Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Crunchy Peanut Butter...My Perspective On Crunchy vs. Mainstream

With our first born, Mr. Faithful and I were newbies. We did everything that our mothers suggested. We read What To Expect The First Year. We started Gerber foods at 4 months old. We tried a cloth diaper or two when he had a diaper rash. At the thought of him in pain with teething, we gave him ib profen or acetaminophen. We were pretty mainstream and thought anything more natural was kind of crazy.
I started researching different things, mainly for my husband's health problems. Back then we were very unhealthy. We ate fast foods, we had a high processed food count intake every meal...even if we made it at home.
Our second son was born and we decided to EBF (exclusively breastfeed) longer and we introduced homemade food to him at about 7 months. And instead of Gerber white rice cereal (like we did for our oldest), we made our own brown rice. Homemade baby food is super easy! at this point I asked in my own mind, 'This is so simple, and it's cheaper! Why was I so stuck on buying baby food for Faithful Boy 1?!?!?!' This was the beginning of my journey through crunchiness.
I did more research into the AP (attached parenting) community...
Breastfeeding, yep done it twice now and never thought to feed baby formula!
Cloth diapers, well I am for them (at that point in time), it saves money and it's better for babies behinds!
Baby wearing, yep I do that too!
Co-sleeping and bed sharing...wow I guess we are attached parents and didn't even realize it!
Natural remedies for keeping children & families healthy...now here's something I never thought of! Wow, I like these AP sites! I think I am more that than mainstream!
And then the controversial posts...and the parents who only see black and white.
You are a 'bad parent' and abuse your child if you....
Vaccinate.
Circumcise.
Use disposable diapers.
Use any amount of pain medicine, antibiotic, or pharmaceuticals.
Have c-sections or drugs during childbirth.

Yep, I've been called a bad parent for certain personal decisions my hubby and I have made. It doesn't feel good. I am the type of parent that likes a little of this and a little of that! I'm not going to get into what I do for my own family. That's not important. What I'm trying to get at here is, people do what they feel is right for their children. Who are any of us to tell someone else that they are in the wrong for something they feel strongly about? I like to consider myself crunchy peanut butter instead of crunchy granola...I see a gray area instead of black and white. And bravo for ALL parents for your informed decisions. You say store bought, I say homemade, let's call the whole thing off. Xoxo

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