Hobo Mama: Carnival of Natural Parenting

Code Name: Mama - Carnival of Natural Parenting — 2012 year in review

For the past four 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 2013, our writers have shared their tips and tricks for having tough conversations with kids; they've discussed the gap between parenting in theory versus parenting in reality; and they've shared stories and advice related to nourishing and protecting their families. The compilations of posts are a rich resource — I hope you will look through 2013's themes and articles below and get to know some of the writers!

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 July we're sharing tips on Family Vacations; in August we're dishing about Friends; in September we're giving everyone a Home Tour; in October we're grumbling about Sick Days; in November we'll have tons of ideas for Indoor Fun; and in December we'll write about the Greatest Gifts. Topics are posted through May 2015 - come read more details at our main Carnival page.

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). 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 for Carnival updates, 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 2014 and beyond.

I'd like to share with you a few highlights — and a few of my favorite things — from our 2013 Carnival posts.

Here are a few quick facts:

In the 11 months that we hosted CarNatPar in 2013 (we took February off), we had 110 different writers.
In addition to Dionna and me, only one other author wrote all 11 months: Jorje from Momma Jorje. Our next most prolific writers were Jennifer from Hybrid Rasta Mama and Deb from Living Montessori Now, who wrote for 10 of the 11 months. Thank you, mamas!
Our most popular carnival topic was in June with 28 authors — Parenting in Theory vs. in Reality. Our least popular topic was in October with 17 authors — Kids and Technology.
Our authors wrote a grand total of 276 posts.

Here are some of my favorite posts from 2013:

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

January 2013: Recovering from the Holidays: 3 Simple Ways to Establishing Rhythm After the Holidays or Any Time — Sheila at A Living Family shares 3 simple ways to reestablish a rhythm of connection and calm in your family after holidays, visitors, travel or any time; and Getting back to Healthy — Bess at A Warrior Mom talks about the struggle of getting young ones back to eating healthy after several days to weeks of getting more candy and sweets than normal for the holidays and gives some suggestions on how to get them back to eating healthy in the new year.
February 2013: We took a break this month.
March 2013: Tough Conversations: When Together Doesn't Work — Ashley at Domestic Chaos discusses the various conversations her family has had in the early stages of separation.
April 2013: Family Recipes: The Pierogie Mama Whips Up Strawberry Pierogies! — Bianca at The Pierogie Mama shares her family's recipe for strawberry pierogies…a sweet, summery version of the Polish dumplings that she affectionately named her daughter after.
May 2013: Emergency Preparedness: Prepare to expect a safe and beautiful natural Birth — What do you need to have prepared so that you can have a nice and relaxing birth at home? Lisa at The Squishable Baby shares her list; and 3 Secrets to a Royal Emergency — Jaye Anne at Wide Awake, Half Asleep tells the secret to living like kings during a storm-induced power outage.
June 2013: Parenting — In Theory vs. In Reality: My little gastronomes — "I'll never cook a separate meal for my children," Maud at Awfully Chipper vowed before she had children; but things didn't turn out quite as she'd imagined; and Practice Makes Good, Not Perfect — Rachael at The Variegated Life comes to see that through practice, she just might already be the parent she wants to be.
July 2013: Learning About Diversity: The Beauty in Our Differences — Meegs at A New Day writes about her discussions with her daughter about how accepting ourselves and those around us, with all our beautiful differences and similarities, makes the world a better place; and Accepting Acceptance and Tolerating Tolerance — Destany at They Are All of Me examines the origins of and reasons behind present day social conformity.
August 2013: Sibling Revelry: 4 Steps to Encourage Sibling Revelry, even in Hot Moments of Rivalry — Sheila Pai of A Living Family share 4 Steps she uses to shift hot moments of sibling rivalry towards connected moments of sibling revelry and human compassion; and Living with the Longing — Rachael at The Variegated Life sees that she can live with her longing for another — without changing her plans.
September 2013: Staying Safe: Be Brave — Shannon at Pineapples & Artichokes talks about helping her kids learn to be brave so that they can stay safe, even when she's not around.
October 2013: Kids and Technology: Screen Time - The Battle of Ideologies — Laura from Laura's Blog explains why she is a mom who prioritizes outdoor natural play for her kids but also lets them have ample screen time.
November 2013: Feeding Your Family: Five Suggestions for Eating Healthy During the Holidays — No need to feel powerless when it comes to our highly sugared/processed food culture during the holidays &emdash; Andrea at It Takes Time offers tips to stay on track; and Introducing First Foods — Wondering what your little one should take a bite of first? That Mama Gretchen explains baby led weaning/baby self feeding and answers a number of questions that may come to mind!
December 2013: The More Things Change…: Planning, Parenting, and Perfection — Becca at The Earthling's Handbook explains how most of the plans she made for her adult life have worked out differently than she planned, but she's ended up getting a lot of what she really wanted; and The Seven Year Cycle — After 7 intense years of baking, birthing and breastfeeding 6 kids, Zoie at TouchstoneZ wonders, "Will I be enough for what comes next?"

Obviously there were many months that I could not choose just one favorite, since there were so many fabulous posts this year. To see which posts my cohost, Dionna of Code Name: Mama, loved, check out her version of the 2013 Year in Review.