Category Archive

Families

Our sister site Offbeat Mama launched in 2009, became Offbeat Families in 2012, and was merged into Offbeat Home & Life in 2015. This archive contains all the posts ever published on those sites! We believe that while children change your life forever, being around kids doesn’t necessitate abandoning your identity. We believe in supporting and inspiring parents and caregivers who are moving beyond mainstream visions of parenting. We welcome anyone who’s interested in families, whether you’re pre-parental, in the process of becoming a parent, or choosing to live childfree.

Stella Frances

How to pull off a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) like a pro

My older sister, who also had a VBAC, had told me that “it hurts and then it’s over.” I was skeptical at the time but it’s true! It hurts, and then it’s over! And you have a baby in your arms to show for it!

Portrait of two females parents posing with their infant daughter

Are children of Lesbians better behaved?

Researchers just reported that “children in lesbian homes scored higher than kids in straight families on some psychological measures of self-esteem and confidence.” Why’s that?

Only Child Club Enamel Pin

Why only children are awesome

I am a third generation only child, and my son will be a fourth generation only child. I am not only pro-only child, I’ve jokingly referred to myself as an only child bigot, prone to espousing how only children are a master race of superior humans. Really, I’m only half kidding, because I think only children are AWESOME. Here’s why.

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Should you use a midwife with your first birth?

The ability to “go with the flow” and learn from this transformative, amazing (if challenging) experience called pregnancy and birth is how you will grow your womb-an wisdom. Whether you successfully give birth at home with a midwife or have unexpected problems that result in a transfer to a doctor and/or hospital — you’ll experience the initiation ritual into motherhood.

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Using cabbage to make weaning less painful

While researching, I kept reading over and over again that cabbage can help you wean, but didn’t take it entirely seriously. However, at time of writing it’s been sixteen hours since Jasper last nursed, and the pain drove me from our friend’s house to my local grocery store to pick up a head of GREEN cabbage.

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What silly songs do you make up for your kids?

Making up songs for babies is FUN! Making up songs for babies is FUN! But for real, have you tried it?

AylaBunny

Raising a mixed-race child

After the session, a kind old lady came up to me and said, “Now who does this little sweetheart belong to?”
“Oh…she’s mine,” I replied.
“Oh…”

home is where the crap is

Reducing amount of kid-detritus

Like the alcoholic who will always be recovering and never recovered, my problem isn’t in the amount of crap I have but the heavy, painful WANTING I sometimes experience.

What the hell is wrong with me? Probably a combination of the marketing of the “Baby Industrial Complex,” and too much of that quasi-free time I have, in which my body is doing something like nursing a baby, but my mind is free to wander through an imaginary toy aisle.