Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
Parents are feeling the pressure of social media influencers and trends around Christmas, according to UK parenting bloggers. Children are influenced by social media advertising, such as Instagram ‘hauls’, and parents feel the strain of meeting their children’s gift lists and rising trends including Elf on the Shelf and Christmas Eve Boxes. Parenting blogger Charlotte Harding has said that she found the cost of Christmas to be “quite stressful”, with some advent calendars costing excess of £25. Alongside expensive gifts, social media trends mean attending events during the festive period which often comes with a high price tag.
Fiona Barnard, of the Life of a Crazy Mum blog, agrees that “Christmas can be a tough time for people with mental health and financial issues”. While Professor Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, a consumer psychologist at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, said Christmas time can cause people to feel inadequate or lonely if they don’t conform to societal expectations of a “perfect” Christmas.
Caitlin Acreman, the influencer behind the Instagram page Haul at 4, has scaled back Christmas content due to the cost of living crisis in addition to parents feeling the pressure to spend money on Christmas events. She advises that it is still possible to make “budget-friendly” memories over the Christmas period, however.
It is important for people to remember what Christmas is about, says Fiona Barnard. She emphasizes “sharing time and sharing love, as opposed to sharing pits full of money that we don’t have”. The content of Christmas should not be influenced by rising social media trends and “comparison is the thief of joy”, warns Caitlin Acreman
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.