If you’re in the marketing, design, advertising, or use the business side of Pinterest, you may have gotten an email earlier this year with a link to Pinterest Predictions.
Now, if you aren’t part of this possibly niche group, let me explain: Pinterest looks over the past, current, and ongoing trends to try to help those who use Pinterest for their business promotions. Helping content creators with possible color schemes, calendar dates to keep an eye out for, picking priorities, and more. Which, again if you aren’t familiar, is super helpful because you don’t have to be sitting at your workstation every season/quarter/month/week trying to figure out what to do. The report is the work of the thousands of searches on the site; work from writers, years of prior data, and more.
Content creation is hard on its own, let alone figuring out how to monetize it to make it work for you and your business or brand, rather than you working for it. So, I’m thankful for newsletters like these. I typically screenshot, take notes, make notes in my planner, and whatever will make life easier. Well, this is an article I was too busy for at the time it came out. Until recently. I was scrolling through the predictions Pinterest has for 2023 and was very happy to see some, especially the “YOLO years” – 100/10 something I’m behind!
While scrolling I saw a specific trend prediction, read, scrolled, and went back to it at least five times.
First, I was just going through the whole article. Then, I wanted to make sure I read it correctly. After making sure I knew how to read it, I took a screenshot to send to my sisters to make sure I wasn’t being dramatic. Again, I read for clarification. Then I shared to my Instagram story and got varying responses. From moms agreeing, individuals saying there’s a lack of information on what to do for new moms, some didn’t know there was even anything called the fourth trimester, and even someone telling me this would be a great blog post. (Hi Elisabeth!) 
Personally, I thought taking care of a new mom was common decency. Now, I don’t mean catering to them hand to food (although that isn’t a terrible idea), I’m talking about checking on them. Taking someone food without being prompted. (And if you were prompted don’t make the mom feel like a burden.)
Prior to being the extra crafty person I am and making a human myself, I assumed that when someone had a baby you took care of them as a person. Bring a meal, call, text, offer time to allow them to shower or pump, clean for them, or run errands. Something. Even just being available to talk while they power pump or breast feed.
Ah. But that was the ignorance of pre-mom Maria. Leader Maria, aka I’ve made my own people, knows that common decency isn’t so common. Some people don’t realize that they move down on the hierarchy of importance when there’s a newborn thrown in the mix and don’t know how to handle the drop. Wanting to post pictures first, wanting to be the first to see the baby, toxic positivity, unsolicited advice, and self preservation over any ounce of sacrifice tend to ruin the bliss and naivety of the newborn bubble.
I didn’t realize that seemingly common decency wasn’t trendy when I had my son and that’s why people acted the way they did. My bad. Sorry I had a baby during a global pandemic – I’ve always had terrible timing. It may seem that I’m mad at Pinterest for the way the worded it or that it was even included, but I’m not. More so I’m disappointed.
Disappointed that there is obviously such a lack of care for new moms that a social media site thought to include it in trending items for 2023 in order to bring the idea to the forefront of people’s minds. Honestly I appreciate it, I have ADHD and if something isn’t in the forefront of my anything it doesn’t exist to me. I’m disappointed in the fact that in the millions and millions of searches on Pinterest over the years of data that they used for these predictions an increasing trend is new mom care, but there hasn’t been much of a push for better care.
One appointment, six weeks after birth, then you’re good until the next year or the next pregnancy – whichever comes first. That isn’t okay. America needs to do better. Families need to do better. Patient advocates need to do better. Women and anyone who’s given birth deserve better. They. Deserve. Better.
I know my tone is a little all over the place and that is because I’m seeing this from so many perspectives.
First, from someone who was shocked to see this on a trend prediction article.
Second, from someone who was once pregnant and looking up different ways to ask my support system to be my support system in beneficial ways post baby.
Third, from a mom who deserved better.
And, finally, from someone who will always be loud and use her voice. If basic human decency needs to be trending for real change to occur, then I’m going to use all the hashtags and interact with all the content about it to ensure it stays on the list in the future.
Everyone deserves better. Siblings deserve to feel loved while their new-again mom is figuring out their new role. Grandparents deserve to feel appreciated and not like bothers. Partners deserve to have their partner be themselves without feeling guilty. But, again…
Moms. Deserve. Better.
People who give birth deserve better.
Do better. It’s trending.
