Unpinned: A Shout-out to Less Than Crafty Moms

Moms out there, I feel your pain.  I don’t have any children, but I empathize with you.  I can only imagine the pressure you face these days.  It’s no longer enough to sit down to spend quality time doing arts and crafts with your kids.  These days your projects must produce Instagram worthy results.  You have to pin this and pin that and make sure that your creations turn out perfect and Facebook shareable.

I hear your cries for help.  I see them in the form of your social media statuses, where you share craft and baking ideas in the hopes that one of your friends will be the first brave soul to try them out.  Which one of you will take the plunge and attempt to make something that remotely resembles whatever it is you are supposed to be making?  Who will emerge from the crowd posting the victory photo that will help you to believe you can successfully complete one (just one, please, that’s all you ask!) of these artsy undertakings?

So what happens when your last Pinterest attempt was a disastrous fail?  The bunny cake that looked amazing on your tablet screen now sits on your kitchen counter looking more like a sad pile of roadkill.  Your caterpillar-shaped apple treats have lost their little heads.  The adorable baby owls that you painstakingly fashioned from toilet paper rolls and tissue paper are molting at an alarming rate.  You feel doomed to sit with your head down, sad and alone, in the arts and crafts hall of shame.

Friends, I have some good news for you.  Your kids still love you.  I promise, it’s true.  They don’t care about the decapitated snack food or the featherless birds.  They care about you, moms, and the fact that you are spending time with them.

Please don’t misunderstand me here.  If crafting is your thing then by all means, craft your happy little heart out.  Keep dazzling us with fondant covered baked goods.  You will continue to be a source of both inspiration and irritation to those of us who remain glue gun-challenged.  We’ll ooh and ahh over your painted pallet trees, and we’ll mean it.

I’m not telling you that it’s not okay to be an arts and crafts savant.  I’m telling you that it’s okay not to be one.  The holidays will not be ruined because you can’t fashion ribbon and pinecones into a spotlight-deserving front door masterpiece.  Your babies will still have magical birthdays, even if it looks like they wrapped their own presents.  T

How do I know this?  I was a kid once.  I remember happily finger painting away, thrilled to be allowed to make a mess.  I recall fashioning crude Thanksgiving turkeys out of paper plates and construction paper.  I have memories of cupcakes my mom made for birthdays, the simple and delicious vanilla ones with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.

The point I’m trying to make is that nowhere in those moments did my child self ever question my mom’s artistic, baking, or decorating talents.  I had no idea if what we were making was perfection or garbage because it just didn’t matter.  The only thing I knew, and still know, is that I was happy simply having her there with me.

So moms, breathe easy and carry on.  Get out those supplies and gather up the little ones for some crafting fun.  Make a masterpiece, or make a mess.  Laugh over the Pinterest shortfalls and marvel at the magical successes.  Because someday your kids are going to remember these days, not for what you did or didn’t accomplish, but for the fact that you did it together.  You’ve got this, moms.  You’ve got this.

All photo credits:  www.pixabay.com