‘Pinterest Stress’ – The Newest Thing To Make Moms Feel Inadequate

Pinterest is kind of awesome. I mean, there are all sorts of recipes and crafts and DIY suggestions, and it's lead to a lot of homes being filled with unnecessary, but cute, bulletin boards, pieces of furniture, and motivational phrases stuck on the wall. But, it turns out, it's also causing something called "Pinterest stress" for many busy moms. Why? Because they just can't live up to Pinterest's perfection.

TODAY polled nearly 7000 women, and found that 42 percent of them suffer from "Pinterest stress". Moms worry that they're not creative enough, that they're not crafty enough. Let me tell you something, my mother was anything but crafty when I was growing up. And you know what? She was a great mom and we all turned out just fine.

But, Pinterest has caused all of us to believe that there are a million fun, creative, crafty things that we could be doing with our children and around our home on a daily basis. And that every time we attempt one of these crafts, they're going to turn out just as perfect as they are in the pictures on Pinterest. That just isn't realistic.

Glennon Doyle Melton, a blogger and mother of three, told TODAY,

Being a parent is so physically and emotionally and mentally exhausting. To add 17 layers of perfection and cutesiness? I don’t know of any study that ever said kids turn out better if they have rainbow colored birthday cakes. Why are we doing this to ourselves?

I've tried the things I've found on Pinterest. Recipes turn out tasting okay, but don't look anything like the pictures I've seen pinned. Crafts turn out looking sort of like the picture, but more like I let my 19-month-old nephew do them instead of me doing them myself. The hairstyles that are supposed to be "super quick and easy!"? No, they're not. They are time consuming and then still don't look anything like the picture you see on Pinterest.

Pinterest is a double-edged sword. I love that it has encouraged people to be more creative and try new thing, but at what cost? It ends up stressing moms out. It makes people fee like failures when their attempts don't turn out "Pinterest perfect".

My solution? People should have to pin pictures of what the stuff actually looks like when they make it and not the prettied up version they generally post.