Granola Moms scare me !?

I am sick/scared of these granola tree hugging mommies who co-sleep , and instinctively parent while feeding their ( always dirty and unkempt) children unpasturized organic food products and refuse vaccinations so the rest of us can start worrying about Polio and Small Pox outbreaks again ! I think these people should all be investigated by CPS and forced to shave their arm pits and legs , and cover their gnarly toenails in closed toe shoes ....eeeww !





But , What do YOU think ?

Granola Moms scare me !?
I'm scared of close minded mothers! I cosleep, attachment parent, babywear, use herbs and homeopathy, cloth diaper, don't vaccinate, my family eat healthy and if you called CPS on me they'd laugh at you! First you should research and realize that you probably weren't vaccinated for small pox! Also, by looking at me you wouldn't know that's how I parent. My family is clean and we keep our nails trim.


I agree with another person, if you think those vaccinations work, you should have no problem with my son and I not being vaccinated!


I would type more but you're not worth it.
Reply:Hmm apart from the unkempt children, nasty toes and unshaved body hair..I guess I am a granola mom. Never thought of it as a bad thing that I feed my child healthy selections and teach him young how to eat for life.





Some vaccines aren't necessary, children NEED to get sick sometimes, if you keep popping every vaccine into them known to man then they will end of dyeing of a common cold!!





It sounds more like you have an issue with a particular woman, or group of women and are making a bad generalization of a whole.
Reply:Wow. Generalize much?





We co-sleep and we believe in eating a mostly natural/organic diet. We do our best because, lets face it, organic food is expensive. But we do avoid anything with trans fat. I do it because I have studied nutrition and most prepackaged foods are cancer causing. If you want to turn a blind eye to that fact that is your perogative.





I DO believe in vaccinations. I do shave and I keep my toenails trimmed. :) I also always wear closed toe shoes because my absolute favorite shoe is Converse.





Anyway, my point is that just because someone co-sleeps and believes in healthy eating doesn't make them some tree hugging granola mom.





I don't believe you can classify people in that way. That would be like me assuming that every home school family is conservative Christian. Or that because someone has purple hair and multiple piercings she can't possibly be a cheerleading coach.
Reply:You need a license to drive a car, own a business, buy guns... and yet anyone can have children.
Reply:EWWWW!!! I know! I mean if ur gunna have a child, AT LEAST keep them (AND URSELF) clean, for heaven sakes!
Reply:HERE HERE i with you on everthying except the co-sleep thing. I don't co-sleep but that is my choice
Reply:I think you are very opinionated person who needs to get some tolerance. The world is made up of different people. If they don't bother you trying to make you change then what gives you the right to make them change
Reply:I'm so with you!! They always think they're so much smarter than the rest of us too!!


For me, i'm a Kool-Aid and popcyle mom!!


I just love the granola thing!!! I'm laughing so hard!!!


Those freaky women are so quick to give unwanted advise too.


Geeeze!!
Reply:I like granola cereal, and I'm a mom, does that count?
Reply:I have been thinking a lot lately about this whole mothering thing. This somehow sacred ideal that there is a perfect way to mother, and that women who deviate from this method are somehow inferior.





No matter what your taste, you can read a study or a book by a self-proclaimed expert who will back you up. Want to Attachment Parent? Read this book! Want to Cry it Out? Read this book! Want to use cloth diapers? Read this study! Want to use a bottle? Here's what this doctor says! Circumcision? Well the latest statistic says . . .








The Latest Studies show. Talk about a phrase that should be removed from all languages. 30 years ago The Latest Studies showed that bottle-feeding and starting solids at 3 weeks and using disposable diapers was the best way to raise your child. Today, The Latest Studies show that breastfeeding and starting solids after 9 months and using cloth diapers are the best way to raise your child. The Latest Studies don't ever agree with each other, because if they did, there would be no more money given out to actually do studies, and there would be no money made in writing books.





