"One minute I was clicking away in portrait mode while making ridiculous noises designed to elicit a smile, working to capture his cherubic face, a sentimental ornament, and the words "six months" on that little round wooden age-marker thing that 75 percent of moms have. The next minute I was in the tree. I'd tried to lean on it, apparently having lost touch with the physical environment as I obsessed over the important Instagram content I was capturing."
"Then the tree and I were both on the floor (luckily not on top of the baby), and my entire left arm and shoulder were covered in scratches, with a constellation of bruises to follow the next day. All for a holiday memory that wasn't actually a memory, but a choreographed moment designed specifically for likes and comments. How stupid."
An obsessed parent attempted to capture perfect holiday pictures of her infant and fell into the Christmas tree, sustaining scratches, bruises, and a near-arm injury. The pursuit prioritized choreographed shots for Instagram likes and comments over authentic memory, so the documented moment became a manufactured performance rather than a lived experience. Despite bleeding, the parent continued the portrait session to obtain curated images. Later, the parent organized matching family pajamas and other staged traditions to signal fertility success and motherhood status to others, driven by cultural pressure and a desire for external validation rather than personal joy.
Read at Slate Magazine
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