Surviving social media as almost a middle-aged Mam!

You’d think, after spending over a decade faffing about online, I’d have cracked the whole social media thing by now. No, not even close! Half the time I’m just clicking things and hoping for the best while my girls are there swiping, posting, editing and filtering like they were born with ring lights attached to their tiny new born heads. I try a filter and end up looking like a cross between a cartoon koala and a woman who hasn’t slept since 1992. My girls can pop on a filter and look like supermodels. Eesh! Surviving social media isn’t just about figuring out how to press the right buttons, it’s also about the weirdness of being a parent in the digital age.

When I finally got the hang of Facebook, uploading photos without accidentally tagging the wrong people, my girls had already moved on. Instagram was their world, then Snapchat and then suddenly TikTok took over. By the time I’ve downloaded the latest big thing, they’ve already declared it cringe and have stopped using it! My 18 year old can spend three hours on TikTok, learn ten new dances, a recipe for pasta I’ve never heard of and a conspiracy theory about why pigeons aren’t real. Me, I’m still figuring out why my For You Page thinks I want to see endless videos about home decluttering when clearly my house proves otherwise. hahaha I have given up trying to catch up and keep up!

I’ve noticed there are two versions of me. The real life mam who wears PJ's lots, I nag about laundry and make sure the fridge isn't empty and then there is the social media mam posting cute pictures of family meals, looking weirdly happy in every selfie and pretending I don’t have a pile of washing behind me. The problem is my girls see straight through it. My 23 year old will say liar if I post a spotless kitchen shot because she knows I shoved three pans and a rogue spatula out of the way. I’ll take what I think is a lovely photo of my garden or my cuppa and Instagram acts like I’ve posted something really awful all while someone my girl's age posts a blurred picture of their shoes and gets 600 likes. I asked my girls why my posts flop and they said it’s because you post like a mam, not helpful!

Being a parent in the social media era comes with a whole new set of worries too. I’m not built for this level of stress. I didn’t grow up with people messaging me at all hours, location tags, strangers following you or disappearing photos. Half of my parenting now feels like detective work. Who’s that person commenting heart eyes? Why is your location on? Do you know that person? Why is your Instagram private but your TikTok isn’t? My girls say I’m paranoid but I do like to know who they are connecting with online. They try and switch it back on me about my safety where my blog is concerned but most people who read and comment here are other bloggers, are open about who they are and those who try to be Anonymous really aren't. lol

If you want a real adrenaline rush, don’t bother with skydiving. Just try posting a comment on your young adult's photo on social media! hahaha! If I say "So pretty!" it gets deleted within seconds, followed by a DM saying, "Don’t embarrass me." If I say "Omg you look amazing!!!" I’m trying too hard, the safe option is a single emoji. A thumbs up or a heart. Even then, there’s a 50/50 chance I’ll get told off for picking the wrong one!

The platforms can’t quite figure me out. I'm there for the family updates, recipes, the memes and some random shopping ads but TikTok thinks I’m a fitness enthusiast, a skincare addict, a wannabe gardener and someone who urgently needs a stairlift. My girls feeds are slick and perfectly curated. Mine looks like a jumble sale with the occasional inspirational quote thrown in.

The weirdest part of being a parent on social media is watching your worlds collide. One minute I’m chatting with friends that I have known for years about how quickly time flies. The next, I’m looking at my girl's posts and realising they have a hundred people liking their photos in less than an hour and apparently they know most of those people! It’s bizarre and all I can do is hope they remember my number one rule: Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want me, your Grandad or your future boss to see!

For all my moaning, social media has its upsides. It’s how I keep up with my kids lives without nagging them for updates. I get to see what they’re proud of, what they’re into and what they're laughing at. It also keeps me connected with friends, gives me ideas for meals when my brain’s gone blank and occasionally makes me laugh so hard I cry.

Surviving social media as an almost middle-aged parent isn’t about being perfect, trendy or up to date with every new app. It’s about finding your balance. My kids might laugh at me for my dodgy hashtags or my habit of oversharing pictures of my garden but that’s fine. I’ll keep posting, keep scrolling and keep embarrassing my children with the occasional over enthusiastic comment.

Do you manage to keep up with all the social media trends that your kids do?

