Going Offline, Cloth Tissues, and Simplicity

Welcome to the January Carnival of Natural Parenting: Experiments in Natural Family Living
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have reported on weeklong trials to make their lives a little greener. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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The Carnival of Natural Parenting issued a challenge for all participants in January. We were to commit to one week of more “natural living,” experimenting with something we typically do not do. I had committed myself to simplifying our lives through an experiment in minimalism and purging “stuff” from our life. However, halfway through this experiment, I decided to tackle a second experiment. I really would like to share the results of our household purge and will do so in a second post tomorrow. Today, I will focus on going offline.

Before Christmas I posed a question to my Natural Parents Network mama friends. I was curious to find out if they felt their mothering was negatively, positively, or not at all affected by blogging and social networking commitments. Personally, I feel as though blogging and social networking distracts me from parenting even when I am physically present with Tiny.

The responses were varied and wide although most everyone did agree that they were either stretched too thin at times, found themselves distracted by blogging or social networking, or felt guilty about not keeping up with their blogs and/or parental responsibilities.

Four NPN volunteers (Amy from Peace 4 Parents, Dionna from Code Name Mama,  Adrienne from Mommying My Way, and I) decided to go offline from December 27^th to January 2^nd to see what impact, if any, blogging and social networking really had on our mothering.

I have discussed my love-hate relationship with social networking before. Feel free to revisit Social Networking – A Mother’s Best Friend, Arch Enemy, Or Something In Between. I followed that up with Social Networking – Finding Balance.  Clearly, this is an issue that I have not been able to fully resolve for myself yet. I was hoping that going offline would really provide me some clarity.

And then I was thrown a curve ball – sort of.

Tiny and I woke up pretty sick on the 28^th. We stayed pretty sick until the 1^st. You have to get a clear understanding of Tiny sick to see why my experiment failed. You see, when Tiny gets sick she turns into a Tasmanian devil on every upper invented flying around faster than the speed of light. This is understating it a bit too. My child’s energy level is beyond comprehension or explanation. In the span of 10 minutes she had completely emptied my kitchen and everything she could reach (which is lot since we have the Learning Tower available to her to climb up on). She piled it in the living room then proceeded to head to my room and empty my closet out. She literally climbs the walls. If the ceiling fan were more accessible, she would spin around on it. I have never seen anything like it. She has always been this way too. Lucky me.

When Tiny is like this, it is difficult for me to be the calm, patient, mindful mother that I strive to be. 30 minutes in to an illness and I admittedly would like to run away and come back when Tiny is well again. Since I was also really sick, I was at my wits end within about 5 minutes.

So my experiment failed from the standpoint that I have no clue if I would have been a better mother if I were not committed to blogging and the really limited social networking that I manage to do. Even if I had wanted to, I would not have been able to get online while Tiny was sick. I needed to sleep when she actually slept and when Tiny was awake, I could not be distracted even for a second. My patience was sapped, my enthusiasm for mothering stretched thin, and my desire to even try to be peaceful walked out the door after day one. I was in survival-keep Tiny from hurting or killing herself or me-mode. Although I did not resort to yelling or hitting, I did resort to bribery, rewards, and a few half ass threats. (Head hung in shame).

I guess you could say that I was very, very present (physically and mentally) as a mother during my online hiatus but again, I HAD to be due to Tiny turned Tasmanian devil. I will admit that I found it a little difficult to not check Facebook or Pinterest while I was breastfeeding Tiny but mostly it was because Mama Jorje had just given birth to her son who has Down’s Syndrome and I was really wanting an update on his health as well as Jorje’s breastfeeding efforts. Otherwise, I was ok not checking in on Facebook. Staying off of Pinterest sucked ass though. I will admit that I snuck on there once, ok twice. And darn if it didn’t feel good! And ok – you caught me – I also snuck on Facebook on the 29^th because I really needed to find out how Jorje’s son was doing. But I only did it while I was breastfeeding Tiny to sleep and then I only went to her profile and nowhere else. Except to post links to the benefit to help Jorge and her family stay in a hotel near the hospital.

