As a woman in the older age bracket who raised my kids in the pre-internet era, I am left wondering what is missing in the lives of these women that makes it so important for them to work so hard for the praise, adoration and notice of strangers? My (and my mothering cohort's) important social circle was our family, friends and neighbors and I never felt any need to gain the attention of the entire world or the adoration (or abhorrence) of thousands of people I didn't know. I guess I just don't "get" the value of celebrity. And it's not my place to use my children as instruments for my own "success" because children cannot consent to this sort of exposure.
Being able to feed your kids like Nara Smith is always the dream. It’s the aristocratic life. Someone else is doing all the heavy lifting so she can spend her time making bread from scratch. In the past it would be aristocrats with their full kitchen staff instead. But when in truth, the hoi polloi have always eaten the same damn carb and veggies every single day. In other words, gruel and similar substances. It just so happens that today’s low class fare is much more delicious, addictive and toxic. Not much in terms of quality nutrition, but how many farmers and peasants could afford meat on the regular? Now that the aristocratic life is fully visible and aspirational via social media, we hate seeing it.
It’s interesting that we’ve been around long enough to see peasant activities turned into aristocratic activities. Aristocrats outsourced (hired help —>fast food workers) and peasant (women) labored at home making the very same bread and cheese she’s making. Of course these peasants had concerns like will my husband make it home alive today, will my children live to old age, will the harvest be enough to provide, etc and Smith of course has to reserve little to no mental capacity for such worries. But still. It is funny what time does to see her labors called aristocratic. My MIL grew up very poor and often remarks how in her time the rich people got the premixed peanut butter and poor people got the basic-salted peanuts as the only ingredient-unmixed peanut butter with oil floating on top that we now charge extra for with an organic label slapped on it.
Unfortunately I am on the internet so much as to know who Donut Mom and Nara Smith are - and I think you’re overstating the love for Donut Mom. There’s definitely defenders, but there’s a huge amount of comments on her videos expressing concern for her children because it’s not just one video but many where she feeds them essentially just sugar and carbs. I’ve watched video essays on her content criticizing her, to the point she’s made videos to “the haters”.
Nara Smith also very much has haters, but she also has a ton of support! I’d say they both have their fans and their haters, but it is interesting that there are many news pieces on Nara and I haven’t seen any traditional news pieces on Donut Mom. So there’s definitely something there! Maybe it’s easier to punch up versus punching down?
Unfortunately I am too 🤣you're right- this is an old piece, when she surfaced last year I feel there was more support. Now she has lots of people doing spoof videos and has gotten a lot more sassy and alarming in her videos
As a woman in the older age bracket who raised my kids in the pre-internet era, I am left wondering what is missing in the lives of these women that makes it so important for them to work so hard for the praise, adoration and notice of strangers? My (and my mothering cohort's) important social circle was our family, friends and neighbors and I never felt any need to gain the attention of the entire world or the adoration (or abhorrence) of thousands of people I didn't know. I guess I just don't "get" the value of celebrity. And it's not my place to use my children as instruments for my own "success" because children cannot consent to this sort of exposure.
I wonder this all the time!
It’s money, honey. Nara Smith’s TikTok is likely pulling in around $1MM/year.
Being able to feed your kids like Nara Smith is always the dream. It’s the aristocratic life. Someone else is doing all the heavy lifting so she can spend her time making bread from scratch. In the past it would be aristocrats with their full kitchen staff instead. But when in truth, the hoi polloi have always eaten the same damn carb and veggies every single day. In other words, gruel and similar substances. It just so happens that today’s low class fare is much more delicious, addictive and toxic. Not much in terms of quality nutrition, but how many farmers and peasants could afford meat on the regular? Now that the aristocratic life is fully visible and aspirational via social media, we hate seeing it.
It’s interesting that we’ve been around long enough to see peasant activities turned into aristocratic activities. Aristocrats outsourced (hired help —>fast food workers) and peasant (women) labored at home making the very same bread and cheese she’s making. Of course these peasants had concerns like will my husband make it home alive today, will my children live to old age, will the harvest be enough to provide, etc and Smith of course has to reserve little to no mental capacity for such worries. But still. It is funny what time does to see her labors called aristocratic. My MIL grew up very poor and often remarks how in her time the rich people got the premixed peanut butter and poor people got the basic-salted peanuts as the only ingredient-unmixed peanut butter with oil floating on top that we now charge extra for with an organic label slapped on it.
You don’t have to be rich to feed your children well (well, not perfectly) and being poor is no excuse for not even trying.
Unfortunately I am on the internet so much as to know who Donut Mom and Nara Smith are - and I think you’re overstating the love for Donut Mom. There’s definitely defenders, but there’s a huge amount of comments on her videos expressing concern for her children because it’s not just one video but many where she feeds them essentially just sugar and carbs. I’ve watched video essays on her content criticizing her, to the point she’s made videos to “the haters”.
Nara Smith also very much has haters, but she also has a ton of support! I’d say they both have their fans and their haters, but it is interesting that there are many news pieces on Nara and I haven’t seen any traditional news pieces on Donut Mom. So there’s definitely something there! Maybe it’s easier to punch up versus punching down?
Unfortunately I am too 🤣you're right- this is an old piece, when she surfaced last year I feel there was more support. Now she has lots of people doing spoof videos and has gotten a lot more sassy and alarming in her videos
I love nara smith and I do not understand the hate she gets.