I don’t know about you, but I’m raising my kids quite a bit differently than I was raised.
I mean, I had a pretty mainstream childhood, filled with Kool-aid, Little Debbie snack cakes, public school, and so on. “The usual.” And yet, my kids don’t do any of those things.
It works for us — being alternative. You know, all that breastfeeding, herbal remedies, real food, unschooling… We love it.
While I completely believe “to each his own” and I would never tell someone they’re wrong for making a particular choice, I am pretty proud of the choices I’m making for my family. (Or I wouldn’t be making them, right?) This is a fun little list of things my kids, or alternative kids I know, have actually done or said. It’s not to say all families, even alternative families, are exactly like this, but. Yeah.
How many can you relate to?
10 Signs You’re Raising an Alternative Child
1. When your kid sees an iconic product on display at the grocery store — like Kool-aid — and asks you what it is because they’ve never had it before.
2. When someone offers your kid a treat, and they ask, “Is there soy or artificial colors in it?” before accepting it.
3. When your kid doesn’t feel well, and asks for a specific herbal remedy to help. “I have a cold! Make some mullein tea!”
4. Your kid knows all about probiotics — what they are, what they do for her, what they look like, what foods they’re found in — but has no idea what antibiotics are. (My kids really like these probiotics.)
5. When your kid’s friend bumps his elbow at your house and your kid says “I’ll go get the arnica!” or after a bee sting, “Let’s put some clay on that!” (We always keep this kind of clay on hand.)
6. When strangers laugh because they’ve overheard your kids begging for seaweed at Costco.
7. When you drive by fast food restaurants and ask your kids if they know what they are…and they don’t.
8. When your kid can’t sleep, so he asks you to put some magnesium lotion on his legs. (My kids love our Good Night Lotion!)
9. When you describe how kids in public schools have to sit at desks all day and do homework at night and your kids just can’t believe it.
10. When you tell your kids you’re going to make lemonade and they automatically grab for the fresh lemons and organic sugar (and they learn how to make lots of easy real food recipes at a young age!).
How do you know when you’re raising an alternative kid?
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When your 5 year old looks out the car window and says “Look Mummy, its a big M”. And you just smile and say “yes, yes it is” and they have no concept what the big M stands for.
My 20 month old tells me his stuffed elephant needs “mag-nee-fee-um!”
Does it get any cuter?
“Mommy, I’ve had a rough day. Can I detox in the tub with some Epsom salt?”
or….
“Mommy, let’s go ground ourselves with our bare feet in the yard!”
or….
“Mommy, I have a headache. Can we go sit under the trees?”