So I was not able to figure out how blogging and social networking has really impacted me as a mother. This will continue to be a work in progress. What I do know is that I missed the interaction with my online communities. But I did get to try another experiment that was met with a rousing success! Tiny and I used cloth tissues all week and loved it! Not only did we not have any waste but we did not get the typical dry, red nose that you get with paper tissues. Yay hoo! I had purchased our cloth tissues from TurtlesRUs, a great vendor on Etsy. I am glad I had these on hand and even though we have used them before, I still reached for disposable tissues.

So to recap:

·         Going offline – successfully did so with no resolution as to whether or not it impacts my mothering due to the unfortunate timing of this viral invader.

·         Using cloth tissues, exclusively – SUCCESS.

·         And purging our stuff – read more about that tomorrow!

And that is all I have to say about that!

Jennifer

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Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• Make your own moisturizer! — Megan at boho mama whips up a winter skin-friendly moisturizer.
• Cold Water Only — Brittany at The Pistachio Project talks about how you do not need hot water to wash laundry.
• Family Cloth… Really?? — After lots of forethought and consideration, Momma Jorje finally decides to take the plunge with family cloth.
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle : 5-5-5 Things A Day — Luschka from Diary of a First Child writes about decluttering her home in an attempt to create a gentler living space. She takes on a new project where she sets a goal of reducing, reusing and recycling every day.
• Pros and cons of family cloth — Lauren at Hobo Mama would love to continue replacing paper products with family cloth … if she could only get over how damp she feels.
• Craftily Parenting — Kellie at Our Mindful Life finds that crafting makes her a better parent.
• Changes — Laura at Pug in the Kitchen couldn’t choose just one area to experiment with, so she wrote a long post about all the fun changes initiated in her life!
• Life without Internet: Not all it’s Cracked up to Be — Adrienne at Mommying My Way tries to go a week without the Internet, only to realize a healthy dose of Internet usage really helps keep this stay-at-home mom connected.
• My Progression to Raw Milk — Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling shares her natural parenting progression all the way to trying raw milk.
• mama’s new little friend. — Sarah at Bitty Bird tries a menstrual cup to “green her period,” and is pleasantly surprised when she falls in love with the product!
• Before you throw it out, try homemade laundry soap! — Jennifer at Practical OH Mommy shows visual proof that homemade laundry soap is cheaper, easier, and works better than the store-bought chemicals!
• Oil, Oil, No Toil, No Trouble — K from Very Simple Secret talks about her foray into the oil-cleansing method.
• I Need a Hobby — Amanda at Let’s Take the Metro couldn’t decide which experiment to run, so she did them all.
• 7 days of macrobiotics for a balanced family — The Stones make a [successful] attempt to release the “holiday junking” with 7 days of macrobiotic meals to balance their bodies and souls. Elisabeth at Manic Mrs. Stone includes an explanation of macrobiotics.
• Chemical Free Beauty Challenge — Jenn at Monkey Butt Junction turned to natural alternatives for her daily beauty and cleaning routine, with great results.
• Greening my Armpits!? My Green Resolution — Shannon at The Artful Mama talks about how she decided to give up her traditional antiperspirant and make the switch over to crystal deodorants and definitely isn’t looking back!
• Going Raw (for a while) — Jenny at Chronicles of a Nursing Mom shares her family’s experience with raw food.
• Do we get to eat gluten today? — Sheila at A Gift Universe has been trying to figure out if her son does better with or without gluten in his diet … but it’s really hard to tell for sure.
• Hippies Can Smell and Look Fabulous Too! — Arpita of Up, Down And Natural details her experience of going shampoo-free and overhauling her cosmetics to find the balance between feeling beautifully fabulous and honoring her inner hippie.
• Our cupboards are full…but there’s nothing to eat — Lucy at Dreaming Aloud takes on the challenge of chomping through the contents of her storecupboard rather than going shopping — but there’s something that she just can’t bring herself to do …
• Elimination Experiment 3.0 — MudpieMama recounts the messy adventures of her baby daughter trying to be diaper free.
• Family Cloth Trial — Amyables at Toddler in Tow talks about making and using family cloth wipes in the bathroom for the first time.
