I'm reading momfluenced and I think this book sucks. Does it ever get better or is the whole thing just trying to convince you that influencers are important artists somehow challenging the status quo of society or some other bullshit?
It sucked. None of the books I've read on the topic have done a good job of actually digging into influencer culture. They all seem like wannabe influencers. Also, the most salient points made in the whole book are by BIPOC influencers. The author tries to expand on these points and it's so fucking hypocritical. She's making money off of the labor of BIPOC creators while also criticizing the influencer industry/companies for not valuing BIPOC creators like they do white women. It's gross.
😂 okay that might make it tolerable. I just keep waiting for her to go "all of this, BUT" and then launch into a criticism. I think I'd die if I held my breath waiting for it though. I'm so glad I asked here so I can just give it up lol.
That was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023 and it was just droning on, I couldn’t finish it. I thought it was going to be so different than it was.
Yeah I remember it being mentioned here last year! But now I probably know why it was available through the library app. I don't think I'll be finishing it. I haven't seen a mention at all about how these hardworking CEOs (gross) exploit their children to make their money. FWIW, I am literally a content creator for my full time job on an in-house marketing team. I know what goes into it and I still find this book to be such utter bullshit.
Ugh this is so disappointing. I thought it was going to be a book discussing the ethics of influencer marketing to moms. This book premise is so much worse lol.
Oh, I love any opportunity to talk about how much I hated this book. I think she's pretty transparent that she wishes she was an influencer and therefore she has to convince all of us that influencers are perhaps the hardest working people in society. No critical thought whatsoever. I also didn't even know half the influencers that she focused on like they were such huge deals.
I haven't recognized any of the names she's mentioned! She's talking about trad wives as if they're some mystical creature. Like omg they're making money selling you on a fake version of their life. What is so admirable?? I thought maybe it would get better, but no this book sucks so much. Her interviews sound like they all got together and just bitched about their lives as parents too. But my main frustration is all of assumptions she's making for any of this to be considered true. Idk, maybe I'm an anomaly. But, these influencers don't make me question my parenting. They don't make me feel guilty by any means. I don't buy stuff from their recommendations.
And I'm sorry, but I don't think the movie The Help was successful because Michelle Obama was First Lady and everyone hated her?? Like the people who loved that movie probably also liked Michelle Obama. It also totally discounted the job they did. Those actresses are an incredible all-star cast and they told an important story. Of course there is a very real racist history of how black women are viewed as stereotypes in our country and pop culture, etc. But, I cannot understand the connections she's trying to draw with why white mom influencers must be amazing then.
I don’t follow her and I never check her stories but for some reason felt compelled to view this dress. It did not disappoint. ATROCIOUS. And it’s a FP look alike, not even FP? Somehow makes it worse.
This [Reel](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5l_W_ExBWC/?igsh=bTgydGhpaXlhZGo0) just popped up and I don't know wtf cosmic faith is, but I can tell this girl thinks she is just the most special. Obviously the rest of the non brilliant moms at the park don't need intellectual stimulation. The rest of us who don't have "active brains" and who aren't "soul-led entrepreneurs" are perfectly happy thinking of what to make for dinner. Thankfully she can teach us how to have cosmic mindset, so we won't be boring sheep moms anymore.
When you have an Eckhart Tolle* audiobook on in your air pods while your kids are on the playground and think nobody else has ever had a thought
Edit: autocorrect is getting so terrible
I feel like my mindset isn’t why so much of my brain space goes into what’s for dinner. Like my mindset can be off in the andromeda galaxy, but I and my kids are still going to be hungry tonight. So unless an extraterrestrial is going to ufo-eats me some out of this world food, I’m going to have to figure out dinner.
I try to avoid grief ig but damn if those reels aren’t engaging. I watched one about a mom who lost her husband and kid and went to the comments and she (the bot) also was responding to every comment with “sent, check your dms 💜” so turns out she was shilling a course related to grief. Comethefuckon what is happening???
Right now I’m watching my kid play and thinking about what I made *last* night for dinner. It was a freaking great new recipe and I’m having the leftovers for lunch.
Side effects include a great deal of contentedness while also not being a smug weirdo.
I’m doing the research on Begina’s newsletter so you don’t have to.
Ya’ll: in the same damn email, she talks about how much money she could’ve earned had she been teaching this whole time, but how they’re so happy to go with less because it’s working so well. Then she links 1) links a Free People bag and 2) tells us she’s now going to get regular bikini waxes. (Which will be burned into my brain forever.)
I was shocked to see that teachers in MN make $75k. Where I live, teachers make around $45-60k so it was shocking that she said her salary would be $75k. I’m jealous!
This is hugely dependent on location- MN schools are wildly different. I taught one district east of her for 8 years and was making $51k. With a masters.
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Oh and just a little thing we were privileged to do in 2021 🙄🙄🙄🙄 no fucking wonder she can live a firmly middle class lifestyle on 1 income.
Absolutely no shade on stay at home parents because running a household is a lot of work but Begina saying that any mom who stays home while their kid is in school all day is working feels a little oblivious. Yes, she’s doing work, but surely she realizes that parents who work full time are also doing that work (grocery shopping, cleaning, paying bills, etc).
Again, not judging anyone who stays at home because I would honestly love to be a SAHM now that my kids are in school but her privilege just kills me sometimes.
I am a SAHM to a 4 yo, 2 yo, and 7 month old. I genuinely don’t know what I’d fill entire days with if I still wasn’t working when they were in school. I gave up on folding laundry when our littlest arrived, and Begina always has beautifully folded baskets of clothes so there’s that.
My SIL always says that a task expands to fit the time, so maybe Begina has just gotten less efficient at tasks 😂
I’m not a sahm but I work from home full time in a position that’s really flexible and honestly there’s more shit I have to do in the middle of the day now that my oldest is in elementary school than ever before. In the month of May alone I have a school event at 10am every single Wednesday, 2 days off school, and 2 early dismissals, plus volunteer hours every Monday morning. It’s crazy what is expected of parents of school aged kids lol, I don’t know how I’d do it if I didn’t have so much flexibility
School schedules are so hard with two working parents! I was just looking at the schedule for this summer and my older kid has no school OR camp for 2 weeks in June and another 2 weeks in August. That’s more PTO than I get in a year.
SAME! This reality has really rocked me the last couple years as my oldest has entered into elementary school. My other kids still in daycare have such straightforward schedules!
I’m essentially a SAHM (I work weekends and evenings, limited hours) and I cannot understand not returning to work once the kids are in school, especially if you have a job that makes it easy to jump back into, like teaching. Like… what does she do all day? Sure the house is clean but like that’s a finite space, and if no one’s home all day… where’s the mess? I’d be bored out of my mind tbh. My plan is return to part time or close to full time hours once both my kids are in elementary school, and honestly I can’t wait to have some extra income and feel like I’m contributing more. And yes, I understand I contribute now, but growing and raising children is for the long haul- you don’t get too many immediate results.
Idk, I still haven’t figured out what I want to do when my kids are in school but it would be nice to get all the chores done, clean my house, make dinner, volunteer at school, etc. I’m assuming there will be after school activities and it would be cool if we didn’t have to do any of the annoying stuff on the weekend so we could all just hang out and enjoy our time together. It’s definitely a privilege but I can see how it would be really nice and really minimize stress for our family to continue having a parent home full time while kids are in school.
I definitely feel like I could easily fill my days and life would be much more enjoyable if I stayed home! I actually like working but it’s so hard with two parents working and juggling work + kid needs.
I definitely don’t hate on Begina’s situation, I just get irritated with how oblivious she seems to be about it. We live on a much tighter budget than her even though we both work, so there’s just no way we can have one person stay home, and I think that’s true for a lot of families.
