Are NP moms inherently lazy and cheap?

[staralfur]

Lazy, absolutely. I think at this point we bedshare for my benefit more than hers. She's fine in her crib for up to four hours at a time...but getting up at 2am to feed/resettle her? No thanks. I'll just roll over.

Cheap? Unfortunately not. My diaper obsession may not be cheaper than disposables in the long run. At least I can reuse them for the next one?

 

[Abby_]

For me, the best thing about breastfeeding and bed sharing is being able to plonk him back on the boob for few more hours sleep in the morning. So yes to lazy!

 

[fluffpuffin]

I like things as easy as possible, and cheap of course. I only realised how convenient bf was when I stopped and had to get up to make bottles.... Also I would totally BLW next time round, as soon as I started giving just finger foods things got so much easier. I hated all the pureeing. I must admit cloth was a bit too much work for me in the end - my wash basket was overflowing all the time. I didn't have the time for all the washing anymore. But I've kept all of my cloth and if I have no.2 I will go back to using them. It saved me loads of money. The ergo was amazing too, so easy for my non-sleeping baby. I wish I had got mine sooner than when Isla was 6 months old. And co-sleeping - I will get a co-sleeper cot next time to make things much easier for myself. Getting up in the night to bf was the worst but I was too scared to co-sleep without an attached cot.

 

[xSin]

I don't think its lazy or cheap... I think (and this might be offensive to some, for which I apologize in advance) that there are some out there though who "NP" as some kind of a status thing? Because they think its the "trendy" thing to do? I recently got 'frowned upon' in a facebook group because I couldn't wrap my head around paying more for 1 pocket diaper insert, than I've paid for the whole diaper + insert previously. Its nice that some people can pay more for the insert than I pay for the diaper plus, but good grief.

 

[cookielucylou]

I dont really think its lazy or cheap either-i just do what is right for us.
I prefer spending money/time on the nicer things rather than what a lot see as neccessary.

 

[Dragonfly]

I was pondering on this. I dont think its cheap or lazy its sensible in not spending ridiculous amounts of money on things that money could be better spent on . Lazy, well why make more work for yourself? parenting is tiring enough. I would never choose to run about in the night from room to room after my children when it felt normal to have them close to me. I would never choose to stand making bottles when it was already on me. I mean that with no disrespect to any one that does but its not me at all. Wouldnt say following a trend but following my instinct, something I didnt even have to think to much about. I think its viewed as lazy and money pinching. Well do be it then, less stress for me , more money

It breaks my heart when I see new parent friends freaking because they dont have all this expensive stuff they think they need as they are scared they will be judged as bad parents of they do not provide. When all the stuff you need are actually free or cost very little. And I know this because I done it before I had my first, I spent a lot! done up nursary, new floors and all, painted, cots, prams (pram was useful I say that), all these things I didnt need or actually use?? that was following a trend !

 

[jen1604]

Probably lazy. Definitely not cheap.

 

[Rachel_C]

I don't think its lazy or cheap... I think (and this might be offensive to some, for which I apologize in advance) that there are some out there though who "NP" as some kind of a status thing? Because they think its the "trendy" thing to do?

Is it? I have seen, to a certain extent, people using cloth nappies in a fashion sort of way, but never any other aspect of natural parenting, not that I can think of anyway. I can understand it with cloth nappies as some nappies/brands are clearly more about looks than others but I still think even the people who are all about the rufflebums or whatever are doing it for more than that. I don't know whether somebody who was just in it for status would actually stick to cloth?

 

[Liesje]

I was pondering on this. I dont think its cheap or lazy its sensible in not spending ridiculous amounts of money on things that money could be better spent on . Lazy, well why make more work for yourself? parenting is tiring enough. I would never choose to run about in the night from room to room after my children when it felt normal to have them close to me. I would never choose to stand making bottles when it was already on me. I mean that with no disrespect to any one that does but its not me at all. Wouldnt say following a trend but following my instinct, something I didnt even have to think to much about. I think its viewed as lazy and money pinching. Well do be it then, less stress for me , more money

It breaks my heart when I see new parent friends freaking because they dont have all this expensive stuff they think they need as they are scared they will be judged as bad parents of they do not provide. When all the stuff you need are actually free or cost very little. And I know this because I done it before I had my first, I spent a lot! done up nursary, new floors and all, painted, cots, prams (pram was useful I say that), all these things I didnt need or actually use?? that was following a trend !

I tend to agree with this. People seem to turn babies into a pissing contest to see who puts in the most "work". It seems that if something is ever easier, for whatever reason, it must be lazy/wrong. Feels like nothing can ever be faster or more efficient and be guilt free lol

 

[Dragonfly]

I seen a saying once "parenting is as hard as you make it" I do tend to agree.

 

[xSin]

I don't think its lazy or cheap... I think (and this might be offensive to some, for which I apologize in advance) that there are some out there though who "NP" as some kind of a status thing? Because they think its the "trendy" thing to do?

Is it? I have seen, to a certain extent, people using cloth nappies in a fashion sort of way, but never any other aspect of natural parenting, not that I can think of anyway. I can understand it with cloth nappies as some nappies/brands are clearly more about looks than others but I still think even the people who are all about the rufflebums or whatever are doing it for more than that. I don't know whether somebody who was just in it for status would actually stick to cloth?

Where I live there does tend to be a difference between the "hippies" who actually care about the environment and making the right choices ...and the "yuppies" who just follow certain things because its 'trendy' and by doing so they're flashing their wealth to the world through materialism.

