever scroll through Facebook and feel some discontentment down deep? A perfect example, would be the last two weeks of snow days where I live. I was good letting us all stay in our pajamas, sleeping, watching movies, eating and repeating. It was kind of nice for all of us to be piled up on the couch while the kids watched a movie. It gave me a little bit of uninterrupted reading time and I always love that! I was fine letting the kids just lounge and play while I got to read or whatever I wanted UNTIL....I scrolled through Facebook.
Every other post was pictures of mommas and their babies doing something crafty, but the one that got me off the couch with some mommy guilt was the snow cream. Now, do NOT feel bad if you posted about your yummy snow cream. Remember, this is my issue not yours! (wink, wink) So as I see the posts, I start feeling like maybe I am not giving my kids the proper childhood memories of gathering snow, mixing it and then eating it. In my mind, if I made this snow cream, then as my kids got older they would remember this fun little memory with each snow fall. So I peel myself off the couch.
I gather my kids that are already content playing Barbie dolls, ponies and Legos and tell them to get in the kitchen. I start looking for how to make this stuff and every recipe that I found required condensed milk or milk and I didn't have either (and the moment is gone, so no need to send the recipes that don't require either of those things). With everyone having gone from content to bored as quick as it took me to yell, "Hey kids, do you all want to make something fun?", they were all waiting on something, well, fun. And all I had for them was, "Do you all want to go get a snowball and eat it?".
Maybe I wish I were parenting in a different era. Maybe I truly long for "simple".
When a fun picture from a friend stirs up discontent or even envy (gasp), then there is something going on with ME. I am going to chalk some of this up to cabin fever. Okay, ALOT of this to cabin fever, but it still doesn't deal with the issue of how easily we can be persuaded into "more" and "not enough". Like if a friend makes a post of going to a 'bouncy house' at the mall. Well then, by golly we are loading up and going to the bouncy house! Or some friends get together and take their kids to the movies and share a post about how much fun they had and I am in a slight depression because all of the sudden I don't have any friends and my kids are deprived.
So how do we guard our hearts? How do we satisfy our souls because social media is here to stay. This isn't a question just for me, but I think of my own kids and how to keep them satisfied down in their souls. Because not getting enough "likes" can make us feel that what we have to say or what we have done just isn't worthy, important, funny, or awesome.
We have to find what is important to us and DO it. We have to know what God is asking of us and our families, be involved in it and leave it at that. When we are living and doing what we feel is important, we don't get so caught up in the other stuff. Our souls are satisfied. We don't feel the need to 'shop around' for things that can make us feel good. We just have to humbly live out our values. Because sometimes we can even become prideful and 'judgy' with our own simplicity. Example: "Your kids watch TV? Well, we don't have a TV because we don't want our kids brains to turn into mashed potatoes." Well, lets just leave it at, "We just don't watch that much TV".
With or without social media, I need to be a person that lives by my convictions. I need to know what I value and live those values out and pass them onto my kids. That is the only way I will ever be a Facebook momma or a human being that can legitimately "like" a photo without rolling my eyes, scroll through posts and mostly enjoy it, and then just move on with my day. If someone is out doing something awesome with their kids, then yay! It doesn't mean that I am a 'bad' mom because we are all piled on the couch. It just means we are having 'this' kind of day and they are having 'that' kind of day. Soon enough, we will be out and doing, too. Plus, I get to leave my kids with this awesome legacy....just don't ever eat yellow snow cream.
Facebook is not the devil, but like everything it can go either way, depending on how we respond. And I am the one with the issue...not Facebook or even the people that share and post on Facebook. Its definitely me...not them.
But do you ever scroll through Facebook and feel some discontentment down deep? A perfect example, would be the last two weeks of snow days where I live. I was good letting us all stay in our pajamas, sleeping, watching movies, eating and repeating. It was kind of nice for all of us to be piled up on the couch while the kids watched a movie. It gave me a little bit of uninterrupted reading time and I always love that! I was fine letting the kids just lounge and play while I got to read or whatever I wanted UNTIL....I scrolled through Facebook.
Every other post was pictures of mommas and their babies doing something crafty, but the one that got me off the couch with some mommy guilt was the snow cream. Now, do NOT feel bad if you posted about your yummy snow cream. Remember, this is my issue not yours! (wink, wink) So as I see the posts, I start feeling like maybe I am not giving my kids the proper childhood memories of gathering snow, mixing it and then eating it. In my mind, if I made this snow cream, then as my kids got older they would remember this fun little memory with each snow fall. So I peel myself off the couch.
I gather my kids that are already content playing Barbie dolls, ponies and Legos and tell them to get in the kitchen. I start looking for how to make this stuff and every recipe that I found required condensed milk or milk and I didn't have either (and the moment is gone, so no need to send the recipes that don't require either of those things). With everyone having gone from content to bored as quick as it took me to yell, "Hey kids, do you all want to make something fun?", they were all waiting on something, well, fun. And all I had for them was, "Do you all want to go get a snowball and eat it?".
Maybe I wish I were parenting in a different era. Maybe I truly long for "simple".
When a fun picture from a friend stirs up discontent or even envy (gasp), then there is something going on with ME. I am going to chalk some of this up to cabin fever. Okay, ALOT of this to cabin fever, but it still doesn't deal with the issue of how easily we can be persuaded into "more" and "not enough". Like if a friend makes a post of going to a 'bouncy house' at the mall. Well then, by golly we are loading up and going to the bouncy house! Or some friends get together and take their kids to the movies and share a post about how much fun they had and I am in a slight depression because all of the sudden I don't have any friends and my kids are deprived.
So how do we guard our hearts? How do we satisfy our souls because social media is here to stay. This isn't a question just for me, but I think of my own kids and how to keep them satisfied down in their souls. Because not getting enough "likes" can make us feel that what we have to say or what we have done just isn't worthy, important, funny, or awesome.
We have to find what is important to us and DO it. We have to know what God is asking of us and our families, be involved in it and leave it at that. When we are living and doing what we feel is important, we don't get so caught up in the other stuff. Our souls are satisfied. We don't feel the need to 'shop around' for things that can make us feel good. We just have to humbly live out our values. Because sometimes we can even become prideful and 'judgy' with our own simplicity. Example: "Your kids watch TV? Well, we don't have a TV because we don't want our kids brains to turn into mashed potatoes." Well, lets just leave it at, "We just don't watch that much TV".
With or without social media, I need to be a person that lives by my convictions. I need to know what I value and live those values out and pass them onto my kids. That is the only way I will ever be a Facebook momma or a human being that can legitimately "like" a photo without rolling my eyes, scroll through posts and mostly enjoy it, and then just move on with my day. If someone is out doing something awesome with their kids, then yay! It doesn't mean that I am a 'bad' mom because we are all piled on the couch. It just means we are having 'this' kind of day and they are having 'that' kind of day. Soon enough, we will be out and doing, too. Plus, I get to leave my kids with this awesome legacy....just don't ever eat yellow snow cream.