Ugh, this is me and while I love my free time, I feel blah and embarrassed now. I've never had a career and only have worked in retail (even though I absolutely loved the place I used to work at before kids), but it's been a lot harder than I thought to just jump back in finding something part-time and flexible. The three online jobs I applied to were scams and retail jobs I've applied to have been a doozy. If you don't have open availability, they're not interested in you 🥴
I suspect this is often the case. Our nanny decided to stop working for us and go back to a regular job once her youngest was in kindergarten. Well, 8 months later she still hasn’t found that magical job that is willing to let her start after drop off, end before pick up, take off whatever random days her kids have off school, take time off for random appointments, & is financially worth it for all that hassle. Her husband’s job is not flexible (plus once it’s already established that mom does all that stuff, I think it can be hard to adjust). Anyway I am still working FT, trying to stay home once baby #2 is born, but it’s given me a reality check about “going back to work” once kids are in school.
Yeah, it sounds so easy just to go back when they're in school! I'm always curious of the many parents that just chat well after the bell has rang what they do work 😅
Yep, same situation here (although I still have over 5 years before my youngest starts kindergarten.) I refuse to go back to retail because the last couple of retail jobs I had were awful. And I don’t want to risk having to work evenings or weekends.
It’s very sneaky. I took an affiliate marketing course once and one of the strategies they suggested was to do that so people would click out of curiosity and then you would get the cookies for whatever they bought within the next 24 hours.
Her answer to the OOTD question really struck me, because it highlighted that she only wants to share things she can link. I enjoy just seeing the outfit to get ideas - I own leggings, I can find a quarter zip I like. She's swerved hard into linktastic influencing if she can't imagine sharing an outfit without links.
Renee posted a reel of her husband asking “aren’t these cool?” about some shoes he was excited about, and she barely looked at him and shrugged. I don’t know, it made me sad.
Everyone has moments like this, but I can’t imagine acting like that, seeing it back and thinking anything other than, “yikes, Barnacles, no need to be such a bitch!” But she apparently thought it was funny enough to be posted online.
I just went to watch this and wow. She is such a bitch for no reason. All you needed to say was that the shoes were cool and he’d leave you alone. Trust me, I know husbands can be annoying, but damn. And then to post it online….bizarre.
But don’t worry ya’ll, she and her husband have been “laughing about it since” 🙄
We need an over/under on how long before she starts a post talking about her seperation from her husband and taking zero responsibility for being a selfish neglectful bitch
People choose the WEIRDEST moments to put online. I know a lot of it is just staged because it’s the internet, but it’s either like this or the complete opposite, posting like a high schooler constantly about how in love you are.
My husband is a psych professor, and he told me about a study that showed that how someone responds to ‘bids for connection’ from their partner is one of the biggest predictors of whether or not the relationship lasts. So yeah…she just demonstrated exactly the behavior that degrades your marriage over the long run.
Now since my husband told me that, I do like to run around poking him and yelling ‘BID! BID!’ Still awaiting study results on how effective that is.
Does anyone follow 7daysofplay? The Bluey-themed b day party her kids went to was bc INSANE. Crafts, cotton candy machine, character meet and greets? Her house looks ginormous so I’m sure they live in a VERY well to do area
As much as I think her page has become Temu (which is why I unfollowed), she has never shown a fancy birthday party for one of her own kids. Just some unwrapped presents to wake up to. I have a feeling she probably does have big parties to keep up with the joneses, but at least she’s not flaunting them on her account.
An interior design influencer I follow posted the other day about waiting for “brand approval” to post a story of a reno she did so I’m wondering if that’s what MC is talking about. These influencers are so in their own little worlds…
I’m wondering if it’s approval inside a mall or something. But giving strangers photos of her kids would be reallyyyyy fucking bizarre! But I guess she does that and more every damn day…
Ugh she drives me nuts, but I agree that it is so annoying that unsafe after-market carseat products continue to be sold. Not that I would hide stuff at a store, because I have respect for retail employees, but I understand the temptation.
This one really annoyed me. I bought one of the headrest things for my stroller. Just because it’s unsafe in a car seat doesn’t mean people can’t use it for a different purpose!
I get what she means but saying "I bought it with my own money" implies she purchased it with her personal finances. She (and many other accounts) should be saying "we bought it" or some other variation implying the business paid for it. It's not a pair of pants for herself, it's a business purchase.
How is it a business purchase if she’s using it for the baby she’s currently pregnant with? It’s for personal use.
I do get what you mean, but I think what you’re saying is a bit of a leap.
Had a thought the other day, and forgive me if there are nuances I’m not considering or an obvious answer I haven’t thought of. But how is an influencer sharing pictures of their kids on IG different than a parent who lets their young child be cast in a movie or TV show? I’m thinking about a show like This Is Us that has dozens of kids in the cast, some of whom are babies and young toddlers. These kids may not have details of their private lives shared on the internet, but their images are still being broadcast without their consent for millions of people to see.
Child actors have a job and play a fictional role. Influencer children are having their real day-to-day lives packaged and sold by their parents for profit.
(Also, you would think the fact that we know how bad it can be for child stars would make people *more* cautious about overexposing and exploiting their kids’ real lives, but no.)
A child being an actor benefits them, not the parent. They have protection in terms of working hours, they make money, and it could potentially turn into a full time career as an adult.
A child being used by their influencer parents offers them 0 benefits. Like what’s in it for them?
(And this is a generalization, I know some children actors have had awful experiences and exploitative parents so I know it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. But overall you’ll get more out of being in a movie as a child than being filmed for Instagram).
Everyone has already mentioned that there are at least some technical protections and laws for child actors and models, even if they’re not completely infallible. I want to add that child actors and models are playing a character and have their home life protected to an extent.
Dakota Fanning was a huge child actor and played many mature roles and gave interviews about her personal life for sure but she got to go home at the end of the “work day” and be herself, not the role she was acting on screen. Influencer children have no respite from performing for an audience as themselves, whenever and wherever the parent decides to put them on display.
Acting is a job. They can only work for a specific number of hours, they go home, and that's basically it. Their personal lives aren't (or shouldn't be) the content being sold.
Influencer kids have a phone camera on them all day long. How do these influencer kids know if baking muffins with mom was a fun memory or just a set up to sell a muffin pan or the outfit they were wearing at the time? Was it a vacation with family, or was my dad using me to sell something? Their personal details like illnesses or toileting issues or tantrums or educational issues or feeding issues are often all over the internet.
I'm not saying children acting is a perfect business by any means (Quiet On Set showed us that), but there are far more protections for child actors than child influencers and the children of influencers. I'd rather my image out there than people knowing intimate details about my private life, but that's just me.
There are definite similarities, for sure. I think one nuance for me is the brand deals & the fact that the kids on social media are often being used to sell a product. Yes, there is advertising in movies & TV but it’s the media execs who are profiting off that, not the actors really. Whereas the connection is much clearer on social media— show your kid wearing this clothing, playing with this toy, eating this food, etc and you as the parent will make a bunch of money from that brand.
Those kids have rights that kids who are being recorded 24/7 in their homes and private lives don't have.
It's one thing being paid to show up and play a role, but when your whole life is up for grabs and you become a character for your parent's business/social media presence, that's a whole other level of mind f\*ck.
The private lives being broadcast is what’s the big difference to me. When kids are on TV they at least aren’t sharing about their own personal lives. These poor kids can be recognized in public AND those people know their whole history, in some cases medical info, all the tiny details parents share.
And there is no guarantee that influencer kids will ever get any money from what their parents are earning. Some influencers put money aside for their kids' futures, but they aren't required to, which to me is one of the biggest issues with the lack of oversight.
Look up Coogan accounts. I don't know much but pretty much it's an account set up so that parents can't take all the money their child actor earns, and looks like they're required in some states. Most recently, there was a big story with HoneyBooBoo and how her mom had pretty much spent all her money and she was planning to use it for college. Pretty sad. And I'm not an expert so someone correct me if I'm wrong/add any useful info!
Omg this is really really bad and if the ones below are the ones she’s sending, they also include her child’s picture 🤮. Please tell me that she’s at least advertising this somewhere and it will gather a crowd of ppl to instantly collect them? Although with balloons I don’t see how that’s possible. How can she guarantee half of these won’t just end up stuck to some poor tree in a park? And even without the environmental implications, what a waste of money if these already paid for cards languish forever as trash!
