Hobo Mama: Carnival of Natural Parenting

For the past three years, I have been proud to co-host the Carnival of Natural Parenting with Dionna of Code Name: Mama. We created the Carnival in January 2010 to bring together the awesome community of parenting bloggers who identify as "attachment" or "natural" parents.

In 2012, our writers have shared how they interact respectfully with other parents, even when they disagree; they've made us think about children and personal care as well as children and self-image; and they've opened up about parenting amidst challenges and extended family. The compilations of posts are a rich resource — I hope you will look through 2012's themes and articles and get to know some of the writers!

Join us!

Anyone can write for the Carnival of Natural Parenting, and you can write as few or as many times as you'd like throughout the year. You can read more about how to write for the Carnival as well as details on upcoming topics at our main Carnival page. Here are the topics for the next few months: In August we're discussing Sibling Revelry; in September we're sharing tips on staying safe; in October we're looking at Kids and Technology; in November we'll dish about Feeding Your Family; in December we'll write about The More Things Change; and in January we'll reminisce about The More Things Stay the Same. Topics are posted through March 2014 - come read more details at our main Carnival page. Sign up for deadline reminders with our blogging carnival calendar, or subscribe to monthly email updates here.

Whether you write for or enjoy reading the articles written for the Carnival of Natural Parenting, or whether you are simply interested in learning more about natural parenting practices, we want you to join our community at the site born out of the Carnival: Natural Parents Network. NPN is a community that connects, informs, empowers, and inspires parents and parents-to-be. We are thankful for the larger NP community we interact with on NPN's website, Facebook page, and Twitter stream, and we're doubly thankful for the close-knit family of NPN volunteers — we have found true friends.

If you haven't yet, be sure to sign up for the joint newsletter of Natural Parents Network, Code Name: Mama, and Hobo Mama. And be on the lookout for our monthly Twitter parties, and our newest project, NPN Podcasts!

And for Carnival updates, be sure to look for the #CarNatPar hashtag on Twitter and follow the Twitter list of our #CarNatPar writers. On Facebook, you can get Carnival updates by "liking" the CarNatPar Fan Page.

We look forward to reading more from our writers — new and old — in 2013.

I'd like to share with you a few highlights — and a few of my favorite things — from our 2012 Carnival posts.

Here are a few quick facts:

In the 11 months that we hosted CarNatPar in 2012 (we took September off), we had 156 different writers.
In addition to me and Lauren, we had 4 writers write all 11 months: Jennifer from Hybrid Rasta Mama, Deb from Living Montessori Now, Jorje from Momma Jorje and Laura from Pug in the Kitchen. Our next most prolific writer was Luschka of Diary of a First Child, who wrote for 9 of the 11 months. Thank you, mamas!
Our most popular carnival topic was in June with 50 authors - Embracing Your Birth Experience. Our least popular topic was in November with 16 authors - Family Service Projects.
Our authors wrote a grand total of 403 posts.

Here are some of my favorite posts from 2012

(Click on each month for a complete list of posts; the monthly themes are in parentheses.)

January (Experiments in Natural Family Living): Extra! Extra! Water Heater Turned Down, Mom Doesn't Notice! — Thomasin at Propson Palingenesis finds an energy-saving experiment that's so easy she didn't even realize it was happening.
February (Respectful Interactions With Other Parents): Shushing Your Inner Judgey McJudgerson — Jenn at Monkey Butt Junction knows that judging others is easy to do, but recognizing that we all parent from different perspectives takes work; and Being Gracious with Parenting Advice — Tips for giving and receiving parenting advice with grace from Lisa at My World Edenwild.
March (Parenting With Special Needs): Becoming a Special Needs Mom — Ellen at These Broken Vases shares about becoming the mother of a child with Down syndrome; and We're a Lot Like You — kaidera at Our Little Acorn talks about how her family is similar to others, even with all their special needs.
April (Kids and Personal Care): Bathing Strike Strategies — Crunchy Con Mommy offers her best tips for keeping your little ones clean when they refuse to bathe.
May (Parenting With or Without Extended Family): Parenting passed through the generations — Shannon at Pineapples & Artichokes talks about the incredible parenting resource that is her found family, and how she hopes to continue the trend; and Parenting With a Hero — Rachel at Lautaret Bohemiet reminisces about the relationship she shared with her younger brother, and how he now shares that closeness in a relationship with her son.
June (Embracing Your Birth Experience): Sacred This Time, Too — Kimber at The Single Crunch learned enough to know that the way she birthed wasn't they way she wanted to; but she also knew to enjoy it for what it was.
July (Family Creations): The Family Garden — Excited that her son has been a big help in the garden this year, Ana at Pandamoly shares how her garden grows and offers up some secrets on how a toddler can be a great assistant in the garden.
August (Farmers' Markets):Unschooling at the Farmers Market — Megz at Aspen Mama loves building memories as a vendor at the Market; and Ask A Farmer's Daughter — Abbie at Farmer's Daughter answers questions about her life growing up on a small family farm in New England.
October (Instilling a Healthy Self-Image): Stories of our Uniqueness — Casey at Sesame Seed Designs looks for a connection to the past and celebrates the stories our bodies can tell about the present.
November (Family Service Projects): 5 Ways to Serve Others When You Have Small Children — It can be tough to volunteer with young children. Jennifer at Our Muddy Boots shares how her family looks for opportunities to serve in everyday life.
December (Childhood Memories): What makes the perfect parent? — In a guest post on Natural Parents Network, Mrs Green from Little Green Blog reflects on camp follow and camp no-follow….