My husband and I just bought a new house that’s three times the size of our small apartment. In other words, we have major decorating to do. Pinterest couldn’t have come into my life at a better time. I have two small children and the older one is a night owl (read: no time for shopping). When I have a few minutes here and there, I’ll browse online and pin things I like for my husband to see. That way, when it comes time to make decisions, we’ll know exactly where to go to make our purchases. A few weeks ago, my four-year-old diva-in-training saw me pinning away and asked what I was doing. Her eyes lit up and she immediately started asking if she could pin things to my boards. Not only was she determined to choose the items herself, she dictated what I should write for each pin. “Scarlett likes this glass table for daddy.”
Last night, I wanted to show her an amazing fairy garden I pinned. I thought it would be a fun project for us to do together when we move into the house and finally have a backyard. Of course, that led to her demanding to pin some new things, including adding destination photos to my empty travel board. Who has time to think about travel, when you’re in the middle of two real estate transactions? But we had fun thinking about where we’d like to go together.
Eventually, she started pushing my hand away from the mouse and insisting that she knew how to pin. She’d even look down every minute or so to make sure my hand wasn’t creeping back. And, for the most part, she did know how to pin. Then I showed her how you can look at others’ pins and like or repin them. Oh boy. Talk about a Pandora’s Box moment. At one point, she accidentally followed someone who I didn’t want to follow and I told her it was time to hand the mouse back to mommy. She could follow people when she was old enough to have her own Pinterest page. With tears in her eyes, she looked up at me and said, “But I want my own Pinterest page now.”
What kind of miniature social media monster have I created? At what age is it appropriate to have a Pinterest page?