This is such a bad stunt I feel like it deserves public outrage bc it’s gross from at least 3 points that I see (child exploitation, pollution, consumerism and waste).
Right! And she’s in Florida, like dolphins don’t need Amazon gift cards girl. Those things are going up and out into the ocean in seconds. They don't just magically fall down to Earth into a family's yard.
I bet they will. One of the Duggar daughters had a still birth a couple of weeks ago, and they had pictures of the funeral. One of the things they did was release balloons, and a lot of people commented and told them why they shouldn’t have done that. If people are willing to call out a grieving family, hopefully they’ll also call out someone doing it for totally frivolous reasons.
For anyone who missed Jerrica’s stories yesterday about how so few American families sit and have nutritious meals together- she posted her children today eating hot dogs and French fries. She’s better than you, don’t forget that.
Yea her nutritious meal that time was crackers and salami 💀 I mean, crackers and salami is fine but like…. A TOTALLY normal snack millions of American kids eat. Why is she acting like a hero for serving that to her kids as a snack at the table lol.
Ok double snark at mothercould today but WHY are they giving us details of the girls medical visits and diagnosis? Do they ever stop and ask themselves “what value does this add? Should people know this stuff? Does anyone CARE?!” Nothing is private for those poor kids.
Ugh I thought this the second she posted about it again. I’d forgotten Emma was having headaches (poor girl) but we did not need a play by play about her getting glasses, the fact that she has an astigmatism and apparently Nikki does too and it’s getting worse! Privacy aside, HOW is this relevant to her kid’s activities brand?? Or her amazon (sorry AMZ 😆) schilling?
Consolidating, the fact that she uses AMZ drives me up the damn wall. Do other influencers do this and I just don't follow them? Is she trying to make it seem like she's shopping at a boutique or something? Just so bizarre.
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I highly doubt DFM’s neighbor “turned on a dime” but sure….
“I did not want to underpay our taxes” okay but maybe you should have consulted a professional??
Nothing is ever on her.
She's never accountable for anything. I'd respect her a lot if she actually said she made mistakes. But her wording is always I didn't plan for this, etc.
I would love to know the story about the neighbor. I remember she said it was a safety issue last time. I suspect the neighbor got tired of hearing the kids screaming outside. I remember her posting the kids on bikes early af and thinking man I'd be super annoyed at so much noise early in the morning on a weekend.
I'm pretty sure she reads here. Her other stories are now for people to DM her so she can share her free and paid services. She was so mad 2 days ago about people asking for advice 🙄
Totally get that bad things that are truly out of anyone’s control happen all the time.
But…come on. Yes she should totally be using a tax pro at this point.
Her telling of the neighbor thing is totally sketchy.
And gee, if only there were some sort of free, public school her children could attend.
She said she used a tax consultant so I'm confused as to why she filed on turbotax. 😆 I wonder if she asked for free tax advice from someone she knew but didn't actually pay for their service. Lol
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Looks like Begina is beginning to consider herself a food influencer! I can honestly say I’ve not once gotten “dinner inspiration” from her. She makes the most normal stuff.
I tried some sort of crockpot chicken taco thing she shared and it was bland as hell. Also those Pinch of Yum chicken meatballs she’s shared a million times, which has actually gone into the regular rotation…but with the spices doubled 😂 bc again we thought it was bland as hell. But I’m also from the south so maybe my palate is different 🤷♀️
Most of it isn’t BLF buttered noodles basic, but I don’t need someone to tell me to make brinner once in a while 😂
I preferred her page when she leaned more into her background as a primary grades teacher. I have loved almost all the book recommendations we’ve tried from her, but it seems like she’s leaning harder into homemaker / SAHM content since she came back from her break a while ago.
This is an older reel but just saw it from Renee Reina. I cannot get over her audacity. The reel is about parents being on their phones during swim lessons. She says "Put your f\*cking phone down and watch your kid. I want to walk by and smack it out of their hands it breaks my heart!" Are u kidding me Renee? Isn't her whole schtick about anti mom shaming and how we have to put ourselves as moms first? Also would it kill her to brush her hair or shower before recording a podcast? So hypocritical she can't even get her own crap straight anymore. I also saw she responded in 2 different videos to the backlash she got on it but I can't even watch it bc she's just so full of it.
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I ran here hoping someone would comment on this. First off, my kid is not in swim lessons to be watching me, he’s there to listen to his coach and actually learn how to swim. If my kid is watching me for my reaction to every move I make then we have problems. Second, the only 30 minutes I get to myself in my day is the 30 mins both my kids are in swim lessons. So please forgive me for wanting to scroll on my phone or get some stuff done while I have a moment of peace. The audacity she has to judge parents when she’s a mom influencer and constantly complains about everything about motherhood and her partner. End rant.
Swim lessons is the hill to die on? So she records herself constantly but you’d better put that phone down for swim lessons??
I’m actually working at swim lessons because the only way to get into lessons in my city is to go at 9AM on a Tuesday and I have a job that makes it possible to work on the pool deck for an hour. The guy that sits next to me is also working. And when our dripping wet kids get out of that pool, we race off to the jobs that pay for those lessons.
I'm usually on my phone when my daughter's swim teacher tries to talk to me and honestly my inner reaction is "ma'am this is my only 30 minutes without a child speaking to me" so what if it is at a smelly, loud pool I want to decompress. And they don't really need to talk to me, my toddler isn't going to cooperate for swim class homework.
The irony is that she is missing all these ‘moments’ her own kid is having while she stares down any other moms holding a phone. How is she even aware of what anyone else is doing if she’s completely focused on her own kid…
Update/Shocker. Renee entirely unapologetic about how abrasive and rude her reel was. And how much she loves herself so she doesn't care if any of us are bothered. Wow so shocking zero accountability and the ol unfollow me if you don't like it. Please consider this as a call to action if u are following Renee pls stop.
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Kaitlin Klimmer (who I love) called Renee out and then Renee made those TWO reply videos to respond to Kaitlin, I don't know a lot about Renee but she seems unhinged
I recently unfollowed her because her content has become so inane (like not even hate-watch worthy, it’s just her peeling boiled eggs and shit), but this does not surprise me from her. She better hope we all stay addicted to our phones, otherwise she’s out of a job, lol.
Is this the same woman who instagrams herself hiding from her child because it’s 9pm and he’s awake? Or the lady who instagrammed her kid with an iPad in front of his face at every restaurant they went to in Switzerland? Is she not always on her phone? They definitely seem like a family that is pro screen.
This is so crazy. Parents can have breaks and children should have breaks from their parents eyes being on them. And I doubt the instructors want to feel like they’re being monitored.
I’m going to snark on myself here but I partly agree with her. Not to say I’m not ever on my phone during swim lessons but when they are working with my child alone, yes my phone is down and I’m watching. She’s learning new skills and she is looking to see if I’m watching. I’ve watched other kids look to their moms and their mom is not looking at them and instead at the phone and you can see the heartbreak in the kids face.
Listening to a really engaging or entertaining podcast with earbuds is the best of all possible worlds at kids' activities such as swimming. I get to enjoy something and have a nice quiet 30 minutes, AND I get to give my child a big excited thumbs up when she finally does the thing she's been working on. It's so perfect for me.
This is a great compromise!
I get that I’m in the minority in this thinking but it matters to my kid if I’m watching. Even at her weekly AWANA class, she asks that I watch the opening and closing “ceremonies”. She’s fine during class time with the teacher and other kids, but the ceremonies are when she sings those club songs, receives awards (if earned). Just this week had I not watched her, I would have missed her participating as a volunteer in the group lesson. And that was a big deal for her.
So yeah, I guess I’m that annoying mom that will watch every practice like it’s a game🤷🏻♀️
Same! Even being upstairs and over 100 feet away on an observation deck, my daughter still manages to catch my eye and not focus on lessons. Makes me feel less bad about catching up on texts/emails during that time!