Our weekly meal plan! 27th April - 3rd May #MealPlanningMonday

Happy Monday! I hope you have all had a good weekend. Ours was a quiet one. Becky came back from her travels on Friday evening and we had a lot of catching up to do. She ordered a pizza just after she arrived home and was that busy telling me about her adventures that I had to say stop, get something to eat! lol The pizza came in handy as she had the leftovers before she went to sleep for her night shift. It meant no cooking for her on Saturday morning.

Last week's meal plan went pretty well. We ate most of the meals and of course, our favourite was the sausage casserole. My family do love it. The Thai style pork patties have been bumped to this week because we had to eat some chicken which needed using up last week, now the mince for the patties needs using up. This week I thought I had ordered a Gousto box. I remember putting the meals in the basket but I couldn't have gone any further and checked out. Oops. I only realised on Saturday when I didn't get my usual text saying it would be delivered between so-and-so time. I order one off boxes every week instead of subscribing to a weekly one, as I know I would forget the other way and get one delivered when we don't want one. lol

I have a few plans for this week, gardening being my main one. The plants on the kitchen windowsill need putting in larger pots and I am going to start putting them outside during the day and bringing them back in at night to harden them up a little before they fully move outside.

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Thai style pork patties with sweet potato wedges and salad!

This was bumped from last week. It is another one of our favourite Gousto meals which I have made many, many times before. They are so full of flavour and always go down well.

Tuesday - Sausages in buns!

Not a sausage sandwich, more of a hot dog style meal with fried onions, mustard and ketchup. We will probably have them with fries or onion rings.

Wednesday - Quiche and salad!

I feel like I have jumped into our summer meals this week; quiche and salad is usually a summer thing for us. It's not even that warm here at the start of the week but I feel like we should be eating lighter meals.

Thursday - Salmon, Broccoli & Pea Risotto!

This sounds fancy but it's not. It's a meal in a bag from Iceland where you just pop everything in a pan and let it heat up and then serve!

Friday - Chippy tea!

Friday night is a chip shop tea! No cooking, no fuss and the biggest drama is deciding what we fancy. Last week I had fish, chips and mushy peas and it was so good. This week I am thinking about getting a battered burger with chips and gravy.

Saturday - Pizza!

It could be homemade or it could be out of the freezer. Who knows? It depends on the plans for the day.

Sunday - A help yourself evening!

I have no plan for today and everyone can just help themselves to whatever they fancy. Last week I think we all ended up having toasted sandwiches.

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 19th - 25th April Week 17 of #Project365

How are we almost at the end of April already? I will start by saying it now, this year is going way too fast and it doesn't seem like two minutes since I wrote my last Project 365 post. This past week seemed to drag because I was full of cold but at the same time, it flew over as everything was back to normal with Ellie back at college after the Easter break and Becky went away for a few days and saw the singer Alex Warren in concert. She had a great time!

We have had a nice weekend so far. We've not been up to much, as Stu isn't feeling the best being full of cold. He caught it from me. He thought he had got away with not being poorly but there was no escape. Yesterday was all about catching up on the housework that I didn't do during the week. Although I did manage to keep on top of the laundry, it seems so much easier when I can get it out on the line to dry.

Now for a photo every day!

109/365 19th April

Just the sun setting. We seem to be getting a lot of pretty sunsets lately but I keep missing them. Before the clocks changed, I was seeing all the sunsets when I was cooking tea but now it's not setting until later, Ellie is the one spotting them when she goes to put the kettle on for our evening cup of tea. She shouted that there was a pretty sunset, so I went running.

110/365 20th April

I was doing a good job of staying hydrated while I was full of cold. The amount of cups and glasses I had beside me was comical. Two glasses with juice in, a mug of tea and a mug with Lemsip in which I was waiting to cool down. Drinking all the drinks was good for me but it meant I was up and down to the bathroom non-stop, which wasn't fun, when all I wanted to do was sit.

111/365 21st April

This looks like a simple photo of a lipstick but it has a story behind it. When I took this photo it had been through the washing machine. It dropped out of Ellie's short jeans pocket when I was hanging it on the line. I dread to think what could have happened if it had been wet out or I had been feeling lazy and had put it in the tumble dryer, it would have made such a mess. Eek! The lipstick isn't as black as it looks, it is a really dark, dark red.

