# S/O: Were YOU raised "crunchy"?



## ErinYay (Aug 21, 2008)

Just another fun thread- were you raised in a crunchy way? How has it impacted your parenting choices now?

My mom was pretty AP/NFL when I was young (things changed a rather lot once there were 4 of us, 1 with special needs, and my dad wasn't particularly on board with all the "hippie-dippie" stuff.) I'm 30, so it's pretty cool that she was as into the whole shebang at the time as she was.

*I was FF due to a bad early latch, horrible advice from the nurse who didn't tell Mom to take the nipple shields off until I was 2 months old and I tore her to shreds when they were removed, but the other 4 kids were breastfed for at least 18 months- she pumped exclusively for a year with my late sister, and nursed my brother, the youngest of us, til he was over 2.

*I got only my baby vacs, and after a bad reaction to the pertussis vac, none of us were vaccinated until we were in school.

*Mom babywore.

*I went to Montessori from 2.5 yrs to 7, then went right into public school. My younger sister went from 2-6, and the other two were fully public schooled. Mom also got some homeschooling stuff and did supplementary HS on weekends and summers, or whenever I was bored.

*We never had soda, candy, or junk food in the house, and McDonald's was a rare treat until I was 8-9.

*No TV other than 1 Sesame Street OR 1 Mr Rogers *and* 1 Mr Dress-Up. We didn't have Nickelodeon until I was 12 or so. (We might have had it, but we weren't allowed to watch it!)

*Gentle discipline when I was young. I was spanked maybe a half-a-dozen times, but mostly Mom used GD.

*Most of all? My mom subscribed to Mothering! My dad used to call it That Magazine With All Those Placenta Recipes.

I love that my mom was AP/NFL-ish, as I don't have the most important woman in my life telling me I'm ruining her granddaughter at every turn! I have nothing but sympathy for those who don't have that kind of support for their choices! My dad's a lot more mainstream, and needled us a lot about vaccinations and homeschooling, and is thrilled to death V is sleeping in her crib now, but he's still quite supportive (and has come around on both our delayed/selective vac'ing AND homeschooling!)


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## Mrs.Music (Jun 15, 2010)

My mom was a teenage mom in a time where breastfeeding advice wasn't exactly easy to get, so I was formula fed after a few days of attempting to breastfeed. My mom was a good mom, and she mostly stayed at home with me... But I ate ramen, drank soda, watched tv, played nintendo, attended public school and got spanked when I was naughty. I guess the crunchiest thing about our household was the big garden in the back.


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## ~PurityLake~ (Jul 31, 2005)

My mom had a thing against soda, so I couldn't select the last one, and our poverty pretty much dictated our 'diet', so I voted the next one up from the bottom.

My mom was not AP, or GD, thinks homeschooling is silly, and didn't cosleep. She believed in CIO and 'not letting the kid win' in power struggles. Authoritarian all the way with her. My dad was pretty uninvolved in our daily care/raising other than the periodic look of shame or tsk tsk aimed at us about something he deemed inappropriate.

The only reason I didn't vote the bottom one was the wording.

She did breastfeed us all for about the first 6 months, it varied per child, so I feel I have to give her credit for that, but it's got to be the only thing about how she raised us that I would call crunchy.


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## Tumble Bumbles (Oct 15, 2009)

Not quite pepsi in the bottle from birth, but close









Mom thought bf'ing was 'gross' and formula-fed from birth
vaxxed on schedule
spanked and shamed, bed without dinner etc
Rice cereal in bottle from about 2 months
CIO
Planned C-section -- but then I don't blame her for that, back then if you had one c-section you had to have another (her c-section with my sis was an emergency)

So yeah. I believe there's a reason for everything and I know my mom loves me, at the time she just did what almost all her peers and contemporaries were doing...of course I've made _*vastly*_ different choices. Some were met with confusion and opposition from her but I have a very strong will and now my mom is one of my biggest parenting supporters.


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## Golden (Mar 15, 2002)

My name is Golden, but I definitely wasn't raised crunchy.


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## mommariffic (Mar 18, 2009)

Def not!

Mom tried breastfeeding for myself, and brother but ended up formula feeding
Def didn't bed share
Watched television
Moderate junk food [but not too much]

On the other hand she was a great SAHM who engaged us with crafts/read us books and cooked us really lovely things. Our television and junk food were limited, and although she spanked us a few times I really don't even remember and discipline wise growing up what I do remember was "normal" for the times.


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## fairejour (Apr 15, 2004)

How did you know what I was going to name my next baby?!?!?

So, my didn't breastfeed any of her kids because it would "ruin her boobs". We slept in cribs, vaxed, regular school, etc. We ate JUNK. Seriously, I bet we actually had soda in our bottles because I am DARN sure I have seen relatives do it. But when I was 5, my mom committed to non-violent parenting...but, it was because the domestic violence shelter we were in required it. Previous to that moment, it never crossed her mind to not spank! (Oh, but she did smoke weed in front of us, so does that count?







)

But, in my mom's defense, that childhood was HEAD AND SHOULDERS better than hers!!!!!!!!!!!


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## CatsCradle (May 7, 2007)

I have read both threads with interest, but didn't vote here because I'm still on the fence about the definition of crunchy. Some things that are defined here at MDC as crunchy were just common sense things back in the day. My mom breastfed and cloth diapered, but that had more to do with economics and practicalities than whether or not it was a specific parenting style. She and my grandmothers made things from scratch, but that was no big deal, a lot of people did. We didn't have much junk food, but my dad was a dentist and that was more related to what he perceived as good dental health than anything. We also had limited television, but again, it was not based on a studies or scientific data, my parents just wanted us to be busy. I see GD and stuff like homeschooling as specific to parenting choices. I have many super crunchy friends who are child-free and definitely outshine me in the crunchy department.

That being said, my parents would freak if anyone referred to them as environmentalists, but yet their frugality makes them the best environmentalists by default. I can't imagine them out waving placards at a rally, but their mantra has always been simplicity, whether intended or not.

I think all these things are elements of what is defined here as crunchiness, but I tend to think that crunchiness is a state of mind or philosophy rather than a checklist, much like I perceive AP. I think I'm on the crunch-o-meter simply because I inherited a lot of my parents' frugality practices and personal responsibility hang-ups.


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## PreggieUBA2C (Mar 20, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *fairejour* 
How did you know what I was going to name my next baby?!?!?

So, my didn't breastfeed any of her kids because it would "ruin her boobs". We slept in cribs, vaxed, regular school, etc. We ate JUNK. Seriously, I bet we actually had soda in our bottles because I am DARN sure I have seen relatives do it. But when I was 5, my mom committed to non-violent parenting...but, it was because the domestic violence shelter we were in required it. Previous to that moment, it never crossed her mind to not spank! (Oh, but she did smoke weed in front of us, so does that count?







)

But, in my mom's defense, that childhood was HEAD AND SHOULDERS better than hers!!!!!!!!!!!

Are we siblings?

My mum did breastfeed me for four months and my brother for two, but then decided to stop and feed us formula and _jar food_! Until we were over a year old!!! My dad said he was totally astonished when he saw a 7 month old chomping down on a chicken leg. That's the discussion that led to me being informed that I drank formula and ate jar food from four months until "sometime after a year old." I'm glad they eventually decided to feed me...

And as for "crunchy", the _homegrown_ was certainly that after some quick dehydration in a cool oven. I don't think that counts.