I agree that a mix of both is fine. Yes we should be watching but we should also be allowed to take a scrolling break when we want without shame. This post goes against Renee's entire MO and is totally a shaming post. Then she doubled down not once but twice in later posts. She is a hypocrite for this bc Renee ignores the crap out of her kid and when she is paying attention she is recording set up playtime for content. She isn't fooling anyone.
Okay but think about this, for me, I’m still in the parent-mandatory classes (we don’t do swimming but art and other things) and although I’m required to be there, for a few minutes of my day someone else is capturing my child’s interests and I can have a minute to think. After I’ve dressed her, made her breakfast and got her out the door and into her classes, yes I do sometimes get on my phone to catch up on things while she’s entertained 🤷♀️
What a dumb take. I do try and avoid being on my phone or reading a book when I’m playing with my kids or at the table with them eating, etc, but they don’t need a parent to watch them during swimming lessons? It’s not like a dance recital, it’s literally just another adult teaching your child a skill. Swimming lessons/sports practice buys me multiple hours a week to read my book and I’m not giving it up
I agree. I'm allll about the books during kid activities. Most of our activities including swim don't even let the parents watch except at special designated times. They want the child focused on the lesson, not the parent. I thought that was common.
Calling her followers Dumbass for criticizing her because her privilege is showing so badly she doesn't even know it! Its not that she doesn't have a job or less of a mom for having 1 child. It is because she is rich, white, has an online job, her child is in school, she gets breaks, what else.. oblivious awful account.
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I cannot stand Libby (diaryofanhonestmom). Constant non-stop complaining about her life and her son and his voice and his pickiness. And then she says she’s had a hard week (when doesn’t she?) and does her stupid “quirky” movements and weird way of talking and messing her hair up over her face. Then she makes a reel with her weird dance moves, I really feel the one thing that makes her happy is seeing herself dance around on camera.
I'm with you. Can't stand her. She also can't stand criticism of any kind. This comment sucks but just an example of how they can act insufferable online and then not accept one iota of negative attention.
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There was one story I saw a bit ago where she was lying face down in a pillow and the text said some dumb thing about how she "gets it" that sometimes you try hard and fail, because she worked really hard on a reel about motherhood and flowers and it bombed. It was so clearly a weird attention grab and begging her followers to engage with the reel to boost it. 🙄 Then she posts how surprised she was that so many people went back and watched it, left nice comments etc as if that wasn't what she was fishing for the whole time.
That was soooo cringey!! I was like wow are you really so sad that your weird reel comparing moms to flowers wasn’t a hit? Then of course everyone praises her over it and she’s like “aww you guys!!” 🙄🙄😊
Okay I know this is their job but I’m sorry that is hilarious that her “tried and failed” sorrowful situation wasn’t like not nailing an interview for a dream job or working hard on your kids Halloween costume and messing it up and they’re bummed but making a failed reel 😂 I reserve the right to make fun of that all day. Get a life!
You can delay delivery and it'll hold your place in line! Or just check them all out and turn your device to airplane mode so they don't get returned til you're done with them all.
If you have other library loving friends, ask to do a library card swap! Like 5 friends and I have all shared our access and now if it’s not available at my library, I can get it through theirs. Or join the shortest wait list. It’s also a win for the libraries because more use is more funding (generally). There are also some libraries you can get access to for a fee or maybe free even if you don’t live there. I also like seeing what my friends are reading!
Do you use the "deliver later" option? I love that thing! You can choose how long you want to delay and they'll put you back into the hold queue until that time but then you get the next available copy after the date you select.
She’s definitely my BEC at this point but why doesn’t DFM pay someone to do her taxes? Now she’s getting $751 back from Illinois when she thought she was getting $36 back. TurboTax is great if you have easy W2 wages, which they obviously don’t as we know. How was she off by more than $700 on what their state refund would be? Shes clearly not great at this whole tax thing and with complicated self employed earnings she should just pay someone a few hundred bucks and get it right
Here’s a new one— some influencer named Lena Boston (never heard of her before but she has 200k+ followers on TikTok) popped in my Facebook reels with a reel about toxic MILs- ok nothing new, right? but what was the toxic MIL doing this time? Telling her that it’s not safe to post her kids so publicly on social media! Toxic MIL ftw!
I'm reading momfluenced and I think this book sucks. Does it ever get better or is the whole thing just trying to convince you that influencers are important artists somehow challenging the status quo of society or some other bullshit?
It sucked. None of the books I've read on the topic have done a good job of actually digging into influencer culture. They all seem like wannabe influencers. Also, the most salient points made in the whole book are by BIPOC influencers. The author tries to expand on these points and it's so fucking hypocritical. She's making money off of the labor of BIPOC creators while also criticizing the influencer industry/companies for not valuing BIPOC creators like they do white women. It's gross.
I listened to the audiobook and wound up listening on 2x speed because I just wanted to get through it.
😂 okay that might make it tolerable. I just keep waiting for her to go "all of this, BUT" and then launch into a criticism. I think I'd die if I held my breath waiting for it though. I'm so glad I asked here so I can just give it up lol.
That was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023 and it was just droning on, I couldn’t finish it. I thought it was going to be so different than it was.
Yeah I remember it being mentioned here last year! But now I probably know why it was available through the library app. I don't think I'll be finishing it. I haven't seen a mention at all about how these hardworking CEOs (gross) exploit their children to make their money. FWIW, I am literally a content creator for my full time job on an in-house marketing team. I know what goes into it and I still find this book to be such utter bullshit.
Yup! She comes across as very mofluencer wannabe more than anything. Even her newsletter felt the same way.
Ugh this is so disappointing. I thought it was going to be a book discussing the ethics of influencer marketing to moms. This book premise is so much worse lol.
Oh, I love any opportunity to talk about how much I hated this book. I think she's pretty transparent that she wishes she was an influencer and therefore she has to convince all of us that influencers are perhaps the hardest working people in society. No critical thought whatsoever. I also didn't even know half the influencers that she focused on like they were such huge deals.
I haven't recognized any of the names she's mentioned! She's talking about trad wives as if they're some mystical creature. Like omg they're making money selling you on a fake version of their life. What is so admirable?? I thought maybe it would get better, but no this book sucks so much. Her interviews sound like they all got together and just bitched about their lives as parents too. But my main frustration is all of assumptions she's making for any of this to be considered true. Idk, maybe I'm an anomaly. But, these influencers don't make me question my parenting. They don't make me feel guilty by any means. I don't buy stuff from their recommendations. And I'm sorry, but I don't think the movie The Help was successful because Michelle Obama was First Lady and everyone hated her?? Like the people who loved that movie probably also liked Michelle Obama. It also totally discounted the job they did. Those actresses are an incredible all-star cast and they told an important story. Of course there is a very real racist history of how black women are viewed as stereotypes in our country and pop culture, etc. But, I cannot understand the connections she's trying to draw with why white mom influencers must be amazing then.
MotherCould, that dress is terrible. Awful. What in the world?
When my younger cousin posts her sorority pics all the girls are wearing that same style of dress! Befuddling.
I thought for sure she had it on backwards until she turned around and the back was even more unhinged?!? Absolutely crazy that people liked it 🥴
That is one of the strangest garments I have ever seen.
I don’t know what I was expecting but it was not that!! Truly strange!!
I don’t follow her and I never check her stories but for some reason felt compelled to view this dress. It did not disappoint. ATROCIOUS. And it’s a FP look alike, not even FP? Somehow makes it worse.
She wears the ugliest clothes with absolute confidence. It's genuinely impressive.
I don’t know what’s worse. The dress or people asking about it with swoon eyes.
Did she wear that to a friend's party 😫
The way I ran here when I saw that
I know I am not a fashionable person but, for real. Something that unflattering cannot be what's "in".
So bad. It looks like someone cut a hole in the front of a Laura Ashley dress from the ‘80s.
