Mary Angel

(7/2019) Is there an app to help me remember all those great ideas? A few months back I talked about some apps that moms should be leery of…actually never let their kids install! This month I am talking about a single app that I love, as long as you go into it with the right mindset. The app in question is Pinterest.

I absolutely love Pinterest. I was introduced to it years ago when you had to be invited to be on. I am probably dating myself with that announcement. I started out slowly. Once a week I would go on and see if there was anything new that interested me. Sometimes there was and sometimes not so much. Then as time went on the app kind of blew up. Every time I would open it there would be the most wonderfully pinnable suggestions. I quickly had to create other folders to keep up with all of the great ideas I was finding.

As a mom I was finding great ideas for "summer fun", things to do with the kids at home to make our own inexpensive summer memories. I was also finding amazing looking "recipes". There were recipes for "breakfast", "snacks", "desserts", and the "crock pot"…you name it and there was a recipe for it. My craft room Pinterest folder was overflowing with ideas for my would-be "craft room". Then there were all of my different "homeschool" folders, one for "English", another for "history", and still another for "math". Let’s not overlook my "organization" folder for the insanely unorganized. I had a ton more folders including one entitled "happy marriage" and another called "parenting".

All you have to do is have a problem you are struggling with, or an interest, or a hobby and you can find some great ideas on Pinterest. It is really easy to find five minutes to pin 20 or 30 things that you love. Unfortunately finding the time to go back and read the articles, make the recipes, or create the crafts isn’t always as easy. I know deep in my homeschool English folder are some great ideas for doing book reports that aren’t boring, but I will be shocked if I find the time to search through my folder to find them. On the other hand, I was getting ready to head to a homeschool fair to look at math curriculum (since we were considering switching from our current choice) and I was able to go to the "homeschool math" folder and search for my pins on different curriculum choices. There they were all in one place.

I guess my point is, it can be therapeutic just to pin items into your assigned folders and some times that is enough. When I have even 5 or 10 minutes I will pop open the app and see if there are any suggestions on my main screen that would fit into one of my already created folders or into a newly created one. As I pin items that interest me, new ideas and suggestions will show up on the main screen. However, it can also be extremely helpful to go back to your pins when you have a dilemma you need a solution for. I have officially picked my new math curriculum and I can honestly say that Pinterest was instrumental in making the decision.

My newest folders are "menu planning" and "budget" and I am super excited to get back into all of the pins in each of those folders. I actually though I would jump into meal planning without any guidance or, well, planning. Boy was I wrong. The articles I have read from my Pinterest "meal planning" folder have definitely helped me avoid some pretty common pit falls that I was totally unaware of. I have also used the "budget" folder to pin articles and ideas that have ultimately helped me and my kids. When you have older teenagers and college students you may quickly discover that one budgeting technique will work great for one child but not for another. My "budget" folder has many different budget styles and techniques and variations on each so that I might be able to teach each of my kids a budgeting skill that they can stick too. After all, a budget only works if you stick to it.

My only caution to using Pinterest, as an adult, is not getting caught up in keeping up with the Joneses, as they use to say. Pin all you want and go back and try the recipes and the crafts, read the articles, and try some of the decorating tips, BUT do not worry whether or not you have a "Pinterest Fail". What is a "Pinterest Fail" you ask. A "Pinterest Fail" is when you attempt some amazing craft, or decorating project, or recipe and it doesn’t turn out like the picture you originally pinned. Guess what, it is the journey and the experience not the outcome. There are many things I see on Pinterest that will never turn out the way they appear on the app, no big deal. As long as I have fun doing it or learn from my mistakes then it was a success.

I mentioned my last caution for adults, since this is an article from one mom to another I must also warn you that some kids struggle with this same thing only on a much greater level. I have ready many articles, yes some of them I pinned, about kids pinning amazing clothes or phones, or makeup, or hair and feeling like a complete failure when they can’t have or accomplish what they are pinning. It is important that we build up our kids self-esteem and as they move into the teenage years it becomes even more important to guard that self-esteem. In a day and age when we have so many kids with eating disorders, cutting themselves and doing even worse it is important that we not hand them anything that might encourage self-doubt or discourage self-worth. So just be careful, you know your children much better than I do.

Read other articles by Mary Angel