Friday, April 30, 2010

Is this really helpful?

So I was sitting at the car dealership today waiting while they changed the oil in the van and the TV in the waiting room was tuned to one of the local talk shows. One of the topics for today was How to use wrapping paper to really make a birthday party special. Since we have several birthday coming up I paid attention. They suggested to buy a roll of wrapping paper and use it for all your decor and favors. Some of the ideas were to make a banner to hand make party favor bags out of it. wrap the bottom of cupcakes in it, and even to wrap it around candy bars and soda pop bottle and make new labels. Some of these ideas were super cute, but the way the people on the program presented these ideas made it seem that these are all necessary things to do and that our party's would just flop do unless we do all these things. Now I am craftier than some, but really do I need to wrap my soda bottles in cute paper to make my kid feel special on their birthday? I have been watching a show called Mad Men, it is set in the 1950's and I often think that I'm so glad I didn't live back then and have to look perfect in my dress and heels while I cook dinner in my spotless house. But then I watch show like Studio 5 and Good Things Utah and think that now we have even more pressure on us, dresses and heels have been replaced my designer jeans and even higher heels, and we still are expected to be gourmet cooks, have spotless houses but now they must be decorated with things we have crafted ourselves. Our children must be dressed in perfectly matched outfits and the hair of our little girls fashioned into the latest fabulous hair doo topped with a gigantic flower (hand made of course). And we all need to do these things while fulfilling our church callings and running a home based business. And the sad thing is, is that it is mainly other women that put these pressures on us.
So are shows like these really helpful? I think not.

1 comment:

JM said...

I love your take on this!! I am always struck, that we are truly our own worst enemies sometimes! Glad I am not the only one who can be complete overwhelmed at the notion of who I should be. Guess it is a good thing I am happy with who I am.