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## Petie1104 (Oct 26, 2010)

my brother got spanked on his way home from the hospital. No joke, mom was changing his daiper, he started pooping while she was doing it so she spanked him, and then told us that story regularly. I got slapped whenever I threw a tantrum. I drank my first soda before a year old, though didn't start drinking it regularly until I was about 9. We did have a garden but that was it. My parent's weren't mainstream since they didn't spend money on cable, buy a microwave until the 90's, or get us video games. But we had burger king regularly. Don't get me wrong, my mom is a wonderful woman, I just wouldn't want her to raise my kids her way. The fact is she is very open to ideas, and since we don't spank, she supports us. Since our kids aren't allowed soda, she doesn't give them soda when they are with her. She lived with us for 2 years caring for the kids and never once questioned our parenting and obeyed all of our rules. It is good that her biggest rule is that you never undermine a parent. She didn't argue with dad's rules and he didn't argue with hers. That was her most important rule to live by. So, I have to say, I love her to death. But she is about as far from "crunchy" as you can get. Oh forgot to mention, I was formula fed from 2 weeks on and started on cereal at 1 month.


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## e_roehm23 (Sep 15, 2009)

"Somewhat. It didn't have a name back then. But yeah, I guess"

Parents are very much into simple living, rather. No dishwasher, wood burning heat ( Dad cuts & splits the wood, but only from previously fallen trees) no ac, only 2 local t.v. stations and if you wanted anything different you'd better be prepared to climb the antena tower and rotate it by shear force,haha, organic gardeners, part time co-sleepers, no internet until 16 years old, rotary dial phone still hangs on the wall, basically off the grid...not really, but the neighbors thought an old hermit lived at our house, 66 acres of woods on dead end road with large creek for swimming, washing the car, etc Mom rarely seasoned our food, no soda or chips, no fast food, mom cloth diapered, and breast fed for at least the 1st year. Mostly wooden toys, or simple, battery free toys. No shower, only bath tub, with babies washed in the kitchen sink, etc, etc.

Now, Mom and Dad spend their days filling up a mud puddle in the driveway so to keep the tad poles alive in their "pond". Also, they have a "pet" ground hog living under the wood shed named "buddy". Along with other random critters, the occasional mouse or fruit flies, line dried bath towels, were not a huge deal. It's all part of country living, or crunchy living, if that's your fancy


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## shnitzel (Jan 6, 2010)

My mother is kind of and my father is definitely not. My mum had a c-section but she did research on natural childbirth and was definitely interested in at least trying for one. She waivers in buying/eating healthy food and lately buys a lot of prepared foods but makes sure to eat a lot of fruit and veg. She bought organic baby food and wouldn't allow my little brother to eat sugar but now that he is six he eats as much junk food (the brightly dyed kind) and soda as he likes. She buys nitrate free hot dogs. She used to believe TV was completely evil but now does use it and allow my brother to watch although we weren't allowed to watch at all as kids. She dumpster dives but is very wasteful with energy (mostly because of my dad, you know energy is seriously being wasted when you need to sleep with a sweatshirt & comforter in the middle of the summer).
She strongly believes in medicine and vaccines but does sometimes doubt and question.
My mother looks and talks like a hippy.
She worked really hard to breastfeed but did supplement with formula a bit.
They co-slept up until recently and oddly enough everyone on my dad's side of the family co-sleeps. My aunt has 11 children and slept with all of them! She also breastfed all of them and at least one of them past the age of 2. Another aunt who is a doctor was so excited when she found out I was still breastfeeding my baby past a year.
My mother GD's but my father uses intimidation and my mother supports that b/c it controls my brother but she would never hit him or let him be hit by anyone.

My in laws are completely mainstream but mil completely supports me.
For some odd reason the one thing that worried both my mum and mil was that DD never had baby food and was barely eating solids until 10 months.


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## Buzzer Beater (Mar 5, 2009)

My mom was def not crunchy- not only did she put bourbon in my brother's bottle to get him to sleep, she thinks I should do it too...


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## 2xy (Nov 30, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mrs.Music* 
My mom was a teenage mom in a time where breastfeeding advice wasn't exactly easy to get, so I was formula fed after a few days of attempting to breastfeed. My mom was a good mom, and she mostly stayed at home with me... But I ate ramen, drank soda, watched tv, played nintendo, attended public school and got spanked when I was naughty. I guess the crunchiest thing about our household was the big garden in the back.

This is my story almost exactly, except my mom did breastfeed for about three months. I was in cloth diapers because...erhm...it was almost 40 years ago.

My mom was eccentric in her own way, though not really crunchy. She made me take vitamins and drink celery juice for my asthma, but she and my dad also smoked like chimneys. She insists that my breathing problems were from lack of vitamins, never mind the cigarette smoke and crappy nutrition. We ate a lot of fast food, pizza, and the only vegetables I remember having (besides an occasional salad) were peas and corn (and corn is hardly a vegetable). Yet she would make a special trip to the health food store to grind her own peanut butter.


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## Marissamom (Dec 17, 2009)

I consider my family growing up more mainstream, with some crunchy tendencies.
I was APed (natural birth, half of us were homebirthed, exclusive breastfeeding until solids, child-led weaning, cosleeping, baby wearing), we unschooled, our family recycled and had a garden for quite a while, but that was about the extent of our crunchiness growing up.
When I became a mom (really from the time I was a little kid) I knew I wanted to AP. I wanted to cosleep, breastfeed (exclusive and extended), babywear. I wanted to have a natural birth, and I also hope to homeschool/unschool. as DD has gotten a little older I have added a little more crunchiness, I took the leap into CD, and while researching that came across MDC... I hadn't given family cloth or mama cloth any thought before that, or making my own laundry detergent. and I'm sure I'm just going to get crunchier as I go. especially because DF was raised really crunchy.


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## Mrs.Music (Jun 15, 2010)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *fairejour* 
How did you know what I was going to name my next baby?!?!?











Quote:


Originally Posted by *2xy* 
This is my story almost exactly, except my mom did breastfeed for about three months. I was in cloth diapers because...erhm...it was almost 40 years ago.

My mom was eccentric in her own way, though not really crunchy. She made me take vitamins and drink celery juice for my asthma, but she and my dad also smoked like chimneys. She insists that my breathing problems were from lack of vitamins, never mind the cigarette smoke and crappy nutrition. We ate a lot of fast food, pizza, and the only vegetables I remember having (besides an occasional salad) were peas and corn (and corn is hardly a vegetable). Yet she would make a special trip to the health food store to grind her own peanut butter.









Eh, they totally didn't realize that second hand smoking was harmful then. It seems like common sense now.


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## marinak1977 (Feb 24, 2009)

Pretty crunchy. My mom followed her instincts so she coslept, breastfed on demand, and did delayed vax. We also didn't have junk food, and were raised with respect for all things living. We did a lot of canning and growing vegetables, but it was in the Soviet Union and everyone did that. My mom WOH and didn't babywear, but my grandma stayed home with us so we didn't have to go into the horrible soviet kindergarden.
My parents also did GD to the best of their ability. They certainly didn't use physical punishment


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## major_mama11 (Apr 13, 2008)

Somewhat...

My mom was waaay into natural childbirth (to the point where I think her head will explode if I decide to get an epidural with hypothetical next baby). She worked in the hospital where I was born, and insisted on rooming in and nursing in the delivery room, even though it wasn't common practice back then. She did kind of quietly freak out about my having my 2 kids at a birth center rather than hospital, though.

She breastfed my sister for 6 mos and me for 13 mos.

We were public schooled, but she seriously considered homeschooling us, which is handy as she is very supportive of our decision to hs.

