Disclaimer: I received two press tickets to attend the Miami Movie Screening of Goodbye Christopher Robin in exchange for an honest blog post and social media share. However, all opinions and thoughts are uniquely my own and were not influenced in any way by the company.
Dear Social Media Mom,
This past weekend I was able to attend the Miami movie screening for “Goodbye Christopher Robin”. It tells the true story of Author A.A Milne’s journey to fame for his books that came to be “Winnie the Pooh”. It also goes in depth about how he destroyed his relationship with his son Christopher Robin with one book. The irony of it all being the very thing that brought this duo together would tear them apart. If you haven’t seen it yet…you MUST! It tells a powerful story that most of us Social Media and Influencer Parents are too afraid to tell. If you’ve been an influencer for more than 5 seconds then chances are you’ve annoyed your family for a picture or staged a lifestyle for likes. Goodbye Christopher Robin made me realize a couple of things about the lifestyle I’ve dragged my family into…let’s talk about it!
The picture above is the one that made the final cut for Instagram (The picture below it is the authenticity of a disastrous family photo shoot). When we look half way decent for a change and I’ve taken the initiative to comb my bed head, you can bet that we are taking a picture for the day. Matter of fact, bring all the lenses because we are doing an entire shoot. What our audiences don’t see is that my son is in dire need of a nap! It took 15 shots just to get this one right. We get to the park and all he wants to do is play…not say CHEESE. Oh! and don’t get me started on food. No one eats anything until mama gets the perfect picture for social media. I can’t count on one hand how often this has been the case. Why does our profession require family pictures to be intentional instead of realistic when the truth is, nothing about being a family influencer is perfection?
Author A.A Milne went through something very similar. In many ways, he was an influencer of his time. He wrote plays and books and influenced people to purchase them but at what cost? What started out being innocent father son play time in the 100 acre woods, ended up inspiring the book Winnie the Pooh. He saw the opportunity and thought that he was doing something noble for his son when really his son needed a father, not a writer. We are the same, we have good intentions with our kids. I mean come on, being an influencer is the way we have chosen to make our money. It’s simple, right? Make money to provide for the kids. They go on awesome sponsored trips at the cost of smiling for a camera for goodness sake. We are convincing social media that this is fun and this is a lifestyle worth living. You should want to be here, you should want to eat this! True happiness can be found by doing this…but when is enough enough? Are we happy when the camera is down or is it a reality show missing reality?
When did you know it was time to put down the camera? Or maybe you haven’t come to that realization yet. For me, it was the fact that I would freak out about accidentally leaving my camera at home …I actually think I’m more attached to it more than my phone. Maybe it was when I grew frustrated with my one year old. We spent an hour trying to get a product shot but he just wanted to play with it. I should have left him alone the moment I knew he didn’t want to take the picture and found a better way to get the product shot done. As social media influencers, we become so obsessed with getting the right picture and creating the perfect moment that we lose our most precious moments. Picture obsessively done are moments in memories lost!
If you’re reading this, I am charging you (myself included) to choose your moments wisely. Find the perfect balance in being present for your family but continuing to be successful as an influencer. Heed A.A Milne’s story in your own life as an influencer. The pictures are plenty but the years are not and you will never be able to get these memories back. I encourage all of you to spend time wholeheartedly in the moment, create authentic memories and realize that no amount of money an influencer can make will be worth your children’s childhood.
Author A.A Milne created these books after seeing his son (Christopher Robin) play with his stuffed animals and realized that the world needed the kind of joy that a child had when playing freely. He truly thought that his books would be long forgotten by now but Winnie The Pooh continues to be a household name for generations. If you want to find out about the true events that led to the books we know and love today , head to your local movie theatre to see this brilliant movie . Not only is the film great but the very essence of the story line is guaranteed to change your perspective of our life as social media influencers. Discover how his parental failures brought his greatest success!
As an influencer, when did you realize it was time to put down the camera? Let’s have a discussion in the comments below.!
This is a good reminder! It is easy to get caught up in taking the perfect picture and missing a moment with your family. Thanks for writing this.