Today I had to explain to my husband the phrase "crunchy mom." I had to back him up a few decades, to the days of the free spirited hippies. That's when phrases like "granola" and "tree huggin'" began to bloom. Granola is crunchy ... ya-da-ya-da-ya-da ... you have crunchy moms.
I'm learning that there are various levels of crunchiness. I don't quite hit them all, but I'm a fair balance - thereby deeming myself (as of today) a pseudo-crunchy mom.
Basically, if you practice one of the following, you are on your way to the snap, crackle, CRUNCH:
extended breastfeeding (beyond a year)
cloth diapers
homeschooling
drug-free births
baby wearing
adoptive breastfeeding
co-sleeping or family beds
full-time parenting
There are others, as well, but that starts to hit at the heart of it.
That's why you'll find women referring to themselves as semi-crunchy, or totally-crunchy (and my favorite was a woman who made no bones about it - she was SOFT! ha!).
When you wrap it all together, most people place the big umbrella of "attachement parenting" or "natural parenting" to these types of choices. I love both of those terms. Before we had kids, we made the mistake of actually giving credance to Gary Ezzo, and allowed his writings to lead us to believe that this type of parenting was somehow sinful. Yeah ... and then we opened up our own Bibles and found attachment parenting woven throughout the pages. So, while I didn't promote a lot of these things in the early months of my first child, we've since allowed God to direct our paths completely, and show us HIS plan for parenting (and amazingly enough, it doesn't have to involve Babies-R-Us!).
That's the tip of the crunchy iceburg. You can start throwing in "to vaccinate or not to vaccinate" or the whole circumcision debate. However, I decided to stop short.
Much of this refers back to my "What Makes You Weird?" post. I saw a t-shirt today that I want to get for all of my kids. It says, "My Mom is weirder than your Mom."
That rocks.
10 comments:
My kids would *love* that tshirt too! BTW, I'd add home-cooking and/or homesteading skills to the crunchy list.
extra crispy yours,
I made the decision years ago that I would be a crunchy mom if I had children. I did not start hearing, that term until around three years ago. I do all the things mentioned except adoptive breastfeeding. I have always wanted to adopt. I would love to adopt in the future. However I desire to adopt an older child.
I added Vegan, gardening, soap making, and making natural skin & hair care products to the list. :-)
I would love that tshirt.
Yep, I'm about as crunchy as they come. Regarding Ezzo, a friend gave me "Babywise" before my son was born. I read it and found it so utterly worthless that I wrapped it in several layers of plastic and buried it in the trashcan. I don't mind keeping books that I strongly disagree with as long as they are well written and make me think. Ezzo was neither.
Oh, we kept our Babywise book ... just keep it next to the toilet and rip out the pages when we run out of toilet paper!!! :)
LOL Christine! Brilliant use! I've lost the copy that my sons god parents gave me. i just hope it hasnt fallen into the hands of a new nervous mum!
I am becoming crunchy. I think its always been in me but i am learning and its great. I am happiest in my crunchiest moments.
Thanks for the blog x
What an awesome post. Might I get permission to repost this on my myspace group page?
http://groups.myspace.com/kindcrunchyparents
I googled crunchy mom and your blog came up! Great post! I am on the crunchy side!! Thanks for enlightening us!
Thanks for clarifying! I'd say I'm crunchy for sure and didn't even know it!! :)
I just saw this shirt too and wonder if I can get it my son's size.
I see lists like yours all the time- but they are all aimed at parents with young kids.. what about being crunchy with teenagers ot older kids- when breastfeeding and diapering are no longer issues..
I am just slightly crunchy and my kids are older- and just because I wasn't crunchy when they were babies doesn't mean I'm not 'crunchier now'(though I did breastfeed and make my own babyfood- my husband vetoed cloth diapers- and that was all)
I'd like to see some 'Older Crunchy Moms' lists.
the only thing I do off your list right now is homeschool (quasi-unschool)- simply because my kids are older.
Hello. I stumbled upon your blog when trying to find a definition for what I called myself on Facebook: a crunchy mamma.. My pastor asked what that meant. I felt determined to let him know, bcs he's got many new moms in his congregation.
So- I continued to read and found myself very interested in what you've found in the Bible. Any chance you could share with me where you found these passages? I'd love some inspiration in that regard!
If you don't want to post them here, my email address is: metmyprince@yahoo.com
THANK YOU. Shelley
Post a Comment