I'm an AP Mom and I Formula Feed

If you want to apply labels to me based on what I do every day, you might want to call me an attachment parenting, unschooling/relaxed homeschooling mom of 5 kids who, no matter how splattered I am in baby drool, will insist of wearing a full face of makeup to leave the house. 

Despite the above, I am also an unapologetic breastfeeding failure.  I also failed algebra in high school – twice – and I feel as bad about the latter as I do the former.  Despite them both being part of a balanced diet, they just don’t agree with me.

image courtesy of
i-am-pregnant.com

What makes my breastfeeding failure so complete is the fact that of my five children, I successfully breastfed one of them.  The problem is that this one moment of glory was not with Baby 5, which would have been redeeming in the eyes of my AP sisters, but rather was with Baby 3. We functioned in happy nursing bliss for almost 2 years before it was time to call time on the milk bar.

And somehow, despite this success, I couldn’t do the same for my last two babies.

Epic. Fail.

We should be looking a new ways to educate our children. Will have to check this out:   Sal Khan's 'Academy' sparks a tech revolution in education : http://usat.ly/JNBV6h

Are You Mom Enough: Unschooling

Did you happen to catch that Time Magazine cover from the other week - you know, the one with the willowy blonde with her four-year old attached to her breast?

Yep, this one.

Now, I don't know about you, but I could care less how long this woman nurses her child.  It's the title that got my attention.

"Are you mom enough?"

For what? Breastfeeding?  Feeding an infant/toddler lasts for a couple of years at best and while breastfeeding advocates list a whole raft of benefits, the truth is (and any parent who has gotten out of the early years will confirm this) feeding a baby, while important, is not going to impact the entire rest of their life.

Where your child is educated does. Get a good school where your child is happy and life is golden.  Get a not-so-good school (or, God forbid, a really crap one) and you may as well write your kid off.  Teach 'em how to flip burgers 'cause that's where they'll end up whether they were breastfed or not.

Okay, maybe there is a small chance of getting past and moving on from a bad educational experience, but you get my point.  Education matters.