She babywore.

Very anti-sugar when I was little, although she doesn't enjoy cooking and so eventually she gave in and allowed a lot of processed foods.

TV was very limited when I was little- Wild America, Sesame Street, and Mr Rogers was ALL. (Except the rare days when mom was at work, then it was TV all day long...)

No spanking after we were toddlers. I only remember being spanked once. My dad was spanking my sis one day and saying, "This will teach you not to hit!" and had sort of a light bulb moment. No more spanking after that.

Mom and dad have always lived well below their means- thrift stores and beater cars frugal- and are pretty much debt free now, in their mid-50s. They now have a little camper and travel every chance they get!









My mom and I don't agree on everything, but I am so thankful that we agree on most parenting issues, as she is my main babysitter!


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## baglady (Jul 13, 2009)

"The veal that you would eat tonight is already dead, so what difference does it make" -my mom

Does that answer your question?


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## 2xy (Nov 30, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mrs.Music* 
Eh, they totally didn't realize that second hand smoking was harmful then. It seems like common sense now.

The Surgeon General released its first public report on the dangers of second hand smoke in 1972. My dad taught life science, earth science, and physical science in the public schools....his major was biology, and he read tons of periodicals on health and science in general. They knew; the addiction is just more powerful than knowledge.


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## Sol_y_Paz (Feb 6, 2009)

Me
SAHM
Hospital birth C section
breastfed for 1 week (other siblings not at all)
solids early
separate room and crib
TV from as early as I can remember, tv in my room from young age
smoked in garage if cold or outside if not, smoking in car
all vaccines
strollers and other stuff to sit in (not being worn)
public school
spanked
lots of junk and meat (until I refused to eat it anymore when I truly learned how meat and animals were linked)

SO
SAHM
hospital birth C section
breastfed until 6 months or a year
made baby food
not sure on this, I think crib
limited TV
no smoking
all vaccines
not worn
public school
spanked
less junk but still very mainstream

US
SAHM
birth center or home birth
breast feeding exclusively on demand
undecided on sleeping arrangements
we don't subscribe to TV and don't have channels
no smoking
limited vaccines
into baby wearing
undecided on schooling options
GD
very healthy, no junk, organics, organic free range/wild caught small amounts of meat only for those who eat meat

I really love my parents dearly and I had a great childhood and my mom really wanted to be a SAHM and was great with us. I certainly had a much better childhood than either of them did. I have always been into the natural stuff from a young age so it isn't a surprise to family what my choices are on most subjects.


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## Smokering (Sep 5, 2007)

Yep, in some ways. Mum had medicalised births due to GD (and one emergency C-section), but she was a midwife and knows a lot about natural childbirth in theory, anyway.







She breastfed all of us (through some pretty difficult circumstances, too) - at least two of us were BF until over the age of two. Cosleeping, no TV for a large chunk of our childhood (and a tiny one when we had one - apparently they're holier







), homeschooled off and on, lots of thrift shop clothes, hand-me-downs and homemade clothes, and a definitely frugal outlook on life.

They did spank, although as a PP said, that doesn't seem like a "crunchy" issue to me but a parenting-philosophy one. Our diet was hilariously variable. Mum hated cooking, but would occasionally rouse herself to create chickpea stews and homemade bread and crockpot meals in the time-honoured fashion. The rest of the time, though, we lived off cheap, gross white bread from the grocery store, fish fingers, stale doughnuts my father bought on special, off-brand fizzy drinks and similarly off-putting things. Sometimes I'm amazed we made it to adulthood, honestly. Mum KNEW a lot about healthy food, she just... didn't do it. Probably a finance thing as much as anything, we were poor.

The funny thing was, growing up, I vaguely disapproved of some of her parenting choices.







I didn't realise she actually had a philosophy behind it (and she did, although she was hugely gratified to learn when I had DD that cosleeping was "a proper thing" and not just the lazy way!), and all my rich friends with beautiful houses had Proper Bedtimes and had distant, rule-based, polite relationships with their parents, and generally seemed a lot more put-together than us. Which they were, but looking back I wouldn't exchange places with them! Now I'm doing all the messy, AP stuff and I can see my acquaintances looking at me going "Wow, she really needs to get that kid into a routine, what the heck is she doing?"... so the wheel turns.


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## Peony (Nov 27, 2003)

My mom did have natural births with us but it just what birth was supposed to be like for her, it was never seen as crunchy. I never had coke in my bottle but only because sodas were treats in our house, but the only somewhat crunchy thing my mom ever did was recycle way before it was popular.


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## Jaxinator (Dec 28, 2009)

My mom was somewhat, although I doubt she would have called herself crunchy or anything like that. My dad... I'm not too sure. He had to work a lot, so most of my memories are of my mom.

-She wore both my sister and myself, 25 years ago.
-She never gave us jarred baby food or formula, but I don't know how long exactly she nursed for.
-She's always recycled.
-My parents had a vegetable garden at one point, and composted.
-They reuse a lot of things, and keep things working until they're hanging on by a thread
-Lots of homemade food growing up, McDonalds wasn't often. Oddly, there was always soda in the house, but I didn't drink it much. I still don't, I don't care for it.
-We always sat down to dinner together.
-She had a VBAC, which makes me hopeful for my chances








-We have a wood-burning stove
-No cable until I was 17, but my sister and I watched a lot of TV anyway. And movies.

I think that a lot of it was money though. Heat and TV are expensive, wood (when you live in a forest) and antenna TV is free. Baby wipes cost money, washclothes are reusable. Either way, I think they did a great job.


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## urchin_grey (Sep 26, 2006)

Eh, sort of.

Four out of the five of us were natural births. Mom had an epi with #4.

My mom BF all 5 of us, but switched to formula at 4-6m with all of us. I think the youngest was weaned the earliest because she was "nursing constantly". I remember her trying cereal and BM in a feeder to try to get her to nurse less. Guess it didn't work.

We all wore sposies.

My mom SAH and still does (my two youngest sisters are still teenagers).

They smoked around all of us except the youngest. My mom quit during all of her pregnancies though and then quit for good with #5, as did my step-dad (youngest is the only one that is biologically his). Coincidentally (or not?), the youngest is the only one that never smoked. Well, she's only 14, but she's very anti-smoking. She posts stuff about it on her Facebook all the time.









We co-slept some, but it was only out of convenience (while we were still nursing) or sometimes necessity (we didn't always have enough beds for all of us before my step-dad came around). We all had cribs too though, at one point or another.

My mom wore my youngest two sisters... In a Snugli. I wore the youngest in it too.







I was 12 when she was born.

All of us were fully vaxed.

We all went to public school (well, with the exception of the 1.5 years I went to private school).

We always had home cooked meals and rarely got take out, but we had a lot of junk available at home as well. Except soda and other junky drinks, those were considered treats. Yet we had an abundance of Funyuns and Little Debbies.

We had a big garden growing up (my step-dad's doing, we didn't have this with my bio-dad) and we all had to work in it. They still grow one every year. Oh, and my step-dad fishes. Does that count?









Our discipline was as far from GD as you can get. We weren't beaten or anything, but there was always a lot of yelling, shaming, and smacking (when we were older) from my mom. My step-dad would yell at her for that kind of stuff, especially for smacking but that's because he believed you should only ever spank on the butt.







He didn't spank us often, but when he did it was bent over the bed and with a belt. I don't remember my bio-dad EVER disciplining at all but then again he was mostly out of the picture by the time I was 8.