112/365 22nd April

Ellie asked me to take a photo of her trousers just to prove to her dad that she had worn them. She got them a couple of years ago and he said it wasn't her style and would probably never wear them out of the house but here she was, wearing them and had been all day when she was out of the house. She said she will be wearing them lots in the future as they are so comfy and light, they will be perfect for the warmer months.

113/365 23rd April

We have a shoe rack in the hall and a cupboard under the stairs where shoes go but Ellie keeps putting her shoes there, just next to the dining room table. I keep tripping over them and then forgetting to tell her to get them moved when she gets in. I took this photo to remind me to have words. The shoes have now been moved! Kids!!

114/365 24th April

Becky brought me some Pease Pudding home from up north. hehehe Pease Pudding is this thick, savoury mush made from split peas that looks a bit dodgy but tastes really good, especially in a ham sandwich. We can't get it here where I live as it seems it's just a North East thing.

115/365 25th April

Just a Mr Kipling French Fancy cake. I bought a box last week and forgot all about them until today. These always make me think of my childhood, we only got these for special occasions or when we went to visit my great Aunt. We thought she was so fancy as she always had a box in the cupboard.

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This week my Word of the Week is: Eventful!! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

What a week! It has been a long one but it seems to have flown over at the same time. I am very glad it's the weekend and we are all home and can relax a little. This week has been quite eventful even though I had planned on a quiet week. We had more drama with the drains being blocked which I wrote about yesterday. Short story is, it was limescale blocking them this time. I spent the weekend watching Wrestling and still catching up with it on Monday. Becky got engaged, I am feeling better, Stu is not, we've all slept in when we needed to be up and did I mention I am ready for the weekend! lol

This time last week, I was just starting with a cold and now I am nearing the end but Stu started with it on Wednesday evening. Ugh! He went to bed early, not feeling great, which was the sensible thing to do until around 11pm when I had to wake him up. I went into the kitchen when I was on my way to bed and saw the garage light was on and I was sure someone was moving around in there. I ran upstairs, woke Stu and he said Oops, he must have left the light on earlier. There was no one moving around in there, it was just my eyes playing tricks on me. He went and switched it off. I felt bad for waking him up as he hadn't been asleep for long but like he said, he left the light on and he didn't really want it on all night as the electrics are not amazing in there. Eek!

Becky got engaged! She asked the love of her life to marry her on Wednesday evening and of course, the answer was yes! What made it funny was "M" was calling her Nanna, sister and whoever else to tell them the news and they all already knew. Becky is good at keeping secrets but not good at keeping things totally to herself. They are in no rush to get married yet, they have more plans to put into place before that happens. They got engaged in Newcastle Upon Tyne, their happy place. They went there to see Alex Warren in concert on Thursday night but during the day Becky had a trip down memory lane showing "M" where she grew up when we lived in Northumberland. They got off the bus near Becky's high school, walked past the two houses we lived in, stopped off for lunch at the local Wetherspoons, walked up the high street and then got the train back to Newcastle. That is new, there wasn't any trains when we lived there. Hmmf.

Ellie was feeling the first week back at college after a two week break and sleeping in until she felt ready to get up. She slept in one day this week. Of course it was her sister's fault. If she ever does sleep in, she knows Becky comes in just after half past seven, which still leaves enough time to get ready and run for the bus but Becky had other plans and never came home, so Ellie missed the college bus and had to get the normal bus and then another one to college. She wasn't that late, only about 20 minutes. Phew! Stu slept in on Thursday morning, not too late. His watch usually wakes him up but that day his actual alarm went off and I almost slept in the day the food shop was delivered. I hit snooze one too many times.

I am so glad I haven't moved my plants outside yet. I had just about given up that my peppers were going to grow but they're doing their own thing at their own pace and have started to sprout. My little greenhouses are out of the garage ready to be filled but I think I am going to hold off as the temperature is so up and down at the moment. Stu leaves the house on a morning wrapped up in a thick coat as it's freezing and the said coat gets carried home when it has warmed up later in the day.

How has your week been? I hope you have had a good one! I am of course linking up with Anne who blogs at Raisie Bay to join in with her Word of the Week linky!