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1.10.2009

I'm Not Crunchy

What's the deal with this "crunchy" label that alternative moms like to bestow upon themselves? I never heard of moms calling themselves crunchy until I joined the MotheringDotCom (MDC) forum. MDC is the online community of Mothering magazine that's centered around alternative parenting, natural birthing, etc. Nearly of the moms call themselves crunchy in some point in time and list all their attachment parenting (AP) credentials.

[Hey, you aren't the #1 mom! That isn't even an organic stuffed animal!]

For example, "I'm a crunchy, babywearing, non-vaxing, non-circ'ing, homebirthing, organic food growing, breastfeeding, no TV watching, unschooling, radical mama of three."

Well, okay then.

I made up that example but I'm sure you could find many signatures on MDC just like this.

How did natural parenting become a list of actions (bling) to flash into other people's eyes? It's been reduced to a bunch of labels to strive for just to be more AP/natural than anyone else. I mean, I do many of those things (breastfeed, non-circ) and I like to tell people my stances on these issues, but I don't want to do these things just to do them. I don't want to be an AP perfectionist. I want to be the mom who makes the best choices for my family based on the circumstances that we're in.

Does that make sense?

And, if that's crunchy, can I be smooth?

4 comments:

  1. The more I hear about them, the more tiresome I find these people you communicate with on the Internet! I distrust people who feel they have to advertise everything they are like that.

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  2. Yeah, there are so many annoying people out there. I'm always an outsider because I'm definitely more of an alternative parent who practices natural family living yet I do some things that are more mainstream. I often see both types of parents as judgmental and downright mean. You just can't win.

    But, on second thought, I think MANY parents are like me--they do what works and aren't purely this or that. It's just that there's a great deal of fakers out there who only want to talk down on others.

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  3. Heck yeah!! I have a post in draft about leaving MDC forums. I got tired of the superior attitudes and this is one version of that.
    I'm an advocate of *intuitive* parenting first and foremost.

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  4. Your Holistic Mama blog is beautiful! Let me know when you publish your post about leaving MDC--I'd love to read it.

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