Parenting is no easy feat. No matter how hard you try to “do it correctly,” you’re a complex human raised by a complex human raising another complex human. It’s almost impossible not to be clouded by your own trauma and bias, and though you may excel in certain areas of momhood, it’s not unlikely that other areas may fall short.
A recent trend calling out almond moms spotlights this truth: it can be hard to stop generational cycles when they aren’t quite yet healed within you. Among almond moms, there are many other categories to fall into within the mom spectrum, including crunchy moms and silky moms.
What is a Crunchy Mom?
Using essential oils and herbal teas to cure the common cold and eliminating every single use product in their household is textbook crunchy mom. These mothers prefer practices and products that are as close to nature as possible, prioritizing time spent outside, homecooked organic food and veering away from all things toxic, GMO and processed.
Screen time is extremely limited in a crunchy mom’s household, as she aims to cultivate an environmentally and socially conscious relationship with her children through presence and nature. While they may be hypercritical over the ingredients in a protein bar, their parenting is rooted in keeping their kids as healthy as possible.
What is a Silky Mom?
According to Urban Dictionary, silky moms can be defined as mothers who respect modern advances in science, medicine, and technology to aid in parenting. Saying yes to vaccines and medicated hospital births, they break stigmas by following the advice of established medical authority and often tend to be working moms who rely on modern products for convenience and time management.
While crunchy moms would wince at bottle feeding, crib sleeping and disposable diapers, silky moms aren’t opposed to modernity. Many mothers are often criticized for not having vaginal births, using Tylenol and Motrin, or keeping single-use products in business. Silky moms, however, certainly say yes to going after what’s cheap and accessible. If sitting their kid in front of an iPad gives them an opportunity to tend to some long overdue household chores, then so be it.
Scrunchy Moms Are Right in the Middle
While almond moms may veer toward an extreme too tight, crunchy moms may also veer toward an extreme too loose, and silky moms can be categorized as “holier than thou.” Scrunchy moms aim to be in a healthy middle ground, implementing fundamentals from each side.
They can appreciate an almond mom’s affinity for health, and like silky moms, don’t think a little extra screen time every now and then will melt their child’s brain into goo. They don’t reject modern medicine in the same way crunchy moms do, but also don’t reject Mcdonald’s in the same way almond moms do. However, they’ll certainly consider cloth diapers and breastfeeding, if it’s ultimately what’s best for their children.
All Moms Deserve Grace
All in all, it’s not about punishing nor praising any category of mom. It’s about self-awareness, giving yourself grace because surviving motherhood is a triumph within itself while holding yourself accountable enough to know how you can be better. You may be a textbook silky, crunchy, almond, or scrunchy mom, or find you have doses of every kind within you. What matters most is that you’re doing your best and are raising happy, healthy, minimally traumatized kids.