nuffnang

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Crunchy or just squishy?

How do you know if you are a crunchy parent?
Until a few weeks ago i had never heard the term before.
Its taken from the nickname granola parents.....hence the crunchy i suppose.

The facebook page "crunchy mamas international give some examples of crunchy interests
"Lactivism
Intactivism
Baby Cued Feeding
Baby-Led Weaning
Physiological Birth
Mother/Baby-friendly Birth
Homebirth
Waterbirth
VBAC . HBAC . VBAMC
Babywearing
Sleep Sharing/CoSleeping
Nighttime Parenting
Cloth Diapering
Alternative Vaxing/Non-Vaxing
Homeschooling/Unschooling
Crafting/Knitting/Sewing
Whole Foods/Organic Foods
Home Cooking/Gardening
Buying Local
Vegan/Vegetarian Diets
Montessori/Waldorf Education
Natural Toys
Animal Rights
Human Rights
Attachment Parenting
Gentle Birth
Gentle Mothering
Peaceful Parenting
Natural Family Living"

So i will explain my case and you can make a decision on if you think I'm crunchy or not (make sure you let me know!)

-I tried to have minimal drugs whilst in labour (I was very anti-epidural, we only want on child and if i was going only do this labour caper once i wanted to FEEL it)

-I had trouble breastfeeding at the beginning so giggle girl was fed expressed breast milk from a BPA free bottle on demand until i got feeding sorted and continued to feed on demand until my milk dried up when she was 6 months old.

-We co-bedded until she was 4 months old

-While she was small I wore a sling to carry her

-We are working on EC toilet training at the moment

- We didn't do baby lead weening as such but followed her cues and didn't force her if she wasn't interested, now we do finger food and food that she can use a fork with(she loves using cutlery)

-We don't smack, but she does get a small tap on the hand (ad i mean small!) if she is trying to touch something dangerous after being told not to and explained why she cant touch.

-we don't yell at her. she does get roused on but never yelled at. When she does something wrong (or something right) what she has just done is explained to her and why she should or shouldn't do it any more.

-We have a dog so that she will learn how to treat animals with respect.

-Her dad works away alot so I am her constant in her little world. She has never been away from me overnight and she doesn't go to child or day care. I'm always there and she knows it.

-I try to find toys that are handmade (they are always so expensive!) And i have started making clothes for her.

- We love hand-me-downs and everything second hand


So am i crunchy or am i squishy?

let me know

Love and Smiles
Z.






4 comments:

That Freebie Place said...

Don't worry, I have no idea if I'm really "crunchy" or not either, lol. I think my parenting is pretty crunchy, but the rest of me is not ;-) Compared to mainstreamers, I'm a hippie freak. Compared to REAL hippies, I'm a mainstream freak. Heh!

I mean, hello, I dye my hair, shop at Wal-Mart, and am about to buy a friggin suburban. How UN-crunchy is that?! LOL. We also live in a small town where IF you can find natural foods and toys, they charge up the wazoo for it because they know they're the only ones that sell them. -sigh- I'm too broke for that crap! But at the same time, I believe in breastmilk and foreskins for all, co-sleeping, non-vaxing, all that jazz.

Maybe I'm like a Snickers bar. Kinda crunchy, kinda squishy.

Squishy Bum Mum said...

we should make a new term for it...... hmmmmm snickers mums? nougat mums?

AccidentallyMommy said...

You sound like me. I describe myself this way: I'm kinda like an oatmeal cookie. Nice and crunchy around the edges, but pretty squishy in the middle. There are some things that I'm VERY crunchy about, and others that I'm pretty middle of the road on.

Melissa Neece said...

I used to middle of the road about some things, and I guess I still am (my colicky acid reflux baby sleeps in a swing, gasp) - i think it is just best to be firm on the dangerous/unhealthy stuff (vacs, intactivism) and then with the rest, do what works best for you and your family.
(i will say that i don't like the term granola, because i believe granola is unhealthy. lol.)