 

[Toms Mummy]

Alot of the "hippies" around me who are being natural parents are doing so successfully... i.e. buying local produce, which is generally expensive, home schooling... which means being able to afford not to work. They manage this because they are trustifarians (bank of mum and dad).

We live frugally, but we shop at Lidl as we can't afford the do all of our shop on local produce (although I do go to the local market for veg boxes), buy off ebay as I can't afford natural organic fair trade clothing brand new... and I have to work.

What I'm saying is, that being an NP is not cheap!... and you have to try hard to make it so.

 

[Dragonfly]

I will be home schooling and grow my own and am not loaded? or a hippy? sometimes people say hippy like its a bad thing to. I never met a horrible hippy and I know people who are real hippies. To be I do whats best for my family in my eyes.

 

[Kess]

I don't think it's cheap to get something of superior or equal quality (like cloth nappies, breastmilk, carriers, etc) for cheaper than the more common alternative, it's just sensible, surely? Equally, you can't call someone lazy for doing something that is just as good or better than a more time- or effort-intensive alternative. Why make work for no purpose?

I think being hippy-ish, green or NP can be very expensive nowadays because since the industrial revolution and rural-urban migration etc the world is set up for the more common way of doing things. We can, though, go back to the pre-industrial way of doing things but since the world is not set up that way anymore it takes more effort. Like AP, for example, works very easily when you have extended family living close and the mother and father working in the home or on the smallholding as used to be common, but now if you have to both work (common because housing is so expensive now etc) affording an AP-style caregiver is more expensive than a normal nursery. Local food used to be cheaper, of course, but now you either have to pay extra for local bought produce (since intensive farming methods make producing it all somewhere and shipping it cheaper) or put in much more effort to grow your own than you would've had to to grow your own pre-industrial revolution.

 

[Rachel_C]

We're just in the process of taking on an allotment so we can grow our own fruit and veg. Having seen the waist high weeds on the plot we're requesting, I'd now say I'm not lazy... or at least I hope I'm not . Or maybe I can just set the kids to work while I read a book with a thermos of coffee

 

[Tacey]

We're just in the process of taking on an allotment so we can grow our own fruit and veg. Having seen the waist high weeds on the plot we're requesting, I'd now say I'm not lazy... or at least I hope I'm not . Or maybe I can just set the kids to work while I read a book with a thermos of coffee

This is my dream! I can't wait for the day Alice can make me a cuppa!

Definitely lazy here...

 

[SpringerS]

I know it's off the original topic but is it really that helpful to distinguish between 'hippies' and 'yuppies' etc? I used to be what people would describe as a hippy. I wore alternative gear, travelled around on old buses going to protests, met my husband when we were part of a group setting up an independent media collective. That changed as I started doing more and more media work for the groups I campaigned with as I found it easier to get my message across when I dressed normally and didn't have green hair. And it was absolutely necessary when I started working, rather than volunteering for NGOs as my duty to the charity I represented included appearing professional and went beyond any personal desire to look 'alternative.'

Nowadays people would look at me as more of a yuppy type as I just look like a normal, fashionable middle class person. Yet underneath how I look I'm as 'hippy' as ever. Almost everything I own was bought secondhand, I use a mooncup (well not for the last 8 months ), no-one would ever guess as it looks like it's layered and lowlighted but I henna my hair with a tea/henna mix and I usually cut it myself too. It's not necessarily a hippy thing but I do most of the DIY and electrics at home as I can sort out most of those problems myself. The plan is for the baby to be cloth bottomed (in 2nd hand nappies) and breastfed as much because it's cheap and easy (because I am most certainly cheap and 'lazy') as for the health benefits. (Don't get me wrong, the health benefits are massively important too.)

The odd thing about it is that because I'm such a 'hippy' in these ways we actually appear much wealthier than we are, as I pay so much less for everything so our money goes further making us look more yuppy. A lot of my clothes are originally designer or upper-end of the high st but they came from Oxfam/ebay and cost less than stuff from Primark. You can't actually judge how and why people live unless you know the ins and outs of their situation and unless you are especially close to them you won't have a clue.

 

[Toms Mummy]

I will be home schooling and grow my own and am not loaded? or a hippy? sometimes people say hippy like its a bad thing to. I never met a horrible hippy and I know people who are real hippies. To be I do whats best for my family in my eyes.

I am not saying hippy like it's a bad thing but it does make me sad that I know people who don't work, live a nomdic lifestyle for most of the yr, hoem school, tend to their veggie patch (have room for a veggie patch!) There are no allotments near us, and don't work.... I wish I could do that!

I have been called a hippy because I do a lot of "alternative" things which relate to being a hippy, parenting and non parenting, but I have noticed that to do it properly you need to have money x

 

[xSin]

What I took offense to that made me make a distinction between the two was being judged .... because I bought my cloth diapers second hand, I was essentially sneered at by other cloth diapering mums who paid full price for brand new ones, in a local cloth diapering group here in my community. That's why I make the distinction I do. That's why I say some are in it for "status" while others have genuine intentions to make less of an impact on the environment. I've got lots of "hippie" friends (If anyone has another alternative "word" suggestion to use, by all means...) and they don't sneer at me for buying second hand cloth diapers, they just think its fantastic that I'm doing what I can to reduce the amount of waste my household produces.

 

[Toms Mummy]

XSin.... This is exactly how NP should be thought as. Trying to do your bit for the enviro... apparently, one of the best things anyone can do for the enviro is not have any children... but then we wouldn't get very far :doh:

The aim is to offset any environmental impact you make, and as a parent I think it is very important!.... One of the best things is to buy 2nd hand! We buy everything second hand, and at the same time we're giving to charity