Happy 13th R&P ❤️

We have had a wonderful day celebrating the girls birthday. A morning of opening gifts, trying on new clothes and then an afternoon and into the evening of being surrounded by family. Visitors arrived from 11.30am and left at 7pm.

And now they are 13, they have been allowed social media, and the moment that melt my heart was when Rubes said that if it was a choice between her jeans or social media, she would have been happy to keep the jeans.

Social media scares me, it has such power to draw young people into a false reality. I have already experienced many negative side effects with our eldest and her social media use. But there is also a large element of peer “pressure” – not that friends are pressurising my girls to be on social media; more that they are being given the impression that they are missing out on something. And that is the most ridiculous statement! LIFE, real actual life experiences, friendships and feelings are all being missed, forgotten about and ignored, whilst people are busy worrying about getting a drink that another random person drinks, or commenting on a picture of someone who took over a thousand selfies with a filter.

It’s so scary to see how society has changed in the last ten years; how impressions, opinions and assumptions are made from one photograph. Does anyone really know what’s going on behind the lens? Do you care?

I care, I’ll happily sit and chat with someone. Look into their eyes and see them, hear their voice and feel their emotion. All things that can’t be done through a screen.

Yes I spend some time writing my blogs, texting friends and catching up on the world of social media, but with that comes balance. Making sure that there is a balance to screen use and being present.

I hope you find your balance too 😊