I lied on Instagram last week, it’s not a really big lie, but my reaction, when I looked at the picture, told me I lied. It was just too perfect.
The picture was posted during the weekend and perfect is the best word to describe it!
I looked so great, and my husband and kids looked cute too. I snapped the picture while we were in a beautiful location, a park in Iganmu.
Basically, the picture showed how I have it all in life, and I want so much to show it off to the world.
See for yourself people: The problem is, it’s all a big lie.
Mamalettes, what you see in that picture has no resemblance to the reality of what was really going on when the picture was taken. In reality, my husband and I were having an argument, my son was throwing the biggest tantrum of all time and we were tired, hot and exhausted. And to crown it all, strangers were staring at us, I guess they were wondering what a funny family we are.
And to think that people will see that picture and think “how cute” when actually it isn’t. The outing was a wrong idea, I should have left my children at home and come alone with my husband.
It was a public holiday for the eid el Kabir, and it was a very sunny day. My husband suggested we go out and have some fun, “genius” I replied already thinking how much fun I would have with my children at home, but then he added that we have to go as a family so they also have to come. We should check out the park in Iganmu, we haven’t been there since Bobo was born.
I must admit the park is beautiful. On getting there, we fell in love with the environment. The building was nicely designed and it had a nostalgic feeling to it. But the weather was too hot for us to enjoy it.
I didn’t understand the implication of these until Bobo started shouting it’s hot mommy, it’s hot. And his sister Sisi said
“I want ice-cream” and repeated it again so I could hear her well. How nice that they were taking turns to spoil our carefully planned day, I thought in my mind.
“I want cold water,” Bobo said aloud again.
“Mommy, let’s go home. I want to go home” Sisi said
I had a hard time explaining to them that we just got here and we can’t just leave like that. There weren’t any ice-cream shops here, and there are no playthings for kids either. It was then up to my husband and me to make our family outing fun, yet we were running out of the water and snacks that we brought from home. Then we made some efforts to make rock-hopping as much fun as we can in the very hot sun.
Then we decided to leave, the kids were not finding it fun, but as we were leaving, they decided they can’t walk any further, they are tired, but we still had a long way to cover before we get to where the car was parked.
First it was Bobo and then his sister followed suit. They sat down on the road and cried loudly.
People that were passing by stared at us, and I tried to threaten the kids, when that didn’t work, I sweet-talked them.
But of course, you won’t see any of that on the Instagram post. All you would see is a sweet family, a handsome and cute husband and wife with their sweet kids. You wouldn’t happen to know that to get that shot I had to bribe my children with the promise that I’ll buy them ice-cream when we see one. And it took a while before they accepted.
You ask why go to all that trouble for snapshots? Because I don’t have many pictures of my children and I. Because anytime I want a picture of us they just wouldn’t sit still, and it’s only when they are sick or scared that they cuddle me. So I had to persist I want this particular picture to be perfect.
And that was how we dragged our children to a nice spot and I insisted. I had to bribe my kids with sugary things to get a picture of what a perfect family should look like on a day out. Not a perfect family on a day out but a picture of it.
I know there’s no perfect family, and I’m not trying to fake what we have. And we should be realistic about what family life is all about, so people will not be deluded into thinking there’s a perfect family somewhere, for there’s no such thing as a perfect family, and no perfect way to live. So I’m not proud of what I did.
But I can’t deprive myself of the opportunity to look at the picture and see what a perfect family looks like. So on that day I forgot myself and told a big fat lie on Instagram, a lie that made me be as close to being a sweet mummy as I can ever get, my son smiling like a gentleman, and my daughter looking like a cherub as she has ever been. And my husband looking like the sweet husband and good daddy that he is.
Don’t blame a desperate mom, I’m sure you’ve also done it before. Haven’t you?
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