Anyway, I think she's actually more crunchy now (or at least more open-minded) than when we were growing up since her kids have become mothers (the 3 oldest have one child each and the 2 youngest are teenagers still living at home). All 3 of us (as in, the adult children) are varying degrees of crunchy though so she's had a LOT of "new" info thrown at her in recent years.


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## JayGee (Oct 5, 2002)

Not crunchy, not mainstream either.

We did not co-sleep, bf only a few months, and were spanked







.

BUT, we watched no TV, ate very healthy food, Mom babywore, and there we no plastic toys in our home.

My Mom was born in Germany, so I guess the way I was raised was more German than anything else.


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## physmom (Jun 15, 2009)

I think my mom was bipolar when it comes to AP/crunchy things









* I was breastfed with formula supplementation until 6 months (she went back to work early on and never even heard of pumping). She's actually really pro-breastfeeding and did nurse my sister until almost a year. She never even heard of extended breastfeeding.

* I was vaxed but she was really lazy about it and constantly lost my vax records and I'm sure I didn't get half the boosters that I was supposed to.

* She always wanted to homeschool me but was too scared of it. I was in a homeschool co-op for a bit but wasn't a fan. Dad was very pro-public school at the time (was a former teacher) but now understands that we'll be sending DD to a private school.

* I was spanked but very rarely (many times with her crying during it) and beyond that she really did try and compromise a lot and very much valued my and my sister's opinions on things (much more than my friends' parents). My dad never spanked me but was more of the authoriatrian parents (because I said so... sort of thing).

* No CIO. Although eventually they did lay down the law at one point with sleep because I was a kid that NEVER slept (unfortunately DD had to inherent that from me whereas DH slept ALL THE TIME!).

* Food was pretty bad. The older I got my mom got more into whole foods but she still is known to eat a carton of Ben and Jerry's in one sitting.







I actually have a TON of food hang-ups thanks to all the sugar she gave me so that really has affected what I feed to DD.

* Cosleeping. Way past toddler/infancy (although they just coroomed when I was an infant). I know whenever we were sick she'd sleep in our rooms with us and she shared a room with my sister on and off well into elementary school.

*Cloth diapers for me, disposables for my sister.

*Very hands off when it came to learning. We spent large amounts of time at the library. It actually wouldn't have hurt my mom to advocate a lot more at my school (I was very bored) instead of just going to all my sports games.


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## kanga1622 (May 23, 2005)

Definitely not crunchy here. I was in sposies and Dad thought BF was gross so Mom did not BF. My Mom hated cooking and so we ate out a lot and I had pretty much whatever I wanted. TV was on all the time and I had no restrictions.

But, I was very well loved and cared for. My parents were great but definitely mainstream. I know my mom would support our choices if she were still alive. Everyone else just thinks that some things are okay but other choices of ours are pretty nutty. We are not the crunchiest family but we do everything for the well being of our son so I think he will turn out at least a little better than DH and me.


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## maryeliz (Oct 27, 2005)

My parents were working-class kids who dropped out and bought a farm in the 1970s. They really wanted to raise me in a very different way than they were raised. It's interesting to see how the big issues have changed and haven't changed for crunchy parents since then.

Breastfeeding-my mom was really committed and I don't think anyone else in the family had breastfed in generations. She stuck it out until 6 months when I became a biter. After that I got raw goatsmilk from our goats in a cup. Both my parents have said bottles were too much work, and goats milk was what we had so that is why they made the choice they did. My mom also got reprimanded by a security guard for breastfeeding inside her own car.

Fresh food-they had a baby food grinder and just gave me ground table food. They weren't worried about organics or stuff like that, but we ate what we grew.

Sugar-they were very anti-sugar.

TV-we didn't have one.

materialism-we just didn't have much stuff. Materially my childhood was more like the 1930s than the 1970s. In part this was because we had no money, we also lived in a place with no stores and didn't shop much. They didn't have the problems that parents today report about receiving tons of stuff from grandparents and other relatives, who were mostly children of the Depression Era.

Gender roles-this was a big one, my parents really wanted my father to be equally involved in parenting, which was a really radical departure for them. My mom stayed home with me during my first year, and my dad stayed home the next year.

Sexuality and nudity-my parents are pretty conservative themselves, but they wanted to raise a kid who didn't have a lot of hangups about bodies and sexuality.

Punishment-they were anti-spanking, but a lot more strict than most parents today.


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## Biscuits & Gravy (Jul 17, 2008)

I was breastfed, and wore cloth diapers. Breastfeeding because my mom had an amazing influence in her life, a family friend who was a LLL leader that inspired her to nurse me and my brothers. Cloth diapers because my skin was too sensitive for the chemicals in disposables. Other than that, mainstream as can be.


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## karanyavel (May 8, 2010)

My parents (semi-crunchy)
----
SAHM
Never once had a babysitter/daycare, not even relatives
Not breastfed
Not vaxxed
Part-time cosleeping
Cloth diapers mostly, disposables on vacation
Did not babywear but I was held almost all of the time as a small child
Spanked rarely until I was .. 3 or 4 I think, otherwise GD
Dad quit smoking when I was little, mom never smoked
Lived on a "homesteady" farm from ages 2 - 8 or so, always had a big garden
Public school until 8th grade, then unschooled
No food rules except my dad always made me eat everything I took (before I could eat anything else) but it was my choice what and how much went on my plate
No media rules but I never liked TV and the Internet wasn't really around until I was a teenager
No extracurriculars, emphasis on family time
No church
Circed (not me, my brother)

SO (very mainstream)
----
BF for about six weeks
Daycare from six weeks onwards, then full-time preschool, then public school
Diaper service
Not GD at all
No smoking
Few media rules except computer access was cut off a lot for grades below A's, etc.
Many extracurriculars required
Church attendance required
Fully vaxxed
Bassinet in parents' room until a few weeks old, then crib in own room
Strict rules about food and lots of shaming
No babywearing, limited holding
Circed

Us (semi-crunchy)
----
SAHM/SAHD (we've switched roles a few times)
Extended BF
Co-sleeping
GD all the way
No babywearing, but hold babies/toddlers as much as they want (a LOT)
Homeschooling
Delayed/selective vax
No church
Extracurriculars up to children, none required
No food rules but encourage healthy eating
No media rules except for sexual content
Smokers but try to limit second hand smoke exposure as much as possible
Used disposables on #1 & #2, hope to cloth diaper #3
No circ
No babysitters or daycare, very limited time alone with relatives (mostly due to distance)

--K


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## GardenStream (Aug 21, 2007)

I had to choose pepsi in the bottle even though that was not true. My parents were very vocally anti-crunchy and they were both scientists. They grew up in the hippie generation and they made it clear that they didn't like anything about hippies. If my mom called someone a hippie that was a _very_ bad thing and basically meant they were a waste of life.

My mom did have all natural births and breastfed all of us. She also smoked and drank through all of it. She returned to work 4 weeks after 2 of us were born. We never recycled anything and all food came from a package or a box. TV was on all the time. Pepsi was readily available and unlimited during my entire childhood.


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## Attached2Elijah (Jun 27, 2004)

My sister and I were raised pretty crunchy for the time period. She worked full time but was able to do all of the following:

We were breastfed until a little after our first birthday.

Made all of our baby food.

She cloth diapered us completely.

Delayed Vax

We co-slept after my dad left (I was still a baby)

Gentle Discipline... I don't EVER remember her hitting my sister or I (until we were rowdy teenagers, that is)

Grew a lot of our own food, canned and local food

TV free until I was about 8 and then no cable.

