What Is Crunchy Parenting
Crunchy parenting is simply a modern name for an ancient practice. You might call it Attachment Parenting or Natural Parenting, but when you get down to it, being a crunchy mom or dad simply means that you trust your body & your intuition about what’s best for your baby.
It means you believe that what feels right, usually is. It means, you believe there was a purpose in the design of the baby, the bonding, & the parenting. That there is no need to change what we as a race have been successfully doing for 6,000+ years of recorded history with out the aid of “modern medicine”.
It means that maybe, just maybe… drugs, cribs, strollers, bottles, throw-away diapers, and infant surgery may have no place in the life of you or your precious little one.
Crunchy Parents are a wide and varied crowd. They are busy business moms, stay at home fathers, single parents, & movie stars. They can be home-making wives, college kids, or world-travelers. The only thing that many crunchy parents have in common is an uncommon desire to trust the natural way of things.
You need not fit a specific set of values or circumstances to trust your body and trust your baby.
Being Crunchy is a hard decision. Not because the practices that crunchy parents have are necessarily difficult, in-fact they are usually quite a bit easier than our ‘modern’ counter parts practices, as you will see through out this guide. But it’s difficult because being a crunchy parent is to go against the grain of our society.
A lot of times, it means that you’ll be doing exactly the opposite of what most other parents around you are doing. You will be attacked for your views, you’ll have to fight for your rights with doctors, and your family members may tell you your crazy. But it’s all worth it, knowing that your are giving your baby exactly what he or she needs from you – regardless of what society or modern medicine tells you.
As a crunchy parent you will need to be prepared to defend what you believe, because just the mere fact that you do something different than someone else will spur that other person to feel the need to defend themselves – even if you never attacked them.
You being or doing something different is all it takes to make someone else feel that need to justify what they are doing. We put this website together specifically for that purpose – so that we could educate moms and dads everywhere about the benefits of raising their kids naturally, but also to help those who are already quite crunchy to defend their views easily. When confronted – just hand them your copy of this guide and hopefully it will answer their questions.
And lastly, crunchy parenting is not a hard fast set of rules. You see our list of topics covered in this guide: Natural Birth, Breastfeeding, Circumcision, Cloth Diapering, Diaper-less baby, Holistic Medicine, Baby Wearing, Co-Sleeping, Chiropractic Care, and Homeschooling.
You don’t have to do everyone of those things to be crunchy. You could only do one or two and still be a crunchy mom or dad. Of course, those of us who are studied in each of those topics would recommend that you look into them as well – because we know the benefits. But, like we said, it’s not a hard and fast set of rules.
Crunchy Parenting is a lifestyle choice. When you decide to raise your children naturally – you’ll notice many things begin to change in your life. You’ll see other parents doing the ‘modern’ thing – like pushing the empty stroller and carrying a crying baby, while your baby is sleeping soundly against your chest – and you’ll silently giggle to yourself, because you realize how much easier your life is because of the choice to be different.
You’ll hear the horror stories of babies hating bedtime and parents not getting any sleep and you’ll be wondering what they are talking about, because you, your husband, and your baby all sleep wonderfully in the same bed.
And you’ll hear your friends talking about their 3,000$ diaper bill and you’ll smile knowingly, because your diaper bill is 1/4 theirs and you’ll be able to use them again for your next kid.
Then you’ll have your four month old baby sitting next to your friends six month old baby and you’ll be amazed at how close they are in their size and milestones – because you chose to give your baby the best food, and the best interaction, and the best sleep patterns.
Crunchy Parenting has many many tremendous benefits and it is our hope that this simple guide will inspire your to raise your family in such a way that you all can reap those rewards.
To your success!
Richard & Karen Matthews
PS – This article is a copy out of the introduction in our new eBook – Crunchy Parenting 101. You can get your free copy buy clicking here: http://crunchyparents.com/free-gift
