Comments on: What’s FamilyNatural All About, Anyway?

By: DrKim

DrKim — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 20:24:30 +0000

In reply to Cara @ Health Home and Happiness. I've enjoyed yours too. Nice to find like-minded people!

By: Cara @ Health Home and Happiness

Cara @ Health Home and Happiness — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:51:11 +0000

I love it! We do a lot of these things too 🙂 So glad you ‘tweeted’ at me, I’m going to go enjoy reading your blog.

By: Dr.Kim

Dr.Kim — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:14:58 +0000

Karen-Thanks so much for your comment.

It's definitely a continuum. After reading the list I'd written, I can say I'm proud of the changes we've made. I really didn't realize there were so many. But, like you, I'm constantly balancing my "ideal" with my reality.

Just so you know, I also drive a minivan, we also eat ice cream when the mood strikes (we just don't allow it to strike more than weekly LOL) and we eat tons of carbs- we just try to stick to the whole grain variety. And I have not made it past 11 or 12 months breastfeeding any of my babies; I just didn't have it in me.

I definitely don't think homeschooling is for everyone. I'm just getting into it myself; next year will be the "real" trial year with 2 full time.

I love that we can encourage each other.

By: Karen Cohen

Karen Cohen — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:37:36 +0000

I would say that on the spectrum of crunchy vs. "soggy" (not quite a good word to describe those who choose to live that way, but what came to mind as the opposite of crunchy), you are more than "sorta" but not totally "off the deep end". Perhaps it would be "mostly" crunchy. I say that because with "sorta" crunchy you do things that are still more mainstream, however your list of natural things that you do falls mostly out of the mainstream of society (and that isn't a judgement in any way). I look at your natural list and see many of the things you do as "ideals" that I might like to achieve, but am challenged to fit them into my life for a variety of reasons (some of which being desire others a sense of resources or practicality with our reality). My list of natural things, which makes me "sorta crunchy" is that I deliver drug free (but in a hospital), I breastfeed my children until they are toddlers and self wean, I cloth diapered, I buy whole grain bread and pasta most of the time, I use a chiropractor and take my children periodically, my children have "sweet" deserts 3 times a week (fruit on the other nights), we eat a mostly pescatarian diet. But, the reality is that my kids to watch tv, I have no patience to homeschool, we use meds (both otc and prescription), I drive around big minivan, our diet has a lot of carbs and dairy in it, and during the summer we will go out for ice cream when the mood strikes. It is definitely a continuum. I enjoy reading your blog to give me a sense of ideals, but I do temper them with my reality.