Scrapped! (and more)

I went to the premier of the movie Scrapped! on Saturday evening.

Since the majority of my blog readers also were there (or at least knew about it), I won't go into too much depth, but here's the main summary. The writer/filmmaker chronicled his journey into the scrapbooking world, and along they way answered some questions like: "What is memory?", and "Why pictures and stories?". He showed some sections about a crop that he went to, and some stuff around that. One of the better parts of the movie was when he went to 6 different people and talked to them about "Why" they scrapbook. These are the titles given to these six sections:

Therapy
It's Magic
Growth
Culture
Lest we Forget
It's Art

"Lest We Forget" was easily the most powerful section of the film, but that's not what I want to focus on. You see, hearing these people talk (yes, not only women were interviewed), got me thinking about why I scrapbook. I think "Lest We Forget", Therapy, and Art are high on my list. Notice that none of these people answered..."so my kids will know that I care about them." I bring up this bit of a non-sequitar because of an ad that slapped me in the face last night when I was looking through my CK mag and Simple Scrapbooks. Here it is...



See the title? "Nothing shows you care like a scrapbook" I really had a visceral reaction to that ad line. I could quickly think of about 100 things ahead of a completed scrapbook that would show my children that I care about them. I may scrapbook mostly about my kids, and they enjoy looking at their pages, but more often than not, I am removing myself from them to actually do the scrapbooking. Hence, it is not quality time with the kids. I know I'm preserving stories and pictures for them, but I could do it in a lot of ways that did not require so much of my time and money (say...in a blog). The main reason I scrap...well, it's mostly about ME.

Now, I'm not going for the guilt trip here in the opposite direction. A happy mama is a good mama. I deserve some time away from my kids.

But I am not going to buy into the crap (implied in that ad) that a caring mom will make scrapbooks for her kids. Moms have enough expectations piled on them. Making perfect scrapbooks for the kids so they feel cared for is just a bit much, don't you think?

OK...end of rant. That ad title really just bugs me the more I think about it. (I know...just let it go...)