I know there is more but my brain is fuzzy today and I can't remember everything.


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## SubliminalDarkness (Sep 9, 2009)

Not at all. Formula. Disposable diapers. Crib. Early "solids." Cry it out. Time out. Traditional public schooling. Very negative discipline. Spanking. Etc. etc.


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## Alyantavid (Sep 10, 2004)

I was raised poor more than anything. My mom did breastfeed but only until about 6 months, we were cloth diapered, we did get vaxed, my brother is circed. We didn't have much junk food but we couldn't afford it anyways. No tv except 1 channel, we grew up in the country and my brother and I took care of ourselves alot because she worked alot. I did go to daycare from 2-5. She had natural births with both of us, but we were also born extremely fast.

We lived in a 2 bedroom housed heated totally with a wood stove. We raised our own chickens and beef. My mom made all of our baby food. My parents both did pretty gentle disclipline. I remember being spanked once.

I don't they had some great plan as to how to raise, they just did what they could and had to do. And we're fine, maybe with some dad issues.









My mom is against delaying or not vaxing. She's mortified my boys are intact and up until my oldest was 3, she kept telling me I needed to do soon. She was a little grossed out about bfing as they got older.


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## kittywitty (Jul 5, 2005)

Kind of? For the time and place I was raised pretty "crunchy". We were breastfed, held all the time, natural births, co-slept, no spanking, partially cloth diapered, never left to CIO...But we were poor and ate junk food all the time, watched a lot of tv, went to public school, fully vaxed, mom smoked during pregnancy, etc.

Basically what it means *for me* is that cosleeping, breastfeeding and natural births were something I was raised with in my huge family (the norm) and so that's what influenced me a lot.


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## Tulpen88 (Nov 12, 2009)

My parents were somewhat crunchy. My siblings and I were born in the late 70's to early 80's. My mom had natural childbirth will all of us, and she breastfed all of us. She also did a lot of cosleeping and didn't let us CIO. She didn't do any babywearing, but I'm not sure how common that was back then. However, she's always been opposed to leaving babies in carriers, and she always told us that babies were meant to be held. My brother isn't circ'd, but I didn't know that until I was pregnant with DS. It was a huge relief to me to know that actually none of the men on my side of the family are circ'd (Dad, uncles, grandfathers, etc).

One funny thing I just realized recently is that I continued to cosleep until I was about 11 or 12 years old... just with my sister! When we were really young we always pushed our beds together, so my parents got us a queen bed, which we shared. We loved sharing a bed. When we wanted our own space, we got bunk beds, but sometimes we still shared a bed if we were having a rough day.

Despite all of that, my parents did not practice gentle discipline... at least, my dad didn't. I don't remember being spanked by my mom, but I definitely remember my dad spanking us and scaring us with paddles, switches and his belt. That's one of the main reasons I am choosing not to spank.

ETA: Oh yeah, my mom was a major smoker when we were kids. It was awful. My sister had asthma and she'd just tell her to leave the room. No joke. Seriously, does that even sound like the same woman who had no meds for childbirth and who breastfed us?


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## tink79 (Jun 9, 2004)

"Somewhat. It didn't have a name back then, but yeah, sure."

I was born naturally, at home. My mom breastfed all of us until we self weaned. They used GD, used cloth diapers, my brother is uncirc'd and my mom was a LLL leader.

We did watch tv though, I loved me some Sesame Street LOL.


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## jessemoon (May 31, 2004)

The first category is exactly me...except it was a ti-pi and my name has Moon in it and my brother's has Sky.

The crunchiest...ti-pi...no running water...homemade tofu..raised goats...cloth diapered (see above about water)...super back-to-the-land hippie rural girl here.

My parents mellowed a bit as they have aged and now they have a microwave. I am not nearly as crunchy as my parents in terms of day-to-day life, but the child rearing choices are similar.


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## just_lily (Feb 29, 2008)

I picked Pepsi in the bottle, but I don't know if it was that bad. Close though. But I think it had a lot more to do with the timing, as well as the fact that my parents were young and willing to go along with what they were told.

My mom had three natural births, but she didn't have much choice in the matter. She birthed in a small hospital and didn't have anything like an epi available. My dad was allowed to be with her when she had me (I was the third) which was a radical concept at the time. My mom put the note from the doctor giving my dad "permission" to be there in my baby book.

We were cloth diapered, but again because there wasn't much choice in the matter. When I was a baby sposies were just coming out and my mom used them from time to time, but she says they were pretty crappy so didn't bother much.

On the other side my parents smoked (anytime, anyplace), we were spanked, we were CIOd. I am sure we had rice cereal really early, but I think my mom made her own baby food because it was cheaper - not sure about the availability of jarred food then.

We didn't get fast food very often because of the cost, but we ate a lot of junk at home - hot dogs, cheez whiz, kraft dinner, etc.

We were vaxed, but my mom didn't think she had a choice. She totally supports our choices here.

My dad was the type of father who believed his parental involvement only required bringing home a paycheck and taking my brothers to hockey practice. The rest of the time he was pretty checked out.

And I don't know if I would consider car safety a crunchy thing (I really hope 'mainstream' parents care about it too!) but my family absolutely failed in this regard. Right after I was born, without telling my mom, my dad went out and traded in their car for a huge GMC cargo van. Just what every family needs! He insisted he needed something bigger to take the boys to hockey.









It came with two front seats, and eventually they put in two more. Then my dad built wooden benches in the back, and my mom made cushions for them. Before that people would just sit on lawn chairs in the back!!! The only seat belts it ever had were in the two front seats.

A couple of years ago I asked my mom what they did with me in that van when I was a baby. She said "Oh, you were in your little seat." I asked if it was actually ATTACHED to anything. She said "Oh, I am sure it was."







I am not convinced, considering the lack of actual seat belts. It is only through the grace of God that we all didn't become a huge tragedy in that van.


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## Purplegal (Jul 30, 2008)

Oh yea my parents were pretty crunchy...my dad is a chiropractor so that is how it started I think... my mom had all 5 children at home, BF for almost 3 years for each of us, very healthy food no sugar/soda, etc. No vax for any of us, very limited TV, she made all our clothes.

HOWEVER- by the time she got to my two youngest sisters (I am the oldest) 11 years later, things looked VERY different, mainly nutrition and TV-wise.


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## tabrizia (Oct 24, 2007)

My parents were semi-crunchy, not as much as I am, but there was a bunch they did that was fairly crunchy.

My Mom breastfed us all until 12 months, well she stopped with me at 10 months because she was pregnant with my sister, but she nursed her till 12 or 13 months and tandem nursed twins with only 1 bottle of formula a day till they were 12ish months, I think she weaned my sister around 12 months and brother around 13. She used cloth diapers for me and my sister, but moved to disposable diapers for the twins because cloth was too much work with 4 kids under 6 and having to diaper twins.

She and my father babywore some, but also used a stroller. They rarely spanked, I think I was spanked 2 times in my life and it was about as frequent for all my siblings. My parents co-slept, but not with us as newborns, I know my sister co-slept till 4 and my parents told her there was no room left in the bed because my Mom was pregnant with the twins.

They did do CIO, my Dad still comments how they use to put me to bed and I use to cry for 10+ minutes before falling asleep at the door for quite a few months. They used baby food my Mom made her own though, and my Mom did delay solids till around 6 months with all of us, which is fairly amazing for the late 70s early 80s.

