The toxicity of crunchy culture

Hello friends! I hope the month of April has left you refreshed and happy. 

April has brought me my 32 birthday, new friendships and very happy memories!

My newest series this month is called “Crunchy and Realistic”, a topic I felt needed to be talked about. I’m diving into different ways that one can live out a natural lifestyle while also saving their sanity, and making it actually doable. 

I’ve been a “crunchy” mom for almost 6 years now and one of the most infuriating things about the natural community is the impracticalness of the suggestions and expectations. 

Not only are many of the practices ridiculously hard, but they are often expensive, uncomfortable or plain not a good fit. 

And crunchy moms are infamous for shaming people not like them. 

Don’t you dare mention that your kids eat goldfish for a snack- you might get a 10 minute lecture on the dangers of the chemicals they’re being exposed to, or those not-so-nice offers for a walk through on how they prioritize organic snack foods for their kids.

Listen, I have nothing against your organic date bars- I’m sure they’re delish and full of nutritious ingredients. But in my season of life, there’s only so much I can do before I drive myself mad.

I would love to buy ethically sourced, all linen clothing for me and my kids- but it’s not in our budget. I would love to bike everywhere to reduce our carbon footprint, but it’s just not a possibility with kids or by lifestyle. I’d love to only use only essential oils for everything, but sometimes I need bleach to clean something. 

I love all things crunchy- but I’m sick and tired of seeing the shaming, the finger wagging, the judgment towards moms who are already doing their best and can’t take on anymore stress. 

I can recognize the dangers of chemicals and the detriment of certain lifestyle practices while also seeing that the mental, emotional and stress level benefits of those things can outweigh the cons, depending on your priorities and needs in that season of your life. 

Some days, it’s all I can do to serve hot dogs to my kids for dinner. If I’m doing really well, I’ll try to throw grapes and celery into the plate as a side. And you know what? A mentally whole mom who serves hot dogs is far better than a strung out, angry, stressed mom who serves an organic, farm to table dinner who can’t be emotionally available to her kids. 

If you’re one of the people who has experienced shaming from a crunchy mom for your life choices, I’m sorry. It sucks. I see you- and you’re doing great. 

Come take a deeper dive into this topic and more in my Facebook group, linked here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thesemcrunchydoulafree/?ref=share

To read more about my work as a birth and postpartum doula, visit my website here: 

https://www.joyfulparenthooddoulaservices.com/

Come back next month on May 13 for next week’s blog post!

The most recent picture of myself, so you can see what 32 looks like on me!