Most of us survive childhood intact. Sure, we *****. Sure we trot out our parents' mistakes and brandish them with a vengeance as proof of our suffering. Sure we rant and rave, promising ourselves and anyone else that listens that we will be different, that we will never be the same kind of mother as our own second-rate one.





And yes, there is such a thing as bad mothering.





But.





Bad mothering is not using disposable diapers. Bad mothering is not using bottles and formula. Bad mothering is not putting a baby into a crib and letting the baby cry until she learns to sleep on her own. Bad mothering is not giving the baby a cookie to just shut up her whining, already.





Nor is bad mothering using cloth diapers. Or breastfeeding until the baby is 4. Or letting the baby sleep in bed with her parents. Or feeding the baby a vegetarian diet.





There are women out there who are bad mothers. There are mothers shooting up while their children die of starvation and neglect in the next room. There are mothers out there who stuff a pillow over their heads so they don't have to listen to the whimpers from their 8 year olds while their fathers sodomize them. There are mothers out there who abandon their children on the street because they no longer wish to care for them. There are women who slowly twist their children's limbs until they snap while their children cry and beg, promising to be good.





Bad mothers.





Yes.





But most of us are not.





At some point along the line, women in the Western world stopped trusting their instincts. We began to listen to doctors. We eagerly read studies and books that would confirm to us that yes, we were good mothers!





And worse, we began to betray each other. We began to gather in camps, and we set up rules for what constituted good mothering. And any mother who strayed outside those rules was a bad mother. We'd sit together over tea and discuss in outraged tones the ignorant woman down the street who bottle-fed her child from birth, smugly asserting our superiority in breastfeeding our own children for months and years. We'd converse over a power lunch about the poor deluded woman who quit her high-profile job so she could stay home and finger-paint, rolling our eyes and congratulating ourselves on our excellent luck in nannies. We'd snipe over email and on message boards, on blogs and over the phone.





Look at me! I am a better mother! And I can prove it to you by surrounding myself with other mothers who think just like me! I can prove it by shoving these books in your face! I can prove it by demeaning other mothers who have made different choices than mine!





Why are we doing this????????????????????





Why can't we feel confident in our own mothering choices? Why do we feel such a need to prove ourselves through book after book and scorn directed towards other mothers?





Ask yourself, and be honest. When was the last time you criticized another mother in your mind? Was it today? Was it yesterday?





The next time you hear yourself making a nasty comment about another mother…stop. Just stop. And ask yourself – is she really a bad mother? Does she abuse her child? Does she neglect her child? Co-sleeping is not abuse. Bottle-feeding is not neglect. Think about what is coming out of your mouths and what your typing over message boards.





Do not diminish the pain of a child who sleeps chained in a closet, ribs cracked from her latest beating by equating her to a child who has learned to sleep by crying it out for a few nights in her crib. Do not diminish the pain of a child who has been sexually abused by equating her to a child that sleeps peacefully between her loving parents or still breastfeeds at 2 and 3 years old. Do not diminish the pain of a child who has not eaten for days by equating her to a child who is not fed meat or who drinks formula.





None of us perfect. None of us are. And we will all make mistakes. We will learn, we will revise our thinking; we will throw up our hands and let go of a long cherished ideal because we have just got to do it or collapse.





So how about instead of attacking other mothers, we start feeling confident about ourselves? How about we look to our own children instead of spending time self-righteously judging everyone else's? Throw away your parenting books. Think about what your doctor tells you and evaluate what it means. When other mothers criticize you, shake it off and ignore the temptation to turn around and attack back.





Let's try supporting each other for a change. I think it would make all of us better mothers to do so.
Reply:Lol, I find this hilarious.


I consider myself to be a "granola" mummy, as you call them.


I co-sleep and parent using my knowledge and instincts. However, my child, who is 7 months old, is a VERY healthy, EXTREMELY clean, well taken care of baby. We take baths every night before bedtime, and she has never had so much as a red spot on her bum.