That being said we were all vaccinated on schedule, but as my Mom has commented there were a whole lot less vaccines then. She has actually been a huge supporter of my delay and selectively vaccinating my children. We were all c-sections, they would have let my Mom try a VBAC with my sister if our spacing had been slightly further apart. They weren't willing to let her try with the twins though after 2 c-sections.

We went to public school, well my brother went private a few years and my Mom admits I should have too, but she wasn't likely to homeschool. We did have junk food in the house, but we didn't get cable till after I was 10.

Overall my parents were actually fairly crunchy. DH's parents were less crunchy which actually surprises me a bit since his Dad immigrated from India.


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## jajah (Oct 16, 2010)

The pepsi in the bottle thing was probably true, although it would have been Coke because, _hello!,_ this is the south!









My mother actually abandoned me as an infant and was in and out of my life from then on out, so my dad took me to live with his parents. They, more or less, raised me for the largest chunk of my childhood. They were older (obviously) and definitely took advantage of all modern "conveniences" when it came to raising me- fast food, processed/freezer meals, lots and lots and lots of TV, etc.

In fairness, they certainly weren't planning on raising any more children, had established careers that were their priority, and did their best considering the circumstances. And we had an awesome garden!

My dad was a total hippy and was around most of my childhood but had little to do with my day-to-day upbringing.

I had a lot of experiences growing up, lived in many different situations before I got out on my own, and saw a lot of different ways of living.

My bio mom and I began developing a real relationship when I unexpectedly got pregnant with DD. I really ended up leaning on her at that time, and kind of went along with a lot of her beliefs about childbirth ("why would anyone deliver without an epidural?!") Slowly, I started to realize that my instincts were pulling me in a totally different direction and now we agree to disagree on essentially all of our parenting choices (she has a 9-year-old now so we are kind of raising kids at the same time). She's definitely the anti-crunchy. I catch a lot of grief from my grandmother that raised me too.







I try not to sweat it.


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## SilverFish (Jan 14, 2010)

nope, not really... we were raised healthily and simply though. my parents were missionaries and we lived overseas in a 3rd wold country. that in itself kind of ups the crunch factor, we had no tv, very simple clothes, none of the typical conveniences like microwave, vacuum cleaner, processed foods, etc. we didn't eat out much, and my parents continued to feed us very healthy foods and live a pretty minimalist life once we returned to north america.

we were all born in the hospital except for one of us, and they were all unmedicated and she breastfed us all. i thought that meant she was crunchy, but after more indepth conversations about it, the one homebirth wasn't really enjoyed by her but done because we lived somewhere without very good hospital services, and she felt safer at home with her friend who was a british doctor. cloth diapering and breastfeeding were just more common in canada when i was born, and she continued them when we lived overseas because where was she going to buy formula or disposables? she weaned me at 8 months and the rest of us at a year or so, because she thought bfing past a year was weird.

we were all spanked and raised with a pretty authoritarian discipline style. i think that really shifts us off the "crunchy" spectrum, because that was a very deliberate choice for them. same with things like cosleeping.

anyway, i consider them to be pretty mainstream now that they've been back in canada for a while. they have certainly raised eyebrows over some of the choices i've made, even though i don't think of myself as completely crunchy either.


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## ~Boudicca~ (Sep 7, 2005)

No. Way. In fact, my dad used to put beer in my baby bottle


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## Arduinna (May 30, 2002)

I voted more mainstream that not. My mom did CD all us kids, even the youngest ones born in the 70's. I think that influenced me to CD my kid more than anything since I changed my siblings diapers so I was familiar with it. Same thing with BFing. I didn't get the smallpox vax like everyone else my age, but that was more due to the Dr than my moms decision. She is very Dr knows best. My mom was not ever a hippie though, even though she is a baby boomer.


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## busymama77 (Jun 16, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SubliminalDarkness* 
Not at all. Formula. Disposable diapers. Crib. Early "solids." Cry it out. Time out. Traditional public schooling. Very negative discipline. Spanking. Etc. etc.

Yep, same here minus the negative discipline. I felt very loved regardless of what was put on my bottom, in to my body and where I went to school!


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## DisplacedYooper (Aug 10, 2007)

My mom had me in the hospital, but it was an unmedicated birth. I was breastfed for right around a year. Cloth diapers with some "intuitive" EC. Although we didn't officially co-sleep, I was often in bed with my mom and dad, or just mom after they were divorced when I was 2, and I continued to crawl into bed with her occasionally up to my teen years. With the birth my DS, I learned that both my parents think cutting bits off babies is totally unneeded.

We ate a mix of whole and processed foods, mostly due to my mom working full time with no outside family support. She always did her best to have what she thought were healthful foods in the house, but sometimes that meant diet pop instead of regular...







:

From reading this thread, I'm learning that many folks here don't consider gentle discipline to be a crunchy issue, but this is where I feel my childhood was the crunchiest. My mom is firmly opposed to hitting kids (although this is one of my ongoing parenting debates with my dad...) and looking back, I feel that her policies were strongly leaning toward consensual living, although it was certainly not completely consensual! I think this one of the reasons that my mom is today one of my best friends and that we have a very respectful adult relationship, whereas my DH's relationship with his parents is more strained (My MIL recently was heard to say "Sometimes kids just need to hear "Because I'm the parent, that's why!"...







) even though he had probably a more objectively crunchy childhood, where his parents built their own house, burned wood, ate whole food, etc.


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## nextcommercial (Nov 8, 2005)

LOL... I was raised by a mom who was barely winging it. It's a wonder my brother and I are alive today. We accuse her of killing off or losing siblings that we didn't know we had.

We ate junk, drank junk (if we had it) and my mother loved 409 and windex. She used bug bombs while we were in the house, and my dad brought home jars full of mercury for us to play with.


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## reezley (May 27, 2006)

Probably pretty mainstream with definite crunchy leanings.
I'm the youngest of three girls, and it seems the times changed from their first in the mid-60's, to me in early 70's. Epidurals were just the way it was done, and my dad wasn't in the room for my sisters' births, but I think I've been told he was there for mine. I think my mom breastfed me longer than my sisters, but still not much past 6mos?

Very gentle discipline, I felt so loved and trusted throughout my childhood. We had the weekly "treat" of McDonalds, but also shopped at the natural store, the whole grain bread, the grind-your-own peanut butter, the tofu. I climbed in bed with my mom during the night until I was 8 or something. We watched too much tv after getting home from school. But we played a million creative games inside and outside too. Everything else was pretty mainstream I guess.


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## GardenStream (Aug 21, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nextcommercial* 
LOL... I was raised by a mom who was barely winging it. It's a wonder my brother and I are alive today. We accuse her of killing off or losing siblings that we didn't know we had.

We ate junk, drank junk (if we had it) and my mother loved 409 and windex. She used bug bombs while we were in the house, and my dad brought home jars full of mercury for us to play with.

I think I might be one of those lost siblings.

We were told to stay out of the room while the bug bombs were going off and I definitely remember playing with mercury. I thought rolling the little balls around in my palm was awesome as a kid.


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## lynsage (Jul 13, 2004)

I was not allowed to have candy or sweets. My parents kept a bowl of cut-up carrots in the fridge and called it "carrot candy"









Other than that, though, I was raised mainstream all the way- hospital birth, disposable diapers, formula fed (although my mom did try to BF and reports that was so stressed out by other circumstances in her life that her milk dried up by 6 weeks) spanked, fully vaxed, tons of TV, latchkey after school, cleaned the house with harsh chemicals, the whole nine.

