Mom shares her messy reality of raising children: ‘Let's normalize that’

Your social media feed is probably filled with posts from parents who seem to have it all together. From making sure the kids are ready for school in the morning to holding down a separate full-time job along with parenting, it feels like these parents have achieved the unattainable. However, the reality of raising kids is completely different for most families. Far from being "Instagrammable," the experience of parenting can be messy and difficult. One mother decided to disrupt the perfect parent trope online by sharing her "Dumpster Fire Farmhouse" video series. Macgill Frutchey launched the series as a way to normalize the chaos that comes with parenting, Good Morning America reports.

"I just love connecting with other moms in a real way, just being authentic," she said in an interview with the news outlet. "I'm not trying to make it look [messier] to get more likes and I'm not trying to make it look perfect. It's just a series of me taking pictures of the house or just being real without trying to touch anything up, which in today's world, it's crazy that that's groundbreaking. I mean, like so many moms are furiously cleaning just before taking a picture." The 39-year-old content creator and mom started her page in 2016 and has been sharing humorous posts ever since.

Frutchey stated, "I started my page in 2016 after giving birth to three kids in two years. I was losing my mind and I wanted some comic relief and I was struggling, and I knew I couldn't be the only one feeling like I could never seem to hold it all together as a mom." Although she intended to solely share humorous posts, the mom decided to open up about something far deeper in 2017: her experience with cancer. "Definitely after sharing my diagnosis and everything, I opened up in a much more vulnerable way then and that probably made it easier too, to share," she shared. "So many of us struggle and live the same [messy] life behind closed doors. Why don't we show that? Let's normalize that that's what it looks like for most of us."

Her vulnerability has indeed resonated with her followers. She asks in one video, "How refreshing would it be if every time we logged into Insta, instead of seeing like a perfectly curated light and bright kitchen or home, that you saw the opposite or just reality?" Nonetheless, she was not always comfortable with being so authentic. "I was definitely guilty of... [cleaning] up for pictures. or I wouldn't put the whole story," Frutchey confessed. "I would just put bits and pieces of the reel but then like, to really reach and feel even more seen myself, I learned to just put more of it out there."

Now, she is focusing on being a good mother to her children. She has also been in remission for three years. The mom said, "I'm just a regular mom and I know that other moms feel similar and we just need to see something real." Frutchey concluded with some advice to other parents online: "So just take the picture. Your kid is doing something adorable. Don't worry about the mountain of laundry on your couch behind you. We all have that, you know, but we're bombarded with these images that show us the opposite, not the truth. A lot of times you get these unsolicited opinions from people that mean a lot to you and sometimes you don't want to ruffle feathers, but it's your kids, it's your life. You got to do what you think is best, no matter what."