Each day, I wake up and try to think of ways to entertain my children. It’s not an easy task to find something each day that will keep their attention longer than five minutes and give them an opportunity to laugh and hopefully learn.

I was pretty proud of myself when I made caterpillars from egg cartons, or when I created paper castles from Christmas cards. So with that enthusiasm and proud feeling, I decided to check out Pinterest and see what ideas other parents might be sharing. However, after being on the site for less than 2 minutes, I officially decided that I am definitely not crafty. Who are these people?

What mother has time to decoupage an entire tea set or use old milk cartons and toilet paper rolls to create a gorgeous fall wreath?

I recently saw this picture posted on Facebook and I think it sums it up for me.

So why the sudden popularity of Pinterest? Are people really attempting these crafts or ideas? Is it an inspiration tool or do others feel like I do, that it only reminds me of my limitations and lack of creativity?

According to MarketingProfs, an online marketing specialist company, Pinterest and Facebook trigger more offline actions that any other social media site. They say that 47 percent of social media users will make a purchase, attend an event, or take some sort of offline action after viewing Pinterest and Facebook. That’s the truth for me because after viewing Pinterest, I would rather just buy the item then attempt to make it and fail pathetically.

I know we should be showing our children that it is OK for things to look mediocre, that everything in life doesn’t have to be perfect. However, when I tried this recently, my 4-year-old daughter looked at my styrofoam snowman that I tried to replicate from a Pinterest post and asked, “Mommy, is it OK if we don’t leave that for Santa? I don’t want him to be confused and think it’s a donut and try to eat it.”  Yes, true story.

So what do you think? Fan of Pinterest or think it is a waste of time? I’m not sure yet what I am, though I can tell you that at least Facebook makes me feel like I have 10,000 friends, whereas Pinterest only makes me feel like I need a tutorial on how to use a glue gun…

Danielle Herzog is married and a mother to two children. Read her every Wednesday on momaha.

* * *