Instagram mums...

[JillBob]

What are your thoughts? Are they good for the mental health of mothers or damaging? Personally I know of a couple who are showing a veneer of an amazing life being a mother but underneath they are completely struggling and put out a completely false facade. Had I seen or be following these in the early years of my life I would have taken them to heart and questioned myself and my parenting. Do you follow or ignore?

Take with a pinch of salt. I only post the good days on SM too 🤷🏻‍♀️

For 'influencers' it is their job to perpetuate the image of a perfect family- they are a marketing tool.

As false as false teeth.

I don't follow. I think they are just as toxic as any 'type' of influencer; make-up influencers, financial advice influencers, hair influencers, dating/hypergamy influencers etc.... just a different brand of shit. All that said wrt Insta mums there was a horrific story a few years ago about Clemmie Hooper (sp). It's all trash.

They’re just ridiculous. Someone has already mentioned MOD up there but look at how that all came crashing down - they sold their kids for free tat. It’s embarrassing.

I know about Clemente Hooper doing that mad shit on Tattle but was there something else? It’s a shame. She was a bit smug but I really wanted to like her. The house of Hooper Instagram page is her social media outlet now I think.

What about the one in here that posters used to love too (and she was all bollocks)?

She was called Cherry something from memory.

I follow James Van Der Beek on Instagram and Bethany Hamilton (are they insta parents)😂🤷‍♀️

I avoid instaparents. I don't like people making money off their kids and it seems like that's inevitably what happens.

I think you have to be a little bit thick to follow instamums and think that everything they do and show you is real.

I do like the Unmumsymum, she shows the good and the bad. There’s one I follow in Australia as well that also shows the reality of parenting.

I don’t mind the ones who have a bit of self awareness and understand that they make a living in a strange way, and recognise that social media doesn’t show everything etc.

Get annoyed by the ones that act like they’re curing cancer by posting kiddy meal ideas or an inspirational quote.

I think you can still enjoy them if you understand its just another way of selling shit to people, and you don’t take it too seriously.

To be honest I think most social media accounts are quite damaging but the mum ones particularly. There's already so much pressure on mothers to be doing things a particular way so adding into that accounts on instagram where mums have the perfect life, perfect house, well behaved children etc etc can make mums feel inadequate at a time in their lives when they are already quite emotionally vulnerable with hormone changes, sleep deprivation and adapting to life with a child.

I've fallen prey to it myself even though I know that people will either sugar coat things or even downright lie on social media - even though I knew this I STILL felt like I was a failure because I wasn't "achieving" the same as the other mums. So for me personally it's best if I don't follow them because I know I compare myself and never come out of it feeling good.

I do think though that there will be interesting questions raised about the ethics of it all, especially when the kids in question are old enough to understand and possibly develop a different perspective.

I know someone who has just become an instamum. Her content isn't great at all but she seemed to get a decent number of followers really quickly and is already getting freebies but I think she's also spends a lot of money buying products to get the attention of companies . The success is misleading as well as the lower level instaparents often seem to form engagement pods where they comment and like each other posts by arrangement for each other thereby manipulating the Instagram algorithm and making accounts seem more successful than they are

@Sparklesocks I completely agree. Some children's whole lives are posted on social media and I do wonder how those children will feel about it when they are older. I've always been a very private person and can imagine I would have felt horrified in my teenage years if my whole childhood had been documented for the world to see!

Jesus I spend enough of my time being a mum, I don’t want my social media feeds full of that shit aswell.

[quote Toffeesprinkles]@Sparklesocks I completely agree. Some children's whole lives are posted on social media and I do wonder how those children will feel about it when they are older. I've always been a very private person and can imagine I would have felt horrified in my teenage years if my whole childhood had been documented for the world to see![/quote]
Yes it’s quite interesting as social media is still so new we don’t really know much about the long term impact. We know that a child film/tv star for example can struggle when they got older if they haven’t felt stability in their unusual upbringing - and although it’s not the same thing I suppose if your image is beamed out to millions of people every day, and you’re recognised in public etc, it might have a similar effect?

I follow some specific accounts for breastfeeding and cloth nappies, but they’re generally more informational rather than ‘aspirational’. I’ve never (and would never) put my baby on Instagram and I do judge other parents who do a little bit (though obviously there are degrees within that - parents who monetise their kids are definitely the worst).

Cringeworthy and fake

I follow one who has triplets and a older child and she genuinely is such a lovely knackered mum!

saccone-joly children.....poor poor kids.

Nope. The premise is good but inevitably the followers grow, the freebies roll in, and their posts become very performative and ‘moral of the story’.

I also have a bit of an issue with the way mum bloggers with disabled kids are weighing in on the antenatal testing issue. They’re usually very financially stable or SAHMs which leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The only one I like is the Unmumsy Mum who keeps her posts funny and non-preachy, while staying out of the mum blogger cliques.

I think it’s best to avoid them. I usually hear their names on here rather than see any of them on Instagram.

I think it’s best not to follow them. I know they will make me feel like shit.

Why do you have an issue with them on those grounds?

I don’t follow any Instagram mums (although some do have children, it’s not what their account is about).
I want escapism, art, yoga, fashion, travel.