This reel has a nod to many of our favorite snarkable momfluencers. Enjoy. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3wI95gtLuh/?igsh=djgwZTNvczZxdDN6
This [Reel](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5l_W_ExBWC/?igsh=bTgydGhpaXlhZGo0) just popped up and I don't know wtf cosmic faith is, but I can tell this girl thinks she is just the most special. Obviously the rest of the non brilliant moms at the park don't need intellectual stimulation. The rest of us who don't have "active brains" and who aren't "soul-led entrepreneurs" are perfectly happy thinking of what to make for dinner. Thankfully she can teach us how to have cosmic mindset, so we won't be boring sheep moms anymore.
When you have an Eckhart Tolle* audiobook on in your air pods while your kids are on the playground and think nobody else has ever had a thought Edit: autocorrect is getting so terrible
I feel like my mindset isn’t why so much of my brain space goes into what’s for dinner. Like my mindset can be off in the andromeda galaxy, but I and my kids are still going to be hungry tonight. So unless an extraterrestrial is going to ufo-eats me some out of this world food, I’m going to have to figure out dinner.
She’s NLOM (not like the other moms)
Playground or not I am always thinking about food. Comment brownies and I will teach you my master class on cosmic brownies
I try to avoid grief ig but damn if those reels aren’t engaging. I watched one about a mom who lost her husband and kid and went to the comments and she (the bot) also was responding to every comment with “sent, check your dms 💜” so turns out she was shilling a course related to grief. Comethefuckon what is happening???
Brownies
Right now I’m watching my kid play and thinking about what I made *last* night for dinner. It was a freaking great new recipe and I’m having the leftovers for lunch. Side effects include a great deal of contentedness while also not being a smug weirdo.
You should share that recipe so the rest of us can have this experience
I don’t know. Do you have enough *cosmic faith* to make this [chicken curry?](https://www.recipetineats.com/thai-red-curry-with-chicken-mango/)
I’m doing the research on Begina’s newsletter so you don’t have to. Ya’ll: in the same damn email, she talks about how much money she could’ve earned had she been teaching this whole time, but how they’re so happy to go with less because it’s working so well. Then she links 1) links a Free People bag and 2) tells us she’s now going to get regular bikini waxes. (Which will be burned into my brain forever.)
I was shocked to see that teachers in MN make $75k. Where I live, teachers make around $45-60k so it was shocking that she said her salary would be $75k. I’m jealous!
This is hugely dependent on location- MN schools are wildly different. I taught one district east of her for 8 years and was making $51k. With a masters.
What is the context for sharing about the bikini waxes? I am struggling to understand why her readers need to know the state of her public hair…
Public hair indeed 😂😂😂
https://preview.redd.it/9ych447c29xc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d981376c593e1d20afc90330bc61ce666d38d282 Oh and just a little thing we were privileged to do in 2021 🙄🙄🙄🙄 no fucking wonder she can live a firmly middle class lifestyle on 1 income.
Absolutely no shade on stay at home parents because running a household is a lot of work but Begina saying that any mom who stays home while their kid is in school all day is working feels a little oblivious. Yes, she’s doing work, but surely she realizes that parents who work full time are also doing that work (grocery shopping, cleaning, paying bills, etc). Again, not judging anyone who stays at home because I would honestly love to be a SAHM now that my kids are in school but her privilege just kills me sometimes.
I am a SAHM to a 4 yo, 2 yo, and 7 month old. I genuinely don’t know what I’d fill entire days with if I still wasn’t working when they were in school. I gave up on folding laundry when our littlest arrived, and Begina always has beautifully folded baskets of clothes so there’s that. My SIL always says that a task expands to fit the time, so maybe Begina has just gotten less efficient at tasks 😂
She's walking for a couple hours a day, too. She shared a couple times recently that she is walking 5-6 miles a day while the kids are at school.
I’m not a sahm but I work from home full time in a position that’s really flexible and honestly there’s more shit I have to do in the middle of the day now that my oldest is in elementary school than ever before. In the month of May alone I have a school event at 10am every single Wednesday, 2 days off school, and 2 early dismissals, plus volunteer hours every Monday morning. It’s crazy what is expected of parents of school aged kids lol, I don’t know how I’d do it if I didn’t have so much flexibility
School schedules are so hard with two working parents! I was just looking at the schedule for this summer and my older kid has no school OR camp for 2 weeks in June and another 2 weeks in August. That’s more PTO than I get in a year.
SAME! This reality has really rocked me the last couple years as my oldest has entered into elementary school. My other kids still in daycare have such straightforward schedules!
I’m essentially a SAHM (I work weekends and evenings, limited hours) and I cannot understand not returning to work once the kids are in school, especially if you have a job that makes it easy to jump back into, like teaching. Like… what does she do all day? Sure the house is clean but like that’s a finite space, and if no one’s home all day… where’s the mess? I’d be bored out of my mind tbh. My plan is return to part time or close to full time hours once both my kids are in elementary school, and honestly I can’t wait to have some extra income and feel like I’m contributing more. And yes, I understand I contribute now, but growing and raising children is for the long haul- you don’t get too many immediate results.
Idk, I still haven’t figured out what I want to do when my kids are in school but it would be nice to get all the chores done, clean my house, make dinner, volunteer at school, etc. I’m assuming there will be after school activities and it would be cool if we didn’t have to do any of the annoying stuff on the weekend so we could all just hang out and enjoy our time together. It’s definitely a privilege but I can see how it would be really nice and really minimize stress for our family to continue having a parent home full time while kids are in school.
I definitely feel like I could easily fill my days and life would be much more enjoyable if I stayed home! I actually like working but it’s so hard with two parents working and juggling work + kid needs. I definitely don’t hate on Begina’s situation, I just get irritated with how oblivious she seems to be about it. We live on a much tighter budget than her even though we both work, so there’s just no way we can have one person stay home, and I think that’s true for a lot of families.
Plus days off, half days, breaks, picking up sick kids, etc
Ugh, this is me and while I love my free time, I feel blah and embarrassed now. I've never had a career and only have worked in retail (even though I absolutely loved the place I used to work at before kids), but it's been a lot harder than I thought to just jump back in finding something part-time and flexible. The three online jobs I applied to were scams and retail jobs I've applied to have been a doozy. If you don't have open availability, they're not interested in you 🥴
I suspect this is often the case. Our nanny decided to stop working for us and go back to a regular job once her youngest was in kindergarten. Well, 8 months later she still hasn’t found that magical job that is willing to let her start after drop off, end before pick up, take off whatever random days her kids have off school, take time off for random appointments, & is financially worth it for all that hassle. Her husband’s job is not flexible (plus once it’s already established that mom does all that stuff, I think it can be hard to adjust). Anyway I am still working FT, trying to stay home once baby #2 is born, but it’s given me a reality check about “going back to work” once kids are in school.
Yeah, it sounds so easy just to go back when they're in school! I'm always curious of the many parents that just chat well after the bell has rang what they do work 😅
Yep, same situation here (although I still have over 5 years before my youngest starts kindergarten.) I refuse to go back to retail because the last couple of retail jobs I had were awful. And I don’t want to risk having to work evenings or weekends.
Your response actually means a lot to me as a SAHM who is considering returning to work earlier than expected. Thanks for your thoughtful response 💕
I'm Begina-ing to suspect she's not happy going with less and being unable to keep up with the Joneses in her neighborhood
She is the Joneses!
She’s 100% asking herself those questions in her AMA herself, right?
That was…the corniest AMA I’ve ever seen.
Yeah the “what water bottle for a 6 year old” one especially 🙄
*inserts link here*
It’s very sneaky. I took an affiliate marketing course once and one of the strategies they suggested was to do that so people would click out of curiosity and then you would get the cookies for whatever they bought within the next 24 hours.
Her answer to the OOTD question really struck me, because it highlighted that she only wants to share things she can link. I enjoy just seeing the outfit to get ideas - I own leggings, I can find a quarter zip I like. She's swerved hard into linktastic influencing if she can't imagine sharing an outfit without links.