The really funny part is, my mom is becoming more of a radical proponent of home birth, anti-vax, natural foods, natural cleaning products, EBF, etc. every year as my daughter gets older! She even got annoyed the last time she went shopping with me because my local grocery store only carries one natural all-purpose cleaner and it's not the kind she likes









The only thing I can't seem to get her on board with is cloth diapering, though she does think the AIOs I buy are cuter than disposables.


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## kayleesmom (Dec 16, 2004)

no far from it


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## KristyDi (Jun 5, 2007)

We were breastfed and cloth diapered and a lot of the principals of AP are natural to me because of how my parents raised us. Especially things like respecting children as people and creating strong bonds. Junk food was kept to a reasonable minimum and soda was for special occasions only. My mom was a SAHM until I was in the 8th grade, when my youngest brother entered the 1st grade and she got a job teaching at our school.

TV/movies was pretty limited too. I haven't seen a lot of the "classic" stuff from my childhood because of that. We didn't have cable or video games at home.

We has a lot of 2nd hand clothes, especially my sister and I, because our rich cousins passed them down to us. Every year after Thanksgiving when we saw them I remember going through huge trash bags of really nice clothes they brought us. But that was more because of budget than anything else.

A lot of the crunchy things I do, especially the self-sufficient stuff like gardening, home preserving, sewing etc, my mom has no interest in, but her mom did.

My dad is a Vietnam Vet so the label "hippy" has a lot of negative connotations for him. He was treated pretty badly, spat on etc., by anti-war activists so he's very uncomfortable with that label. But he does have some crunchy leanings. My favorite is that he's all for the legalization of pot, even though he'd never tough it himself.


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## MJB (Nov 28, 2009)

I was breastfed for a year and cloth diapered (with a bleach happy diaper service). Other than that my mom was pretty mainstream. We ate McDonalds, got the occasional spanking, watched TV, etc.

Actually, that's close to my level of "crunch" too. We're more eco-conscious but I think that's just a sign of the times.


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## Cascadian (Jan 28, 2009)

*


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## BabyMae09 (Sep 19, 2008)

I marked 'mostly mainstream.' My parents were anti-TV and limited sugar/snacks/soda, but that was about the extent of it. Mostly, they were frugal.


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## emaye_to_2 (Jan 16, 2008)

I voted 'Not at all'. Minus the pepsi in the baby bottle tho!


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## oiseau (Mar 30, 2008)

I voted for the last choice, minus the Pepsi. I was the only one of my sibling to have been breastfed, but only til I was 3mo old and only because my dad used to be really nasty to my mom about her weight (when she weighed like 98lbs) and she read that breastfeeding would make her lose the baby weight faster. I'm pretty sure that's the only reason she even attempted to breastfeed me. Disposable diapers. Early solids. All 3 of my mom's births were unmedicated though. I remember climbing in bed with my mom as a grade schooler after my parents got divorced, but I don't think we coslept when I was a baby. Not sure about baby-carriers...they may have had one of those giant metal framed baby backpacks. Public school all the way. We were spanked on a few occasions, but for the most part, my mom was pretty mellow with discipline. She was always very kid-friendly/positive and did a lot of things I recognize and GD type parenting though. We did a mix of whole foods and processed foods, but mostly ate home cooked food until we hit a patch of family drama in my late teen years.
Despite all that, I was a pretty happy, healthy kid and I always felt loved and supported by my parents (still do!!). I plan to have my babies at home, breastfeed them, cloth diaper/EC them, maybe homeschool, but in terms of just generally interacting with my kids and parenting them, I've learned a lot of awesome skills from my mom and she thinks some of my ideas are pretty cool. I think a lot of crunchy stuff just wasn't on her radar.


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## One_Girl (Feb 8, 2008)

I picked the last one, though I really think there should have been another option because not crunchy doesn't automatically mean soda in a bottle or unhealthy eating, and I think it is a little offensive to take that kind of high and mighty attitude when it comes to parenting. . I don't think crunchy people of the sort you find on this board are the only ones who feed healthy food. I know almost no families who don't feed healthy food even now and they are not families I would describe as crunchy, especially the ones I know very well.

I sort of fell into a different way of parenting and went with it because it felt right, but the way I was raised does affect how I react. I have had to work to cut out some of my reactions while embracing other parts of how I was raised because they really do fit in with a gentle, non-mainstream way of raising children.


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## CatsCradle (May 7, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *One_Girl* 
I picked the last one, though I really think there should have been another option because not crunchy doesn't automatically mean soda in a bottle or unhealthy eating, *and I think it is a little offensive to take that kind of high and mighty attitude when it comes to parenting. . I don't think crunchy people of the sort you find on this board are the only ones who feed healthy food. I know almost no families who don't feed healthy food even now and they are not families I would describe as crunchy, especially the ones I know very well.*

I sort of fell into a different way of parenting and went with it because it felt right, but the way I was raised does affect how I react. I have had to work to cut out some of my reactions while embracing other parts of how I was raised because they really do fit in with a gentle, non-mainstream way of raising children.

I agree with the bolded part. I'm constantly amused that there is such a perception that there is a stark line between "mainstream" and "crunchy" practices. I grew up in an era where there were plenty of unhealthy options out there, but I also was surrounded by people who would be termed "mainstream" here that took a lot of stock in being healthy and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Also, this notion that self-described crunchy people hold the flag on doing what is best is a stretch. There are plenty of people who live frugally, responsibly and healthfully without falling within the crunch demographic. Frankly, I think the term "crunchy" has become branded. It just rubs me the wrong way that it is defined so much by checklists, as opposed to philosophical positions. Every time there is a "crunchy" thread on here, there are checklists.

I'm not trying to dis crunchy, but every time this subject comes up, it becomes lists of positives and negatives as opposed to whole life practices. It just seems counterproductive to me.


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## eepster (Sep 20, 2006)

I went with the second one, but none of them quite fit my family.

My parents were definitely hippies, they really did meet on a picket line (and that was in the early '60s before it was fashionable.) That doesn't translate to 100% AP/NFL type parenting though.

OTOH, mom went to Canada to get us nightgowns without flame retardant b/c she believe it caused cancer and such; OTOH she smoked like a chimney around us, even in cars and wouldn't let us roll down the windows. My parents went to a lot of trouble to make sure we wouldn't be circ'd if we were boys (this was in the days before they required a consent form, so they would just do it if you hadn't prearrange for them not to) though we all turned out girls; mom only breastfed us each for a few weeks, b/c she didn't think she was making enough milk (actually come to think of it, that might have been true since she had a thyroid condition.) My dad occasionally baby wore us, but we were also spanked.

I could go on and on listing a hippy thing then contrasting it with a mainstream thing. It just isn't always that cut and dry, especially when you consider that my parents first became parents in 1966 before most of this stuff was even beginning to be any kind of movement. In those days, Dr Spock was considered pretty radical.

This does make me think of a story though. DH and a close friend (A) of ours were both raised by conservative parents, this other friend (B) and I had the hippy parents. B and I are discussing a work thing one day while all 4 of us are out together. At some point during the conversation we mention a client's name, which was "Sky." B and I had never thought twice about the idea that a person might be named "Sky." Actually, compared to the names of some other kids of hippies I've known "Sky" seemed pretty normal. DH and A, however thought we had made it up or something. They gave us odd looks and questioned us on and on about whether it was a _real_ name.


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## CherryBombMama (Jan 25, 2010)

the only crunchy thing about my mom was that she had me in cloth diapers (late 80's) but it was for money reasons.

now that i cosleep with two kids and my dh, BF, wear my ds2, she says she wishes she could have done that, but that she never knew it was possible! no one told her!


