You’ve probably seen or heard the stories of the modern day celebrity mom making pregnancy and new motherhood look impossibly easy and, well, even glamorous. With popular celebrities like Kim Kardashian pregnant yet again, and paparazzi following her every move, we as everyday moms are slapped with images and headlines that may make some of us feel less than perfect. Let’s examine how some celebrity moms have created the myth of perfect motherhood in today’s society.
Celebrity Moms: Stilettos For Pregnancy
I will admit that I am one of those weird ones who still wore high heels throughout my last pregnancy. However, they were in the style of wedges and thicker heels – not stilettos. Look at most celebrity moms in gossip magazines today or on any celebrity gossip show, and you will see them wobbling around in their six-inch Louboutin‘s, giving the impression that this is perfectly “normal”. It’s not. As many of us moms know too well, when you get to the point in your pregnancy where you can no longer look straight down and see your feet, there’s no way that you are going to slap on some stilts masquerading as shoes to make a run to the grocery store. This is an unrealistic expectation of how every pregnant woman should or could strut around while gestating a baby.
Celebrity Moms: Stretch Marks Should Be Avoided
While flipping around channels last week, I accidentally landed on the E! show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Admittedly, I’ve never watched a full episode, and I wasn’t about to start that day. Sadly, the batteries in my remote decided to begin failing right then, and I was exposed to a conversation between Kim and her pregnant sister, Kourtney. Kim had a mini-meltdown over the sight of her sister showing signs of stretch marks on her belly. Oh, the horror! Kim reacted as if that was the death of her sister’s beauty and future sex life with the appearance of one, singular stretch mark. If that were true, on any level, for all of us moms, the population of humanity on this earth would not be what it is. Yet, this interaction shown on national television gives the impression that all women are somehow hideously disfigured for life when we acquire the markings that a typical pregnancy will give many mothers.
Celebrity Moms: High Fashion and Motherhood’s Perfect Mix
Putting it all together is when we see celebrity moms on a “typical” outing with their children, such as running general errands. There’s the perfectly coiffed hair and a face beat for the gods on the celebrity mom, while sporting the latest designer handbag, while their Mini-Me is decked out in H&M from head to toe. This isn’t just a one-off situation for most celebrity moms who tip off the photogs as to their daily schedule, but is a constant occurrence for too many. We regular moms know that, sometimes, you have to go to the store with a pair of shorts on that has some of your daughter’s breakfast still on it, or you’re lucky to find shoes that don’t require tying them first before you dash out the front door, late for soccer practice.
All in all, celebrity moms have teams of people helping them to look as put together as they do, and parade themselves before photographers in an effort of self-promotion. What I don’t think they realize is how many other women they are influencing in a negative manner by doing so. We don’t all have hair and makeup artists at our beck and call, nor do we have nannies to attend to our children as our on-call manicurist arrives at our home for a quick mani/pedi. It’s time to stop looking at celebrity moms as the be-all, end-all of what a “real” mother should look like, and embrace the realness of the everyday mom as she fights her swollen feet or chases a toddler who just threw oatmeal across the kitchen. Be real and be legendary in the eyes of your children, but don’t be a myth.
Image: iStockPhoto