• Taking a Hiatus — Amy at Peace 4 Parents shares how her experience of much less internet interaction affected her family and how it will change her approach in the future.
• Trying Out the Menstrual Cup — Lindsey at an unschooling adventure ditches the tampons and gives menstrual cups a try.
• Managing Food Waste in Our Home — Tired of the holiday waste, Robbie at Going Green Mama takes a weeklong focus on reducing food waste in her home, and learns some lessons that can take her through the new year.
• Going Offline, Cloth Tissues, and Simplicity — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama muses over her time away from blogging and social networking. In addition, she shares her newfound love of cloth tissues and simplicity.
• The Oil Cleansing Method — Erica at ChildOrganics explores an easy, organic and natural way to tackle skin care.
• Experiments in Natural Family Living – Natural Toys! — Lani at Boobie Time enjoys the silence of natural toys and being more present with her son.
• Discovering a New City and Organic Foods — Amy at A Secure Base describes her family’s switch to and search for organic foods for one week.
• My Experiment in Homemade Bread — Crunchy Con Mommy tried — and loved — baking her own homemade bread.
• Menu Planning: Stop the Excuses — Gaby at Tmuffin stopped the excuses and started planning her weekly meals, drastically cutting her grocery budget and stress level and improving the quality of foods she fed her family.
• My First Menstrual Cup — Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children was pleasantly surprised with her first experience using a menstrual cup.
• My Natural Beauty Regime — Christine at African Babies Don’t Cry shares the results of banishing cleanser and soaps from her bathroom, as well as a couple of natural homemade recipes that have worked well on her skin.
• Unplugging and Creating a Rhythm: Our Experiment in Natural Family Living — Dionna at Code Name: Mama focused less on gadgets and spent more time with her family to create a healthy rhythm for the new year.
• Experiments in Natural Family Living: 5 First Steps Toward Preparing for a Natural Birth — Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama discusses how she tackled the pressing matter of how to begin preparing for a natural birth.
• All you need is…vinegar! — Kristen at My Semi-Crunchy Life learns that one household product can replace all the cleaners in her cabinet.
• Nope Nada Ixnay Negative Pass Decline — Zoie at TouchstoneZ finds out what shakes loose if she says, “YES!!” to anything anyone asks of her over the space of 10 days.
• Reducing our exposure to toxins found in plastics — Syenna at Gently Parenting Twins throws out the melamine and BPA plastics which have been hanging around the kitchen for too long.
• Duh! — Kat at Loving {Almost} Every Moment shares how she began the process of helping her 2-year-old son stop physically acting out.
• Experiments in Natural Parenting: Starting, Stopping, and Gaining Perspective — Melissa at Vibrant Wanderings explains how pregnancy brain interfered with her attempts to complete an experiment, but how she gained some interesting perspective as she started and stopped several.
• From Experiment to Lifestyle — Abbie at Farmer’s Daughter shares her experience avoiding processed foods for a month, and deciding to make it a permanent lifestyle change.
• From Disposable Paper to Reusable Cloth – AGAIN! — Terri at Child of the Nature Isle stops flushing trees down the toilet and switches to the softest ever butt-wiping material: cloth.
• Extra! Extra! Water Heater Turned Down, Mom Doesn’t Notice! — Thomasin at Propson Palingenesis finds an energy-saving experiment that’s so easy she didn’t even realize it was happening.
• Worm Tea — CatholicMommy isn’t sure how successful her worm bin will be, but she’s having fun anyway.
• Miles to Go … — Rachael at The Variegated Life learns that when it comes to sleep debt, she’s in real deep.
• My Month With Water Kefir — Paige at Baby Dust Diaries experiments with a new fermented probiotic drink homemade in her own kitchen.
• OMG Mom is Home… All Day Everyday: A Week-Long Experiment in Connecting — What a difference a week makes! Ana at Pandamoly is afforded a week off from work and takes the chance to reconnect and reattach with her 16-month-old son through an experiment in simply being there.
• Creating Healthy Family Recipes — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares her experiment with healthy, gluten-free recipes and a chocolate muffin recipe that was created during the experiment.
• Adventures in Alternative Haircare: No ‘Poo — This guest post at Natural Parents Network from Amy at Anktangle chronicles a months-long journey into the world of no ‘poo.
• My Experiment in Natural Family Living: Natural Family Planning — Birth control options are seriously limited for those of us trying to live a little closer to the earth, so Mama Psalmist experiments with natural family planning.