Lately I've been thinking about you. Yes, that's right. YOU. All of you cloth-diapering moms who who have "liked" Thirsties on
Facebook and have often commented on my blogs. Ok, ok, I know I am not being PC and I really should be asking "Are you are crunchy cloth-diapering parent?" I don't want to leave dads out, but since I am pretty sure most of you are indeed moms, I'll take the risk. Now, when I ask if you are a crunchy mom, I don't mean "Do you wear long skirts, layered-tanks tops, have unshaven legs and wear Birkenstocks?" (But if you do, that's cool!) What I am really wondering is this: Are cloth-diapering families more likely to recycle, to garden, to eat organic and local, to walk or ride bikes instead of driving? Are they more likely to compost and garden, to make home-made baby food, to co-sleep, to breastfeed, to wear their babies? Or are cloth-diapering moms just as diverse as disposable-diapering families? So what I'd like is this--I'd love to hear how you compare to the stereo-typical Crunchy Cloth-Diapering Mom and if you are the polar opposite, I want to hear that too! There is no judgement here--we all have parent and diapering in common--but it's fun to hear our differences once in a while too. I'll go first.
- Well, first of all, I do shave my legs--though many a time, I've gotten out of the shower and discovered that I shaved the same leg twice because I was interrupted by a child. No one ever interrupts my husband while he is shaving. Hmmmmm.....strange.
- I don't own Birkenstocks but I used to in college...now I wear flip flops all summer and my Dansko clogs all winter (I think those are kind of crunchy).
- I rarely wear make-up because I never go anywhere very exciting and I certainly don't have an extra five minutes in the morning to put any on--but honestly, I probably should. These days I am lucky if I leave the house with a bra on.
- I am an avid recycler. I cringe when I see plastic or glass in the trash. It weighs too heavily on my conscience. In fact, we were recently out of state and went to a game a huge sports arena. I was horrified by the fact that every single bottle, can and cup was thrown in the trash. Boulder is big on recycling and it's become a bit of an obsession with me.
- We do have a small garden, we do NOT compost (I am not crunchy enough to tolerate the sugar ants it attracted even though I had in a sealed container!).
- I have co-slept with all three of my children for varying amounts of time. Cooper is finally in his own room which is wonderful because I couldn't stand the crooked neck from nursing all night any longer!
- My husband does ride his bike to work when he can, but I have to admit, I am all about the car these days. I just can't get anywhere with all three any other way.
- I do NOT make my own baby food. Again, it's the time thing--or at least that's my excuse--but I have nursed all three for a minimum of 16 months.
- We eat organic and local when we can--but it is pricey and I have to take that into account.
I would like to consider myself “Crunchy!” :) or “Almost Crunchy” anyway. I gave birth at home with a mid-wife, breastfeed, cloth diaper, co-sleep, eat organic, use natural environment friendly cleaners, recycle, sometimes my hubby rides his bike to work, I still use the car sometimes, and I still wear makeup and shave – lol. We believe in living as naturally as we can because that’s the way God intended it to be. :)
Eeeh. Must we continue to label ourselves? Why the labels crunchy/semi-crunchy/silky? Can’t I just be myself, a MOM, and do what I do with my kid without a name being affixed to my choices?
I cloth diaper, but I guess that’s about the only thing considered “crunchy” that I do, and it was mostly for the saving money factor. I know I’m usually the black sheep in these types of polls, and that’s ok. My son’s happy and healthy, and that’s all I care about.
Im finding myself more and more crunchy with my second baby. My mom thinks I’m nuts. I think it’s just good old common sense.
Interesting…
We cloth diaper, but Grandma refuses to when DD is there and I don’t push the issue. We exclusively breastfed DD until 11 months when she went straight to table foods, so, no I don’t make my own baby food. I baby wear up to six months, and then borrow a stroller from the grandparents when we’re going somewhere. We have two co-sleeping / one bed-sharing part-time. We have a small garden, but it’s our first attempt and we don’t compost. We do recycle, but only sort of half-heartedly. We buy local when available, especially local services, meaning local restaurants instead of chains, local hardware and pharmacies instead of box stores, etc. We just bought a house and chose it on its proximity to the park, library, church, and school. So we walk when we can (who wants to get everyone loaded up into carseats anyway?), but it’s limited. Oh, and I shave my legs every time I shower and wash my hair every third time.
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