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## Drummer's Wife (Jun 5, 2005)

yes, my mom was pretty crunchy IMO. She nursed us into the preschool years (including tandem nursing), cloth diapered, fed us real, whole foods - made our baby food from scratch... She had old baby carriers (like the corduroy snuggly one someone mentioned), we co-slept, and she was interested in natural things and wooden toys and such. My brother is intact, and I remember no-circ articles lying around. She is still passionate about natural childbirth and breastfeeding - and works as a midwife to this day. She was an AP mom, IMO.

We were definitely not like other kids we knew born in the '80's who drank kool-aid and ate TV dinners... so, I'd say my mom was pretty crunchy.


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## rhianna813 (Apr 3, 2009)

I voted I Guess Kinda.

I live in a very crunchy west coast college town that has had a large liberal and hippy population since the 60's. I am 42 and my parents were not hippies, they were more 1950's traditional, although my mom worked full time and was involved with labour unions.

I was bottle fed, spanked sometimes and fed a standard american diet. They used cloth diapers because disposables gave me a rash. We lived in front of the TV and had a microwave.

But from an early age I was aware of vegetarians, political protests, feminists, astrology, birkenstocks and smoking pot. And by the time I was in high school I was a no bra wearing, new ager who protested the military. In my 20's I went vegetarian and discovered Paganism.









I think even the most mainstream folks in my area are probably not as mainstream as other parts of the country LOL

Rhianna


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## EdnaMarie (Sep 9, 2006)

My name was almost something like Starchild Elktree. Literally, it had to do with the heavens and the earth. She decided to name me after someone else because of a mystical event. LOL!

Crunchy like me I guess--v. limited TV, cloth diapered, lots of naked time, researched vaccinations but decided to go for it (funnily enough like me), smoked pot, only real food, and when she couldn't bf me fed me raw goat's milk with raw honey. We never had sugary cereals, just plain oatmeal or mueslix. No co-sleeping but for the same reasons I don't... she couldn't sleep with us in the bed.

I think she did CIO at first because she was told to but still feels guilty!

We didn't have a yurt but we had a cabin, garden and an outhouse for our early lives. Later she had to get a job but... I did have friends who lived in yurts. Definitely no spanking, though she admitted to losing it once or twice when we were older. I completely understand how she felt now.

It is a miracle I survived all that crunch, LOL!


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## minkajane (Jun 5, 2005)

Absolutely not. My mom breastfed us and that's about the crunchiest it was. I was BF the longest because I was a preemie, about 15 months, but we all had formula supplements regularly. I wouldn't be shocked at all if I got Kool-Aid in a bottle. We grew up calling it "juice" and I didn't know what actual juice was until middle school. We were fed total junk food - Hamburger Helper, margarine (I think I had butter for the first time in my life in 10th grade), baloney, white bread, hot dogs, etc. To this day, my mom's idea of a salad is some iceburg lettuce, a mushy tomato, and a ton of Thousand Island Dressing.

My mom was pretty much in charge of our medical care and in her mind the more medicine the better. You can never take too much medicine, it will just make you healthier. She was the type to save old antibiotics and try to get you to take them if you got a cold. We got every vax she could convince the doctors to give us.

Discipline was beatings. Hands, wooden paddles, plastic coathangers, leather belts, etc. There was a lot of demeaning, bullying, verbal and emotional abuse, etc.

As far as safety was concerned, it wasn't really considered. No bike helmets, I don't know if I had a carseat as a baby, but if I did it wasn't hooked in well if at all, it was just somewhere to put me. Most of my childhood, we were in my dad's 1968 Plymouth Valiant, so no shoulder belts, just lap belts. No boosters or anything like that.

So yeah, pretty much as far from crunchy as you can get.


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## nicky85 (Jul 10, 2010)

I guess maybe should have put "I guess kinda". I just remembered I was cloth diapered as a baby. My parents didn't have money for disposables. And my mom partially breastfed my brother and sister and even me for a little while. My parents did have a baby carrier too. I think what got me here was having a neighbor who was on the crazy side who was into herbs. That, and I was raised with an attitude of "do your own thing" and healthy dose of skepticism that led me to question everything.


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## NellieKatz (Jun 19, 2009)

My mother drank and smoked while pregnant with me. She called my father, who was a member of the John Birch Society, the "Lord and Master" of the house, so we had to obey him (or we'd get spanked).

So I guess the answer the poll question is No. 

How'd all that strict authoritarian upbringing work out, you might ask? Hmm. I'm an extended BF-ing, Unitarian Universalist, mostly vegan unschooling liberal mom of a little boy whom I'm raising to think for himself. tee hee. They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but with me, it's like the tree took the apple and threw it. But here's the thing....all this big change didn't happen for me til after age 40. It's been an interesting journey to say the least.


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## Super Pickle (Apr 29, 2002)

Kinda. Mom had natural childbirth, breastfed, cloth diapered, made our baby food, and let us sleep with her and Dad. Dad tried to keep commercialism at bay and did a lot of outdoorsy things with me.

We lived in a small conservative town so the breastfeeding and co-sleeping were definitely different from most of my parents' friends and neighbors. However, my mom and dad were totally caught off guard and weren't sure what to do when their dear friends showed them their birth videos and breastfed us right along with their own babies! They still laugh about those things today.


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## waiting2bemommy (Dec 2, 2007)

not really but kind of.

My mom had a hospital brth laying on her back through tons of back labor and a very cruel doctor who refused to give her any meds but made her stay in the bed, finally she had an epidural and they suctioned me out. I was fully vaxed.
She breastfed me for about a year and then actively weaned me.
she had a sling bu she stopped using it afterthe first couple months
I do remember getting in bed with her on occasion as a kid, but we didn't really cosleep. **** if I was sick or scared or somethng she was pretty welcoming up until I was maybe 10 or so.
She wanted to do CIO but my dad wouldn't let her.
I was homeschooled but I didn't want to be and I was forcibly isolated, so under the circumstances I wouldn't consider that AP/crunchy at all.
We had no TV until I was about 12.
Spankings/ beatdowns with the belt or other instrument of choice were quite common right up until I was almost 19 years old.
My mom did try to eat healthy and she exposed me to a huge criety of foods from other cultures. We ate from scratch or at least at home since we were relatively poor.
My mom was a SAHM (she cleaned houses and took me with her)

My dad....eh, he worked and paid the bills. I don't remember him saying much about how i was raised other than wanting my mom to homeschool me, which she did.

I guess I just view "crunchy" as a peaceful, happy, freer way of living. And my lifestyl growing up was anything but, so even though some of the halmarks were tere, like breastfeeding, it didn't feel very "crunchy" to me.


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## aquarius aspiring (Dec 17, 2008)

I answered "Not at all".


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## thatgirliknew (Dec 1, 2009)

I was raised by 5 different family members (I literally went from house to house for about 15 years). NONE of them were the least bit crunchy. lol

My mom and dad raised me together until my mom died at age 3. Mom was very mainstream; formula, disposable diapers, vax, playpens, etc.

When my mom died, 5 people started caring for me: my dad, my sister, my aunt, and both of my grandmas.

All of them were very mainstream. My aunt and dad are very materialistic ("Why aren't you happy, I bought you ____?" = Money buys happiness)

But when I was at my aunt's or paternal grandma's house, it was very free-range. I was allowed to come and go as I pleased, bike ride around the neighborhood, climb trees, visit neighbors, come home when the street lights come on kinda thing.


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