In a world of filtered reality, where your social media feed is full of perfectly styled mums who look like they have it all together – a body that bounces back after pregnancy, a fashionable wardrobe, time to groom, and of course, adorable children who eat all their vegetables and never throw a tantrum – it’s easy to doubt yourself as a mother.
But no parent leads a life this perfect.
According to research 40% of parents believe that idealised images of parenthood contribute to anxiety amongst new parents (1).
Research shows that drawing comparisons to other families through social media is related to more co-parenting conflicts and higher levels of maternal depression.
And more than 1 in 5 parents (22%) report that happy snaps on Instagram, or “exuberant baby blogs” on Facebook and other sites made them feel inadequate, with 23% stating that it makes them feel “depressed”.
To promote sharing more “real’ images of parenting, Baby Dove has launched a campaign to encourage mums and dads to ‘trust their way’ and do what they think is best for their babies and themselves.
By empowering new parents to share their honest approach to these experiences, Baby Dove is challenging the ‘perfect mum’ stereotype in order to broaden the view of what motherhood and fatherhood really looks like.
“I urge YOU to remember that nothing is perfect, nobody is perfect.”
(Image: Instagram/@agirlwandering)Baby Dove asks mums and dads to share their ‘real’ parenting ways by using the hashtags #realmums #realdads #trustyourway and tagging @dove.
“As a mum to twin baby girls and a six year-old, life is fantastic… and filled with spirals of mess, struggles, and sometimes tears! I urge YOU to remember that nothing is perfect, nobody is perfect and we all have ‘those’ days – probably more often than we’d like to admit,” one mum captions a make-up free selfie with her twins.
An honest mum shared this image with a story about bath time battles.
(Image: Instagram/@childblogger)As many parents know, even the simplest tasks, like bath time can cause meltdowns. While the cute image you might share on Instagram shows it’s all fun and smiles… in reality it can be a different story.
“Let’s talk bath time and I am totally keeping it real when I say I dread it. More water ends up outside of the bathtub then inside, I usually end up completely soaked and one of the kids ends up in tears as they fight over their bath toys. BUT the laughter, giggles and memories makes it all worthwhile,” posts a mum.
The Baby Dove brand wants empower new parents to ‘trust their way’.
(Image: Baby Dove)BABY DOVE
Going beyond mildness to restore moisture and nutrients into baby’s skin, the new range of Baby Dove products includes a wash, lotion, wipes and shampoo.
All Baby Dove products are sulfate andparaben free, dermatologically and pediatrically tested and the range is available exclusively at Woolworths.
Share your ‘real’ parenting ways @dove #realmums #realdads #trustyourway