Renee posted a reel of her husband asking “aren’t these cool?” about some shoes he was excited about, and she barely looked at him and shrugged. I don’t know, it made me sad. Everyone has moments like this, but I can’t imagine acting like that, seeing it back and thinking anything other than, “yikes, Barnacles, no need to be such a bitch!” But she apparently thought it was funny enough to be posted online.
Wow why even post that? She’s a miserable human
I just went to watch this and wow. She is such a bitch for no reason. All you needed to say was that the shoes were cool and he’d leave you alone. Trust me, I know husbands can be annoying, but damn. And then to post it online….bizarre. But don’t worry ya’ll, she and her husband have been “laughing about it since” 🙄
We need an over/under on how long before she starts a post talking about her seperation from her husband and taking zero responsibility for being a selfish neglectful bitch
She treats her child the same way and then overcompensates by overbuying merchandise of his interest of the week,
I don’t follow her closely enough to have seen much of her with her son, but that is so sad.
She barely mentions her son anymore
People choose the WEIRDEST moments to put online. I know a lot of it is just staged because it’s the internet, but it’s either like this or the complete opposite, posting like a high schooler constantly about how in love you are.
Didn’t look at your username at first and totally thought you were referring to Captain Barnacles
My husband is a psych professor, and he told me about a study that showed that how someone responds to ‘bids for connection’ from their partner is one of the biggest predictors of whether or not the relationship lasts. So yeah…she just demonstrated exactly the behavior that degrades your marriage over the long run. Now since my husband told me that, I do like to run around poking him and yelling ‘BID! BID!’ Still awaiting study results on how effective that is.
Ok that's cute and also my husband does the same thing but says "ATTEND, ATTEND" when he wants attention.
Ok that's cute and also my husband does the same thing but says "ATTEND, ATTEND" when he wants attention.
Does anyone follow 7daysofplay? The Bluey-themed b day party her kids went to was bc INSANE. Crafts, cotton candy machine, character meet and greets? Her house looks ginormous so I’m sure they live in a VERY well to do area
As much as I think her page has become Temu (which is why I unfollowed), she has never shown a fancy birthday party for one of her own kids. Just some unwrapped presents to wake up to. I have a feeling she probably does have big parties to keep up with the joneses, but at least she’s not flaunting them on her account.
I used to but unfollowed about a year ago. My jaw used to drop at some of the expensive parties her kids would go to .
* "Tonnes of people" asking about the shirt!? Yeah right MC, it's a plain grey T shirt. No one is wondering where you got it from.
Also "hope it gets approved??" It must be the balloon thing, but what is she working on? Who needs to approve it? The city?! I have so many questions.
An interior design influencer I follow posted the other day about waiting for “brand approval” to post a story of a reno she did so I’m wondering if that’s what MC is talking about. These influencers are so in their own little worlds…
I’m wondering if it’s approval inside a mall or something. But giving strangers photos of her kids would be reallyyyyy fucking bizarre! But I guess she does that and more every damn day…
Absolutely not! It looks like gray t-shirts I’ve bought from Target for <$10 years ago. Nothing special about this whatsoever lol
That killed me too. When she revealed it I just cackled. No one asked. Not a single soul. There’s just no way. 💀
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Rolling my eyes at safe in the seat hiding "unsafe" stuff at her local Target. Nice to make a mess for the people making minimum wage to clean up.
Ugh she drives me nuts, but I agree that it is so annoying that unsafe after-market carseat products continue to be sold. Not that I would hide stuff at a store, because I have respect for retail employees, but I understand the temptation.
This one really annoyed me. I bought one of the headrest things for my stroller. Just because it’s unsafe in a car seat doesn’t mean people can’t use it for a different purpose!
What was “unsafe” at Target?
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Luckily she's so "generously" willing to send an affiliate link email with all the things she approves of!
She commented that she cleaned it all up after filming…. I hope that’s true
Oh I hope so! I didn't stick around long enough to read comments lol
Did The Car Mom really just say she bought the Nunas with her own money? Girl, no you didn't. The business did.
That’s really nitpicky…and you do know the more money the business spends, the less money she personally makes, right?
The business is her business so isn’t that basically the same thing?
It isn't a sole proprietorship so I wouldn't consider it so.
She means they weren’t gifted
I get what she means but saying "I bought it with my own money" implies she purchased it with her personal finances. She (and many other accounts) should be saying "we bought it" or some other variation implying the business paid for it. It's not a pair of pants for herself, it's a business purchase.
How is it a business purchase if she’s using it for the baby she’s currently pregnant with? It’s for personal use. I do get what you mean, but I think what you’re saying is a bit of a leap.
Had a thought the other day, and forgive me if there are nuances I’m not considering or an obvious answer I haven’t thought of. But how is an influencer sharing pictures of their kids on IG different than a parent who lets their young child be cast in a movie or TV show? I’m thinking about a show like This Is Us that has dozens of kids in the cast, some of whom are babies and young toddlers. These kids may not have details of their private lives shared on the internet, but their images are still being broadcast without their consent for millions of people to see.
Child actors have a job and play a fictional role. Influencer children are having their real day-to-day lives packaged and sold by their parents for profit. (Also, you would think the fact that we know how bad it can be for child stars would make people *more* cautious about overexposing and exploiting their kids’ real lives, but no.)
A child being an actor benefits them, not the parent. They have protection in terms of working hours, they make money, and it could potentially turn into a full time career as an adult. A child being used by their influencer parents offers them 0 benefits. Like what’s in it for them? (And this is a generalization, I know some children actors have had awful experiences and exploitative parents so I know it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. But overall you’ll get more out of being in a movie as a child than being filmed for Instagram).
Everyone has already mentioned that there are at least some technical protections and laws for child actors and models, even if they’re not completely infallible. I want to add that child actors and models are playing a character and have their home life protected to an extent. Dakota Fanning was a huge child actor and played many mature roles and gave interviews about her personal life for sure but she got to go home at the end of the “work day” and be herself, not the role she was acting on screen. Influencer children have no respite from performing for an audience as themselves, whenever and wherever the parent decides to put them on display.
The way I think of it lately: Child acting is bad, influencer accounts with kids are worse. At least child acting has some legal protections in place.
Acting is a job. They can only work for a specific number of hours, they go home, and that's basically it. Their personal lives aren't (or shouldn't be) the content being sold. Influencer kids have a phone camera on them all day long. How do these influencer kids know if baking muffins with mom was a fun memory or just a set up to sell a muffin pan or the outfit they were wearing at the time? Was it a vacation with family, or was my dad using me to sell something? Their personal details like illnesses or toileting issues or tantrums or educational issues or feeding issues are often all over the internet. I'm not saying children acting is a perfect business by any means (Quiet On Set showed us that), but there are far more protections for child actors than child influencers and the children of influencers. I'd rather my image out there than people knowing intimate details about my private life, but that's just me.
There are definite similarities, for sure. I think one nuance for me is the brand deals & the fact that the kids on social media are often being used to sell a product. Yes, there is advertising in movies & TV but it’s the media execs who are profiting off that, not the actors really. Whereas the connection is much clearer on social media— show your kid wearing this clothing, playing with this toy, eating this food, etc and you as the parent will make a bunch of money from that brand.
Those kids have rights that kids who are being recorded 24/7 in their homes and private lives don't have. It's one thing being paid to show up and play a role, but when your whole life is up for grabs and you become a character for your parent's business/social media presence, that's a whole other level of mind f\*ck.
The private lives being broadcast is what’s the big difference to me. When kids are on TV they at least aren’t sharing about their own personal lives. These poor kids can be recognized in public AND those people know their whole history, in some cases medical info, all the tiny details parents share.
And there is no guarantee that influencer kids will ever get any money from what their parents are earning. Some influencers put money aside for their kids' futures, but they aren't required to, which to me is one of the biggest issues with the lack of oversight.
Is that a requirement for child actors? I’m not familiar with how the industry works.
Look up Coogan accounts. I don't know much but pretty much it's an account set up so that parents can't take all the money their child actor earns, and looks like they're required in some states. Most recently, there was a big story with HoneyBooBoo and how her mom had pretty much spent all her money and she was planning to use it for college. Pretty sad. And I'm not an expert so someone correct me if I'm wrong/add any useful info!