Furthermore, I have done many hours of research on vaccinations, as well as discussed them with my doctor and midwife, and made an INFORMED decision to not vaccinate my child with the recommended shots. And, I find it silly of you to worry about catching these diseases that I'm not vaccinating my child for, since you have SO much faith in the vaccinations you give to your children.


Why do we scare you? Is it becaused your way of doing things has been threatened by a much better, time-tested, more sensical way? Is forcing your baby to sleep in another room, alone, after being inside and close to you for 10 months, normal?? I think not. In fact, I think it's cruel. Is it normal or healthy for an infant to cry until they decide that no one cares and give up? Or worse yet, cry themselves into exhaustion? Human beings as a species would not have survived if we just left our infants to cry. Or for that matter, didn't breastfeed them. So many things have been forced onto our children that are NOT RIGHT.. NOT NORMAL... NOT EVEN HUMANE. Everyone knows that a puppy needs its mother's milk for at least 6-8 weeks. If something happens where a puppy may need to be fed from a bottle, its chances of survival drop. Still, we give our own children this deficient form of nutrition and expect them to be healthy, happy babies.


So yes, now that my ranting is over. I think it's silly for you to be sick/scared of us. I think it's more like THREATENED.
Reply:I think you are missing the point--Those parents care for thier children and want the best for them--Hmmm..maybe you weren't raised that way--that's why you are so angry about other moms wanting the best for their kids--giving them the best attention-nursing them when they need it--comforting them when they need comforting...reading about the different medical options, etc these parents are informed and base what they do on research and common sense....they don't just follow the mainstream ideas like robots--they place their children above conformity--their kids are really lucky...
Reply:If your kid is vaccinated, how are they in danger from another child being unvaccinated? I'm so confused by your logic. Sounds like you've labeled an entire population on an extreme example. I know plenty of people who drink unpasteurized milk (you don't pasteurize veggies or fruit, so I'm not sure where you're going on that) and they dress and groom like most of society.





Anyway, I'm more moderate than your example, but I'm personally tired of people who give their daughters perms at 3 years old, and teach them that new shoes are more important than homeless people. I guess it depends on your value system.





And for the person who says they'd rather have an autistic child. OH PLEASE...you can't say that until you live day to day cleaning up after your nine year old still crapping in her pants. Or picking the skin off her hands and feet until they bleed. I do have proof that vaccines caused autism in my children, in the form of MRI's that show lesions on their brains. SOME people have proof of this. Some don't. There are MANY causes for autism, up to twenty genes, some of which cause a inflated response to vaccines. My younger children have had mumps, measles, rubella, and pertussis, after I refused to vaccinate them. Each one was no worse than the common cold. Complications from those diseases were very rare, and inflated by Eli Lilly trying to sell a product.
Reply:Like: Most, in your words, 'granola moms' are such great mama bears to their kids. I've never met one who wasn't a devoted, loving parent.


Dislike: Most 'granola' parents I've met are just as closed minded as you seem to be against the more conventional 'mainstream' moms. I hate that people label so much. We're all parents, we all love our kids.


I do agree with you on the vaccination issue, however. Polio and whooping cough is coming back. I'm keeping my kid vaccinated. There's no proof that vaccines cause autism. They don't know what causes it. And, to put it rather bluntly, I'd rather have an autistic child then a dead child (from polio, smallpox, mumps, rubella, etc etc etc)
Reply:But at least us "Granola People" have some texture, some flavor, and some crunch. If you are satisifed being soft, watery, unflavored yogurt then go ahead and stay inside your four-walled cup and be bland. There's more to life than following the rules "the man" tries to force on us.
Reply:I think you're a closed-minded person making gross generalizations. At least "granola moms" are making an effort, unlike the increasing number of people who feed their children fast food and sugar, and use the television as a babysitter.





I'm appalled that you think shaved legs is one of the most important qualifications for parenting.



necklace