I had no idea there was even such a thing until I read an article on the Mothering website about children's books geared towards the granola-eating-baby-wearing-extended breastfeeding alternative parenting practices. I paged through some of the books online and decided they were a nifty idea! I would love my son to see how natural breastfeeding is and learn about all the different animals and how they nurse. So I purchased a copy of Mama's Milk and he loves it!
See?
The book tells a story of babies and animals nursing highlighting all the different places they can be found nursing like in a tree, underwater, in a burrow, in the grass, at the park, and so on. I particularly like the image of the woman nursing in the park without a nursing cover embracing the idea that nursing is a normal and natural thing which need not be covered up if mama so desires. Hopefully with more mama's nursing in public and through books like these, our culturally-backwards idea that babies should stop nursing at 6 months will be re-examined in the near future.
See?
Another one of our favorites is called, Little Helpers which is all about what even the smallest little child can do in their part of being a good steward of the earth. Genesis 1:28, 9:1
"When I use a cloth grocery bag instead of paper, there are more trees for the bears to climb." It's short, sweet and has simple ideas for teaching kids to take care of the earth. The book itself is also made of 98% recycled materials and uses only eco-friendly inks!
Our last crunchy-lifestyle book, (for now!) is called, A Ride on Mother's Back: A Day of Baby Carrying Around the World. This timeless and beautifully illustrated book explores the different ways in which people from a variety of cultures carry their young ones and describes what the children see and learn as they are carried. Babies in this book are depicted as a sweet part of daily life and chores, not separate from it. There is a map of the world which shows the approximate locations of all the characters in the book and a bonus section in the back of the book providing additional details about the people and their different ways of life.
It has been nice to add a few books to our collection that embrace the parenting styles I have adopted and sharing their values with my son who may one day be a father himself.