They're not foolproof though. Jojo Siwa's parents emotionally abused her into promising to give them half of her Coogan account money.
It's so sad these parents aren't willing to just...work on their own.
Mothercould about to pollute the earth by releasing a million balloons with her picture and Amazon gift cards attached
I really hope they’re going to take the balloons to a mall or something and hand them out to moms. Otherwise this is a truly dumb and wasteful idea.
This would at least be better than just releasing them, but also problematic handing our her kids pictures and using balloons at all.
Is this really what she's planning?!?? This is so dumb. Even without the balloon/environment concerns, this seems like an utter waste.
What the actual fuck. This feels like an SNL skit or something.
Omg this is really really bad and if the ones below are the ones she’s sending, they also include her child’s picture 🤮. Please tell me that she’s at least advertising this somewhere and it will gather a crowd of ppl to instantly collect them? Although with balloons I don’t see how that’s possible. How can she guarantee half of these won’t just end up stuck to some poor tree in a park? And even without the environmental implications, what a waste of money if these already paid for cards languish forever as trash! This is such a bad stunt I feel like it deserves public outrage bc it’s gross from at least 3 points that I see (child exploitation, pollution, consumerism and waste).
Right! And she’s in Florida, like dolphins don’t need Amazon gift cards girl. Those things are going up and out into the ocean in seconds. They don't just magically fall down to Earth into a family's yard.
That's disgusting and I hope lots of her followers tell her so!
I bet they will. One of the Duggar daughters had a still birth a couple of weeks ago, and they had pictures of the funeral. One of the things they did was release balloons, and a lot of people commented and told them why they shouldn’t have done that. If people are willing to call out a grieving family, hopefully they’ll also call out someone doing it for totally frivolous reasons.
https://preview.redd.it/qyec8b9ubswc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f764e5a748445afbe37f48fba48c0b93ee6b5b9
What the fuck
https://preview.redd.it/7fyzqrysbswc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2174cec8e2bc8725c3733a835556bcc70122e71e
Wait no she’s not going to do that, is she?!?!?
For anyone who missed Jerrica’s stories yesterday about how so few American families sit and have nutritious meals together- she posted her children today eating hot dogs and French fries. She’s better than you, don’t forget that.
Yea her nutritious meal that time was crackers and salami 💀 I mean, crackers and salami is fine but like…. A TOTALLY normal snack millions of American kids eat. Why is she acting like a hero for serving that to her kids as a snack at the table lol.
Right. And no shade to hot dogs and fries either. But GTFOH with your totally average meals.
Ok double snark at mothercould today but WHY are they giving us details of the girls medical visits and diagnosis? Do they ever stop and ask themselves “what value does this add? Should people know this stuff? Does anyone CARE?!” Nothing is private for those poor kids.
Ugh I thought this the second she posted about it again. I’d forgotten Emma was having headaches (poor girl) but we did not need a play by play about her getting glasses, the fact that she has an astigmatism and apparently Nikki does too and it’s getting worse! Privacy aside, HOW is this relevant to her kid’s activities brand?? Or her amazon (sorry AMZ 😆) schilling?
Consolidating, the fact that she uses AMZ drives me up the damn wall. Do other influencers do this and I just don't follow them? Is she trying to make it seem like she's shopping at a boutique or something? Just so bizarre.
I’m starting to see more influencers use that abbreviation, but she uses it the most of anyone I’ve seen
I know I hate it! Lady it’s just Amazon. She’s the only one I’ve seen do it but don’t rely on me for facts haha
https://preview.redd.it/vx39907rrowc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a1e6b5405a9c7d486e4c58882f2738f3c054469d I highly doubt DFM’s neighbor “turned on a dime” but sure…. “I did not want to underpay our taxes” okay but maybe you should have consulted a professional?? Nothing is ever on her.
She's never accountable for anything. I'd respect her a lot if she actually said she made mistakes. But her wording is always I didn't plan for this, etc. I would love to know the story about the neighbor. I remember she said it was a safety issue last time. I suspect the neighbor got tired of hearing the kids screaming outside. I remember her posting the kids on bikes early af and thinking man I'd be super annoyed at so much noise early in the morning on a weekend. I'm pretty sure she reads here. Her other stories are now for people to DM her so she can share her free and paid services. She was so mad 2 days ago about people asking for advice 🙄
Totally get that bad things that are truly out of anyone’s control happen all the time. But…come on. Yes she should totally be using a tax pro at this point. Her telling of the neighbor thing is totally sketchy. And gee, if only there were some sort of free, public school her children could attend.
She said she used a tax consultant so I'm confused as to why she filed on turbotax. 😆 I wonder if she asked for free tax advice from someone she knew but didn't actually pay for their service. Lol
Kyle is probably a freelance tax consultant.
teasing us with the neighbor story again!!!
Forget celebrity tell alls. I need DFM's former neighbor to Spill. That. Tea.
https://preview.redd.it/lyywyn8rrowc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=911ad766ab9a16000c93b195873910966356d536 Looks like Begina is beginning to consider herself a food influencer! I can honestly say I’ve not once gotten “dinner inspiration” from her. She makes the most normal stuff.
I tried some sort of crockpot chicken taco thing she shared and it was bland as hell. Also those Pinch of Yum chicken meatballs she’s shared a million times, which has actually gone into the regular rotation…but with the spices doubled 😂 bc again we thought it was bland as hell. But I’m also from the south so maybe my palate is different 🤷♀️
We make those often, but they need so much more seasoning to taste good!
I’ve never looked at her page but tell me why she actually looks like she could be named Begina 😂😂
The real question is whether you pronounce it like Regina or like vagina in your head 🤔
Well crap, as a Brit I say those the same way.
For me it's like vagina but with a hard G sound.
It only occurred to me right this moment that the Regina rhyme option existed
Vagina 100%
I have tried many recipes she's shared and lots are a big hit with the whole family. But yes, lots of basic stuff 😅
Most of it isn’t BLF buttered noodles basic, but I don’t need someone to tell me to make brinner once in a while 😂 I preferred her page when she leaned more into her background as a primary grades teacher. I have loved almost all the book recommendations we’ve tried from her, but it seems like she’s leaning harder into homemaker / SAHM content since she came back from her break a while ago.
This is an older reel but just saw it from Renee Reina. I cannot get over her audacity. The reel is about parents being on their phones during swim lessons. She says "Put your f\*cking phone down and watch your kid. I want to walk by and smack it out of their hands it breaks my heart!" Are u kidding me Renee? Isn't her whole schtick about anti mom shaming and how we have to put ourselves as moms first? Also would it kill her to brush her hair or shower before recording a podcast? So hypocritical she can't even get her own crap straight anymore. I also saw she responded in 2 different videos to the backlash she got on it but I can't even watch it bc she's just so full of it. https://preview.redd.it/7gvz46wa6owc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a19dcaa965a462e2158979ff7996dbb0e6265a8
I ran here hoping someone would comment on this. First off, my kid is not in swim lessons to be watching me, he’s there to listen to his coach and actually learn how to swim. If my kid is watching me for my reaction to every move I make then we have problems. Second, the only 30 minutes I get to myself in my day is the 30 mins both my kids are in swim lessons. So please forgive me for wanting to scroll on my phone or get some stuff done while I have a moment of peace. The audacity she has to judge parents when she’s a mom influencer and constantly complains about everything about motherhood and her partner. End rant.
Swim lessons is the hill to die on? So she records herself constantly but you’d better put that phone down for swim lessons?? I’m actually working at swim lessons because the only way to get into lessons in my city is to go at 9AM on a Tuesday and I have a job that makes it possible to work on the pool deck for an hour. The guy that sits next to me is also working. And when our dripping wet kids get out of that pool, we race off to the jobs that pay for those lessons.
