{"id":177,"date":"2009-07-24T22:57:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-24T22:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.wordpress.com\/2009\/07\/24\/pondering-perfection\/"},"modified":"2009-07-24T22:57:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-24T22:57:00","slug":"pondering-perfection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/24\/pondering-perfection\/","title":{"rendered":"Pondering Perfection"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am always torn<\/strong><\/span> when I see blog entries like <\/span><\/strong><\/span>this one<\/u><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

On the one hand,<\/span> they look so lovely and fun and I think they’re full of creativity andgreat ideas.  I want to pass them on as whimsical inspiration.<\/p>\n

On the other,<\/span> they always seem so perfect and elaborate!  I am just not the sort of mama to have these beautiful handmade toys to spread out on the gorgeous blanket topped with the lovely fresh-from-the-garden lunch with organic edible flowers in the ice water and then take the time to make the handmade, catalog-ready newspaper bunting to go across it.  <\/p>\n

Then I think<\/span> I’m a slacker for having our thrown-together mayhem that will never look like something to showcase on <\/span>One Pretty Thing<\/u><\/a><\/span>.  <\/p>\n

Then I wonder<\/span> how much the kids really appreciate it and how much is Mom going to hours of work to keep the illusion of a perfect life for her blog community.  (In this case, Mom assured us that her kids were in "loving and wonderful moods" with each other all afternoon.  So much for that!)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span>I worry sometimes<\/span> that I come across as too perfect from that side of the monitor.  Those who know me would laugh hysterically at this point, incidentally!  I try to be sure to mention the <\/span>good days with the bad<\/u><\/a><\/span>, include a bit of the <\/span>messy imperfections in the photos<\/u><\/a><\/span>, and work in various <\/span>trials<\/u><\/a><\/span> and <\/span>tribulations<\/u><\/a><\/span> of daily life around here.  My goal here isn’t to airbrush out the bad moments or create an idealized image of parenthood but to offer a little humor, support, encouragement, fun, and <\/span><\/span>occasional inspirational sap<\/u><\/a> for anybody who’d like to come hang out here.  <\/span><\/p>\n

So when I find these pages<\/span> (and the net seems bursting with them), should I pass them on? <\/p>\n

Do other mothers<\/span> see this and go do it in their backyards, or do they also think "That looks darling but ours would never look that good and the baby would tear it down and the kids would still fight and leave it after 15 minutes and then I’d just resent the whole lot of them.<\/em>"?  \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong. <\/span> I’m all for making blanket forts in the back yard and having picnics.  It’s just that mine would be sheets strung on the clotheslines and it would take 5 minutes to construct.  And then maybe I’d chase the kids like an idiot around the back yard and sneak off for a while to check email.<\/p>\n

I am always torn.<\/span> <\/span> Inspirational or depressing?   What do you think?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am always torn when I see blog entries like this one. On the one hand, they look so lovely and fun and I think they’re full of creativity andgreat ideas.  I want to pass them on as whimsical inspiration. On the other, they always seem so perfect and elaborate!  I am just not the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[75,128,189],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}