Picky (Hippie) Mom

I guess I should put a comment here on the mom quality that I seem to inherently have about natural parenting. It must have been deep down inside of me all this natural living stuff that I've been conjuring up lately because it keeps appearing more and more and more. We are in a snowball effect where I question almost everything that I would have once done and judge it against my new "green" standards.

It all started with cloth diapers. I don't even know my original motivation for using cloth diapers. I thought that it might be a little cheaper, and I wasn't interested in contributing to all the crap that goes in the landfills just because I didn't feel like handling my own child's waste. So, I fought it out with Jared, and won, and now she is in cloth diapers. I never knew that I would LOVE it as much as I do. It is a little bit of work, but it is good work. Most importantly, she has cute, safe, reusable diapers, and all the other babies are running around in ugly, wasteful, standard Communistic issue diapers.

Jared learned to stop fighting after that. The next thing to go was the baby wipes. I realized that if I was going to be using cloth diapers, why would I be spending the money on wipes that are just going to go back into a landfill. Plus, they have chemicals and stuff in them that I don't really feel like putting against the most tender part of my daughter. So, I bought cloth wipes, and I started to make my own baby wipe solution, which has been amazing. I have seen no signs if diaper rash, and my baby is clean and chemical free. Not to mention, reusable. Besides, what other baby has Alice in Wonderland on their wipes?

Then, there is the whole china fiasco. I will not consciously buy toys from China, and I avoid allowing her to play with toys from China that she will be chewing on. It is nothing really having to do with the recent scare tactics, it was something I was concerned about before they recalled 5 million toxic toys. The toys I played with when I was a kid were wood mostly, or solid plastic, and they have lasted 3 generations!!!! I wanted to give her quality toys that she could pass down if she wanted, or that would certainly last for at least more than 1 kid. So, I have been getting wood toys for her, which has been wonderful and fulfilling. The quality is really high in them. I also feel that if China can't play nice by checking their toys to make sure that they aren't dangerously TOXIC, then we just won't play with them at all.

And it has snowballed from there. We are fazing out using plastic in our household. As our Tupperware slowly dies, we are replacing it with ceramic or glass. I am going to attempt to avoid Ziploc bags, which I am doing a pretty good job of. I know that some people have avoided using plastic in their house AT ALL. I don't think I will go that extreme, but if it can be avoided, it will.

And now I am crazy on food. I told Jared yesterday that I thought that it would be important that we don't allow strangers to feed Daphne. I have already had people offer her CANDY. A 6 month old child CANDY. She doesn't need to be eating sugar now. I am trying to teach her good food habits from the start which involves watching us have good food habits and feeding her food that has not been hopped up on sugar. We aren't going to give her sugar, and chocolate milk and candy bars and ice cream until much later. She doesn't need it, and if it is not introduced now, she won't be asking for it. So, the decision now is that only her mom or her dad get to give her food for a while as we figure out how to keep strangers from showing up with lolly pops for her when she is barely eating solid foods. People think kids need candy and lots of it. No wonder there is such a high incidence of child drugging for hyperactivity.

Also, I'm not interested in processed food. Do you know how easy it is to make your own cream of rice cereal? Who needs to buy the stuff in a box that you add water to and cook. It is almost as simple to make your own. Tofu is easy to make on your own as is soy milk or rice milk or yogurt or cheese. All of these things can be done and you can eliminate the use of processed foods that KILL in your diet. Now I just need a good cheap source of raw milk. Looks like I need to raise my own cattle and goats now doesn't it?

People always rebut with the fact that they don't have the time to do all these homemaker things. I say that I am proud to be doing what I am doing. The health and happines of my family is more important than any other stupid job I could be doing in the world. And don't you dare think that I am not contributing to society by doing what I am doing. I have a happy child and a happy husband who is becoming more and more healthy because of my efforts.

So, I am picky and hippie and many other things, but I think I am genuinely doing the right thing! I just hope I don't hurt too many feelings along the way because these opinions are VERY strong.