Saturday, August 23, 2014

Carnival of Natural Parenting — 2013 year in review

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

NPN 125 badgeWhether 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.)
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.

And here is a complete list of all of our participants, with Facebook and Twitter links where applicable:

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