Received a terrible, stressful gift from MIL
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Anonymous
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I am a new mom. DD was born in Feb. I received my gift tonight from my MIL. She purchased a subscription for me from a company called Storybooks. I’ve never heard of this before, so if you’re in the dark like I was, basically it’s this company that emails you a writing prompt every week and you are to fill it out. After the year is up, these responses are compiled into a book for you. My MIL thought it would be a wonderful idea for me to do for my daughter because I am a new mom, so when she’s older, she can read all about mom.
While I appreciate the thought behind this, this gift is so not me. I do not like to write, let alone journal. Never have, never will. To me, this is a huge commitment for an entire year that I just don’t have time for. Again, I’m a new mom, I’m now back at work - I don’t have the time nor desire to write a short story on my life each week for a YEAR. A YEAR!! I suppose if you’re a really sentimental person and you enjoy writing in your spare time, this would be a great gift. But to me, she gifted me WORK. Also, the company emails MIL my weekly responses to the writing prompt so she will know if I complete the assignment each week. Ugh. Thanks for letting me vent. |
Anonymous
FWIW, one of my best friends received this from her daughter and she had a ball with it. I learned about it only because she emailed me with questions about our friendship and things we did thatt had been prompted. Her daughter said she learned all sorts of (good) things about her mother. I don't believe you have to send anything to your MIL. |
Anonymous
| Have DH do it. |
Anonymous
This. WTH? His kid can learn about him. |
Anonymous
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We got Storyworth for our retired parents--I think that's more the target demographic!
I think you have lots of options, including telling MIL that it's not for you--you'll "have lots of time to share those stories with your daughter in person when time is in not in such short supply." Maybe you could ask your MIL if she would be kind enough to do the entries about HER life, so her grandchild will be able to read the stories? |
Anonymous
| (And yes, with Storyworth, the default was that the giver has access to the stories. There might be ways to change that, but I'd go with the assumption that this would not be a private document.) |
Anonymous
| Every week? Every week!?! |
Anonymous
| Nope. Would not do it, based on her getting weekly copies of what I write alone. |
Anonymous
It's for her kids to read/hear later, so she's not going to put anything that a kid or MIL couldn't deal with. |
Anonymous
| I've seen a few influencer types advertise this on Instagram - young mothers don't seem like the target demographic, and tbh it does sound stressful. I hadn't really considered how much work it would be, or that the person who gifted it would get the responses! Seems better suited a gift to elderly relatives, who have the time to do this and also have stories we will want to remember when they are gone. |
Anonymous
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I got this for my mom. Yes, I believe the demographic is retired people.
It's not like you have to carefully craft an essay each week. Nobody is grading it or correcting your grammar. Instead, they give you prompts and you just write what comes to mind. You can write two sentences or many paragraphs. Usually it's about memories from your own life. So, you reflect on your life for a few minutes and then write it down. That said, if it's not for you, then it's not for you. Tell MIL you think it's wonderful, but you don't have the time, still, Larla and Larlo would really love it if she did it. Honestly I'd welcome the opportunity to write down my "regrets" etc for my kids, but they're in college and I have the time, and I'm not sure I'd have been able to do it as a working mom. |
Anonymous
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OP here. I haven’t received my first question yet but if you look at their example questions, they don’t seem like quite the right fit for a new mom or a woman in my age group (30s)
https://welcome.storyworth.com/questions One of them is “how did you decide how many children to have?” Not only is this very personal, DD is my first. She may be an only, she many not be. At this stage in my life, IDK yet. |
Anonymous
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I would absolutely hate it.
I’m a private person. I’d have to give my responses to a company and to my MIL. No no no no no. Have DH do it. Or explain you’re a private person, not giving this company your responses, but will use the prompts to write something on your own and compile it yourself to give to DD sometime in the future. |
Anonymous
So don't do it. If she asks, say you're too busy or you think it's more for more mature moms and that you'll put it away until later in life. |
Anonymous
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I gave this to some middle aged and elderly family members two years ago! But I said it with the caveat that it was fine if they didn’t want to do it. And that it was fine if they only did a few sentences each week or skip weeks etc. actually….I think I may have asked in advance if they wanted it, I’m
Not sure. One of the family members wrote one to four sentences a week. Another wrote several pages a week. Both produced nice books. Someone else wrote a couple paragraphs a week on average. Anyway, I agree that working mom with a new baby is not the target demo. But you could just write a few sentences every week or two. Or you could say you’re too busy |