Crunchy or Silky??

Recently, I was checking out some posts on my mommies group website and I came across a post about being a "crunchy parent". Frankly, I had no clue what this meant. Obviously, I have been living under a rock because most everyone else did. So I had to get to Googling to find what this very strange-sounding style of parenting is. I found quite a few websites that detail not only what a "crunchy" parent is but also what being a "silky" parent means.

Basically, a crunchy parent is one that believes in all things natural and organic. Such things like cloth diapers, baby-wearing, breastfeeding, extended-breastfeeding, delayed or selective vaccinations, homemade organic baby food, natural and homemade cleaning products, co-sleeping, no circumcision, no cry-it-out, no spanking or yelling, etc. A silky parent is essentially the opposite of this. And a "scrunchy" parent is one that falls in the middle somewhere. I've decided that I am pretty much a scrunchy parent. KT and I try to do as many of the crunchy style parenting techniques that we can, but there are several things that we are much more silky on. For example, we knew we would breastfeed as long as we can (which we did for 6 months), we have and still are co-sleeping (although we are trying to get her back in her crib currently), we try to buy organic when we can, we are dabbling in making our own cleaning products (first batch of homemade laundry detergent was a success), we do not believe in cry-it-out, and we did practice baby-wearing at times. However, things like vaccinations and circumcision (if Ella had been a boy) are things we are very set on. I used to believe that I was set against cloth diapers and extended-breastfeeding, but I have become much more lax in that area lately. I would like to attempt cloth diapers for the next baby, and I believe I would be able to handle breastfeeding past one year. Although, I still do not think I would go past two years at the max. I am trying to practice the no yelling or spanking, but I do raise my voice sometimes and pop a hand. I am trying to put a lid on that though. Maybe I should add that to my list of resolutions!

I found a couple quizzes that are fun to take to see where you fall on the crunchy or silky scale.

•  How crunchy are you?
• How sillky are you?

I found out that I am "sprinkled with granola" for my crunchy level, and I am 70% silky. I think that I am slowly becoming more and more crunchy though. And I am pretty happy about that. So how crunchy, silky, or scrunchy are you? Take the quizzes and find out, and share below what your results are and what you are crunchy/silky about. By the way, please tell me I am not the only person that really didn't know what these terms meant!
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Ella can roll...and now she won't stop!! My fault???

So we hit a milestone on March 23, 2013. Ella can now roll all the way over. And I actually caught her first roll on video! She struggled for a couple of days before to get all the way over, but she kept getting so close. Finally, she actually made it all the way over. Which is great! I am such a proud mommy. BUT now she seems to think it is the coolest thing ever. I lay her on her quilt, turn away, she immediately rolls over, waits a few minutes for me to notice, cries to get rolled back on her back, and then repeats the process. Over and over and over. It was super cute the first few times, but not as much now. LOL! It takes me twice as long to get the dishes washed and laundry folded because of how many times my genius baby wants to play her game.

Which leads me to the topic of today's post. Are we being too indulgent as parents?? I personally believe Ella is too young to be spoiled and know how to "get her way", but I realize a lot of parents believe that we (young, new-generation moms) are way too indulgent with our children. Everyone that knows me knows that I like to do things by the book. Literally. I research everything and then make what I feel is the best decision. And a lot of times this decision contradicts what the moms before me did. For example, Ella went through a period where she was pretty fussy when it was time to go to bed. A lot of people told me to just let her cry. She would eventually learn to go to sleep on her own. However, I couldn't do it. I am not a fan of the cry-it-out method, especially at such a young age. KT and I had many discussions about what we should do, but I really just could not bring myself to let her cry. Therefore, I decided to stick with my method of putting her to sleep, laying her down, and picking her up if she wakes up and cries. It may have been tiring for a while but now Ella goes to sleep just fine. I no longer have to nurse her to get her to sleep. When she falls asleep, I lay her in her pack-n-play and she sleeps through the night. Rarely, does she wake up before 6-7 a.m. the next morning. And she falls asleep usually by 10 at the latest every night. And the best part is she wakes up so happy. She calls for us (not by crying, but by actually yelling for us LOL), we peek over the side of her pack-n-play, and she has the biggest smile on her face. Every morning this is our routine and I love that she has complete faith that we will be there to get her. I never worry that she is unsure of whether or not we will respond to her cries.

This is not to say that I think that parents that choose different methods from mine are wrong. Every parent knows what is best for their children. I have simply chosen to parent with a more attachment parenting style. I do not plan on going full-blown attachment parenting (nursing at 5 years old?? Not gonna happen!), but I do believe in the reasons behind attachment parenting. So I am blending some of these techniques with some of my own choices. And so far I am happy with the results.

But I have definitely noticed that some older moms think that the attachment parenting style makes your children way too dependent. I literally have had older women that I do not even know try to tell me how to take care of my daughter, which is incredibly rude. I know my child better than anyone else (besides her daddy of course), so I do not need anyone else telling me what to do! And I really disagree that Ella will become too dependent on us. At this age, I love that she has a deeper connection with KT and I than she does with anyone else. I believe that her confidence in us and our love for her will allow her to become a more secure child, teen, and adult.

But what do you guys think? What is your parenting style? Do you believe that new-generation moms are too easy on their kids? Are we making them too dependent? I would love to hear your opinion (even if it disagrees with mine)!!