Lately I’ve been thinking about you. Yes, that’s right. YOU. All of you cloth-diapering moms who who have “liked” Thirsties on Facebook and have often commented on my blogs. Ok, ok, I know I am not being PC and I really should be asking “Are you are crunchy cloth-diapering parent?”  I don’t want to leave dads out, but since I am pretty sure most of you are indeed moms, I’ll take the risk.

Now, when I ask if you are a crunchy mom, I don’t mean “Do you wear long skirts, layered-tanks tops, have unshaven legs and wear Birkenstocks?” (But if you do, that’s cool!) What I am really wondering is this: Are cloth-diapering families more likely to recycle, to garden, to eat organic and local, to walk or ride bikes instead of driving? Are they more likely to compost and garden, to make home-made baby food, to co-sleep, to breastfeed, to wear their babies? Or are cloth-diapering moms just as diverse as disposable-diapering families?

So what I’d like is this–I’d love to hear how you compare to the stereo-typical Crunchy Cloth-Diapering Mom and if you are the polar opposite, I want to hear that too! There is no judgement here–we all have parent and diapering in common–but it’s fun to hear our differences once in a while too.

I’ll go first.

  • Well, first of all, I do shave my legs–though many a time, I’ve gotten out of the shower and discovered that I shaved the same leg twice because I was interrupted by a child. No one ever interrupts my husband while he is shaving. Hmmmmm…..strange.
  • I don’t own Birkenstocks but I used to in college…now I wear flip flops all summer and my Dansko clogs all winter (I think those are kind of crunchy).
  • I rarely wear make-up because I never go anywhere very exciting and I certainly don’t have an extra five minutes in the morning to put any on–but honestly, I probably should. These days I am lucky if I leave the house with a bra on.
  • I am an avid recycler. I cringe when I see plastic or glass in the trash. It weighs too heavily on my conscience. In fact, we were recently out of state and  went to a game a huge sports arena. I was horrified by the fact that every single bottle, can and cup was thrown in the trash. Boulder is big on recycling and it’s become a bit of an obsession with me.
  • We do have a small garden, we do NOT compost (I am not crunchy enough to tolerate the sugar ants it attracted even though I had in a sealed container!).
  • I have co-slept with all three of my children for varying amounts of time. Cooper is finally in his own room which is wonderful because I couldn’t stand the crooked neck from nursing all night any longer!
  • My husband does ride his bike to work when he can, but I have to admit, I am all about the car these days. I just can’t get anywhere with all three any other way.
  • I do NOT make my own baby food. Again, it’s the time thing–or at least that’s my excuse–but I have nursed all three for a minimum of 16 months.
  • We eat organic and local when we can–but it is pricey and I have to take that into account.

All in all, I think maybe I am about Half-Crunchy.  What about you? Remember, no judgements here. Our differences can unite us if we are tolerant of others!