If you have ever felt a little inadequate while scrolling through Instagram or Pinterest (and, let’s face it, who hasn’t?!), you need to see these images, mamas.
Recently, kitchen manufacturer Wren Kitchens challenged a bunch of UK-based parenting bloggers to post about the reality that lurks behind their beautifully filtered Instagram photos, and trust us when we say this will make you feel so much better about life.
Because while we all know social media does not 100 percent accurately portray reality (far from it), it is still easy to let those stunning and cleverly edited pictures make us feel bad when we look around our own messy kitchens and toy-strewn living rooms.
But here are the photos to prove you can ease up in the self-doubt, mamas. Because behind every filtered photo out there, is probably a huge, big mess. Thank God.
In fact, after taking part in the experiment, Jack, the dad blogger behind the account Working Family Food, has vowed to start showing the reality behind more of his photos.
“I enjoy composing my dishes to look good and I spend time taking photos from all sorts of angles to get just the shot I think shows off the dish’s attributes,” he writes.
“What you won’t see in my photos is the stack of mixing bowls, sticky utensils and scatterings of flour, splashes of milk or drips of sauce that have gone into making the dish. Don’t be surprised if a few shots of a toy-strewn living room or a child covered in his own dinner also make it up—this is the reality.”
While Elfa, the woman behind the blog Californian Mum in London, admits she does feel pressure to put up a glossy, filtered version of her life.
“It’s tough enough being a mother these days. I don’t want to add to anyone’s feelings of inadequacy,” she says.
“While I will sometimes share the better photos and not share the utter mess of my life, I like my blog and social media to be a fairly accurate portrayal of my family life.”
Emma from They Grow So Quick dishes on the power of a good crop.
“Anyone who has ever cooked with kids knows that the reality often involves mess, spillages, nibbling at the ingredients and even tantrums—it is definitely not Instagram perfect.” she says.
We have to admit, though, that our favorite filtered reality in here comes from mum blogger Bridie By The Sea, who not only cropped out her mess but her screaming child, too. Genius.
“It took two of us to distract [my daughter] and coax her out of having a complete meltdown,” she admits.
Yeah hey for a bit of unfiltered honesty, no?!