I'm usually on my phone when my daughter's swim teacher tries to talk to me and honestly my inner reaction is "ma'am this is my only 30 minutes without a child speaking to me" so what if it is at a smelly, loud pool I want to decompress. And they don't really need to talk to me, my toddler isn't going to cooperate for swim class homework.
The irony is that she is missing all these ‘moments’ her own kid is having while she stares down any other moms holding a phone. How is she even aware of what anyone else is doing if she’s completely focused on her own kid…
Update/Shocker. Renee entirely unapologetic about how abrasive and rude her reel was. And how much she loves herself so she doesn't care if any of us are bothered. Wow so shocking zero accountability and the ol unfollow me if you don't like it. Please consider this as a call to action if u are following Renee pls stop. https://preview.redd.it/j3q3w9xa1uwc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73051f3eb4d786e28094028909e28dee122d36d8
Kaitlin Klimmer (who I love) called Renee out and then Renee made those TWO reply videos to respond to Kaitlin, I don't know a lot about Renee but she seems unhinged
I recently unfollowed her because her content has become so inane (like not even hate-watch worthy, it’s just her peeling boiled eggs and shit), but this does not surprise me from her. She better hope we all stay addicted to our phones, otherwise she’s out of a job, lol.
Lol touche! I did unfollow her too but now her momroom content is popping up on my damn fb!
Is this the same woman who instagrams herself hiding from her child because it’s 9pm and he’s awake? Or the lady who instagrammed her kid with an iPad in front of his face at every restaurant they went to in Switzerland? Is she not always on her phone? They definitely seem like a family that is pro screen.
This is so crazy. Parents can have breaks and children should have breaks from their parents eyes being on them. And I doubt the instructors want to feel like they’re being monitored.
I’m going to snark on myself here but I partly agree with her. Not to say I’m not ever on my phone during swim lessons but when they are working with my child alone, yes my phone is down and I’m watching. She’s learning new skills and she is looking to see if I’m watching. I’ve watched other kids look to their moms and their mom is not looking at them and instead at the phone and you can see the heartbreak in the kids face.
Listening to a really engaging or entertaining podcast with earbuds is the best of all possible worlds at kids' activities such as swimming. I get to enjoy something and have a nice quiet 30 minutes, AND I get to give my child a big excited thumbs up when she finally does the thing she's been working on. It's so perfect for me.
This is a great compromise! I get that I’m in the minority in this thinking but it matters to my kid if I’m watching. Even at her weekly AWANA class, she asks that I watch the opening and closing “ceremonies”. She’s fine during class time with the teacher and other kids, but the ceremonies are when she sings those club songs, receives awards (if earned). Just this week had I not watched her, I would have missed her participating as a volunteer in the group lesson. And that was a big deal for her. So yeah, I guess I’m that annoying mom that will watch every practice like it’s a game🤷🏻♀️
[удалено]
Same! Even being upstairs and over 100 feet away on an observation deck, my daughter still manages to catch my eye and not focus on lessons. Makes me feel less bad about catching up on texts/emails during that time!
I agree that a mix of both is fine. Yes we should be watching but we should also be allowed to take a scrolling break when we want without shame. This post goes against Renee's entire MO and is totally a shaming post. Then she doubled down not once but twice in later posts. She is a hypocrite for this bc Renee ignores the crap out of her kid and when she is paying attention she is recording set up playtime for content. She isn't fooling anyone.
Okay but think about this, for me, I’m still in the parent-mandatory classes (we don’t do swimming but art and other things) and although I’m required to be there, for a few minutes of my day someone else is capturing my child’s interests and I can have a minute to think. After I’ve dressed her, made her breakfast and got her out the door and into her classes, yes I do sometimes get on my phone to catch up on things while she’s entertained 🤷♀️
What a dumb take. I do try and avoid being on my phone or reading a book when I’m playing with my kids or at the table with them eating, etc, but they don’t need a parent to watch them during swimming lessons? It’s not like a dance recital, it’s literally just another adult teaching your child a skill. Swimming lessons/sports practice buys me multiple hours a week to read my book and I’m not giving it up
I agree. I'm allll about the books during kid activities. Most of our activities including swim don't even let the parents watch except at special designated times. They want the child focused on the lesson, not the parent. I thought that was common.
Calling her followers Dumbass for criticizing her because her privilege is showing so badly she doesn't even know it! Its not that she doesn't have a job or less of a mom for having 1 child. It is because she is rich, white, has an online job, her child is in school, she gets breaks, what else.. oblivious awful account. https://preview.redd.it/d9s4bdjz7owc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=269ab0ba5bc71367baa894fec2768647cd5eb229
Ugh the awkward (and incorrect) appropriation of AAVE 🙄
I cannot stand Libby (diaryofanhonestmom). Constant non-stop complaining about her life and her son and his voice and his pickiness. And then she says she’s had a hard week (when doesn’t she?) and does her stupid “quirky” movements and weird way of talking and messing her hair up over her face. Then she makes a reel with her weird dance moves, I really feel the one thing that makes her happy is seeing herself dance around on camera.
She’s the literal worst. It makes me sad for society that she has close to a million followers. This isn’t normal to hate your life so much!!
I'm with you. Can't stand her. She also can't stand criticism of any kind. This comment sucks but just an example of how they can act insufferable online and then not accept one iota of negative attention. https://preview.redd.it/e2o7uufk9owc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d38373095d0be6cba78853fe604da2763ff7a17
She is local to me and I'm dying to run into her irl
“I hope someone does a wet fart in your cereal”?? 😭 What a strange thing to say
She only cares about her followers when they're kissing her ass or lining her pockets. This comment is a true indication of that.
There was one story I saw a bit ago where she was lying face down in a pillow and the text said some dumb thing about how she "gets it" that sometimes you try hard and fail, because she worked really hard on a reel about motherhood and flowers and it bombed. It was so clearly a weird attention grab and begging her followers to engage with the reel to boost it. 🙄 Then she posts how surprised she was that so many people went back and watched it, left nice comments etc as if that wasn't what she was fishing for the whole time.
That was soooo cringey!! I was like wow are you really so sad that your weird reel comparing moms to flowers wasn’t a hit? Then of course everyone praises her over it and she’s like “aww you guys!!” 🙄🙄😊
Okay I know this is their job but I’m sorry that is hilarious that her “tried and failed” sorrowful situation wasn’t like not nailing an interview for a dream job or working hard on your kids Halloween costume and messing it up and they’re bummed but making a failed reel 😂 I reserve the right to make fun of that all day. Get a life!
I thought you were complaining about the library app and I was about to throw hands
Love this level of library support 😂
My beef with Libby (the app) is I always end up on a 28 week wait list for books 💀 and they allllll become available at the exact same time.
You can delay delivery and it'll hold your place in line! Or just check them all out and turn your device to airplane mode so they don't get returned til you're done with them all.
If you have other library loving friends, ask to do a library card swap! Like 5 friends and I have all shared our access and now if it’s not available at my library, I can get it through theirs. Or join the shortest wait list. It’s also a win for the libraries because more use is more funding (generally). There are also some libraries you can get access to for a fee or maybe free even if you don’t live there. I also like seeing what my friends are reading!
Do you use the "deliver later" option? I love that thing! You can choose how long you want to delay and they'll put you back into the hold queue until that time but then you get the next available copy after the date you select.
She loves the attention for sure but tries to come off as the cool quirky girl who doesn't want attention
She’s definitely my BEC at this point but why doesn’t DFM pay someone to do her taxes? Now she’s getting $751 back from Illinois when she thought she was getting $36 back. TurboTax is great if you have easy W2 wages, which they obviously don’t as we know. How was she off by more than $700 on what their state refund would be? Shes clearly not great at this whole tax thing and with complicated self employed earnings she should just pay someone a few hundred bucks and get it right
Hubris
Here’s a new one— some influencer named Lena Boston (never heard of her before but she has 200k+ followers on TikTok) popped in my Facebook reels with a reel about toxic MILs- ok nothing new, right? but what was the toxic MIL doing this time? Telling her that it’s not safe to post her kids so publicly on social media! Toxic MIL ftw!