Welcome to the November 2013 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Feeding Your Family
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared recipes, stories, and advice about food and eating. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
A year ago, Sam and I gave up grains. In June, I recorded this video blog about our decision and my hesitance to talk about it, and I'm finally sharing it here.
Touching story of how a mom deals with other kids interacting with her son who has autism:
I put the soda I was holding down into the cupholder of my folding chair, and I prepared myself to walk over there and educate some kids. Firmly. And then, it happened.
A few of them peeled off, running over once again to play with David. His glee was contagious, and they couldn’t help but laugh at him, and then laugh with him.
Anna walked up behind me, grabbing my arm.
"Mom! They’re over there making fun of him! You should hear what they’re saying!"
"I know, honey. They don’t know him. They’re not from his school."
"I don’t care. You should say something." She tapped her foot impatiently.
After many people gave their “excuses” in that thread, an interesting thing happened. People started asking Kang what her excuse was.
"I have 3 degrees…what’s her excuse?"
"Can she play tuba? No? What’s her excuse?"
"I had my kids closer together than she did. What’s her excuse?"
This is hilarious, but it also sheds light on something that isn’t normally visible. No one would ever expect to see a tuba player’s picture with the words “what’s your excuse” atop it. And if they did see a picture like that, they’d most likely laugh their asses off. Because that’s ridiculous. Not everyone wants to play tuba, so they don’t need an excuse as to why they can’t play it. Not everyone wants three degrees. And the people that do want three sometimes have the legit excuse as discussed above of not having the funds or the time to achieve them. And no one is posting pictures of themselves with their prizes and achievements in those areas asking others to justify themselves. Because that’s silly.
But somehow it’s not silly when someone does this in the working-out realm. Because ‘fitspiration’ is not just a subgenre, but is part of our general culture, and as such is open to these criticisms. Because the people hitting back don’t find it silly or absurd. Shaming in this arena is such a part of our mainstream culture that people do get insulted when a random meme picture like this shows up on their social media. They get it enough everywhere else. They don’t want it from a complete stranger, too.
The tuba player goes on to say, “Maybe it’s not important or interesting to her… Gasp, you mean different people have different priorities?!”
And that’s the crux of the matter. Looking like she looks a year after having her third child is not a priority for most people. And yet somehow, when seeing a picture like that, with a shaming message atop it, people do feel shamed for it not being a priority for them. And then they get mad. Because it’s a dominant theme in our culture. One that needs to go away.
She has every right to be proud of herself, and every right to motivate those who are looking to be motivated in her arena, in her area of expertise. But she does not have the right to attack those who would fight back against her message. Because while she intended to say this: “I know you think you don’t have time if you have kids. But if I can do it, you can do it, too,” she actually said this: “what’s your excuse?” And those are two different things.
Alrik is tootling along the potty learning road, but I feel like I don't know where the next turn is. Maybe you could help me navigate!
We did a very loose form of part-time elimination communication (EC) with Alrik from newborn age, combined with cloth diapering. I was much less active in ECing Alrik than I was with Mikko, partly because of some residual bad experiences we've had with poop withholding in Mikko. As time has gone on and I've researched it more, I've chalked that up to a sensory issue, but I'd had some fears that we'd somehow "caused" it by ECing so wasn't feeling as avid about infant pottying when Alrik was born, for fear we'd spur a repeat.
So, the good news is, when Alrik is pantsless, he's a near-100% potty user. The bad news is, when he's got anything on his rear, he doesn't bother to remove it before going.
Welcome to the Second Annual Natural Parents Network Holiday Gift Guide!
If you need to complete your holiday shopping, find a birthday present for a friend, or just treat yourself to something special, the NPN Holiday Gift Guide has something for everyone. But what's even better, the NPN Holiday Gift Guide is a great opportunity to shop consciously and to support many naturally minded small businesses.
The companies that have provided items for review and giveaway are almost exclusively made up of work-at-home shops or companies that are dedicated to supporting eco-conscious choices. Below you will find information on 54 companies from 22 of our NPN volunteers. The companies are giving away over 58 products, subscriptions, and gift certificates, for a total combined value of over $2,500! As you scroll through the Gift Guide, we encourage you to click on the links for each of the reviews — look for the links to our volunteers' blogs in each heading and read their full review! Our volunteers have crafted thoughtful posts on each participating company with pictures of and links to products that are simply perfect for our natural parenting families. You can enter to win every giveaway by using the Rafflecopter system below or via the reviewers' site.
Even if you don't win one of our fabulous prize packages, please consider spending part of your gift-giving budget at one of these small businesses. By supporting small businesses, you are helping families, boosting local economies, and supporting ethical practices of manufacturing, production, and selling. We know that budgets are tighter and finances may be difficult, but by purchasing from small, family-owned businesses, you know you will be receiving quality items made with appropriate business practices and personal customer service, all while supporting another family's endeavors.
Many of the companies have included coupon codes — take advantage of them! You can find the coupon codes in the heading of each company listing. (Please note that coupons are not good on shipping fees unless otherwise stated.)
We've broken the Gift Guide down into two sections (click the links below to jump to either section):
By rights I should be putting up a massive Halloween retrospective today, but I'm too worn out from posting Gift Guide reviews.
(Stay tuned for the giveaway, live later today — it's going to be epic!)
So instead, I'm going to post a few pieces of
random cuteness from these past couple weeks.
First up, a very brief video of Alrik combining his quadruple loves of
martial arts, balloons, not wearing pants, and Team Umizoomi:
I'm Lauren Wayne, writer and natural parent. I embrace attached parenting with an emphasis toward green living.
Riding the rails with my husband, Crackerdog Sam, and our hobo kids, Mikko Lint Picker (born June 2007), Alrik Irontrousers (born May 2011), and Karsten (born October 2014). Trying every day to parent intentionally and with grace.
I'm Lauren Wayne, writer and natural parent. I embrace attached parenting with an emphasis toward green living. 
