Earth Babies

By Sally Cameron

I fell pregnant while we were living in England so I started to look for information on homebirths and natural products in the UK. This led me to discover wonderful natural parenting products available overseas. Rachel was later born at home in Pretoria, South Africa. When I looked for products similar to those that I had seen in the UK, I couldn’t find anything, and yet I was sure that there must be other parents in South Africa who were also interested in the kind of products I was looking for.

I met Barbara at antenatal classes and when we spent time together after the birth of our children, she saw that I was using cloth nappies that I had brought back home from England. She was interested in them and in the other ideas that I had, and so we decided to start the company Earth Babies to provide these products here in South Africa.

We both had very small babies at this point but slowly we managed to resource fabric and design patterns for our products. After our first few strange looking nappies, we came up with a design that we liked and started making cloth nappies to sell, usually at night once our babies were asleep. This was very time consuming and involved many late night hours at the sewing machine. Husbands were even called in to help sew when times were busy. We gradually added more designs and products to our range but as we grew we realised that we could not keep up with making the nappies ourselves. We now have a small CMT factory in Pretoria helping us and it has really lifted an enormous burden.

We decided that our company should be an internet-based site so that it could be accessed by parents around the country, and products could be posted countrywide. It also helped to keep out overheads low. We followed the treads of similar types of companies in USA and UK where natural parenting Internet companies are prolific. South Africa is catching up fast with regards to Internet usage and e-commerce so we feel that we have positioned ourselves in an emerging market. Since we started our company, quite a few cloth nappy companies have come onto the market in South Africa.

We did not however want our company to focus purely on our products. We really wanted a large part of what we did to be about supporting mothers and giving them information about more natural approaches to parenting. It was only through other people sharing their ideas with us that we learnt about things like cloth nappies, elimination communication, extended breastfeeding, natural and home births. We, in turn, wanted to make the information available to others and so a large part of our Internet site is dedicated to articles and information about these topics. We also made a forum available on our website where parents can chat to each other, share ideas, and support one another in pregnancy, birth and parenting.

Barbara and I both want to be work at home moms. It is not always easy to balance working and mothering, but we just have to keep evaluating what our initial goals were and stick to that. The temptation to try and compete with larger companies and to grow too fast has been there, but this would mean a lot less time with our children, who remain our number one focus.

Barbara – “ I have always dreamed of being a mom, the reality of which has been more wonderful, more challenging and more time consuming than I could ever have imagined. I hope that Earth Babies can reach other moms on this amazing journey and somehow make it a little easier for them."

Sally - “I always knew that my dream job was out there and that I just had not found it yet. Who would have known that it would be owning my own company and being able to help other parents. Barbara and I joke now that we should have studied business and computers to do this job but I know that my background in nursing and midwifery has helped us, as has Barbara’s experience in the restaurant industry as an administrator and personal assistant. We feel like quite small fish is the big ocean but we will be the best most colourful fish we can be.”

Child Protégé, Indeed

By Cath Jenkin

So, there you were, all newborn and fresh and cute and your dad and I were swallowed up by new baby love.

Then, after six weeks of “continual awake/asleep/feed me/change me/and that’s all I do – isn’t that easy?” phasing… the worst thing happened.

All of a sudden, you were AWAKE. AWAKE and staring at me. Goading me to “go on, now entertain me”.

So, we did. We bought the bloody expensive Baby Einstein. Convinced ourselves we were, as a result, nurturing your hidden talents and growing ourselves a true blue child protégé. We just KNEW we were the BEST parents ever.

Of course, that was the exact moment you started to totally ignore the television.

So, back to the world’s largest baby superstore we went. And invested small African countries’ GDPs in “educational toys”, utterly enamoured by the idea that WE were doing the BEST for our little pumpkin. SHE was going to grow up and CHANGE the world.

And we brought them home, showed them to you, and you gave them exactly thirteen seconds’ attention before throwing them back at me.

And turned your attention back to the television.

So, we kept on going. Trying everything. Reading. Reading to you and with you was a HUGE priority in our lives because someone (and approximately fifteen child-rearing books) said…

“You know, children who read from a young age really learn to talk faster?”

And there we were, talking to you and reading up a storm. CONVINCED that we were STILL growing a child protégé. I even went as far as saying:

“Well, my daughter is already mouthing words and making word-sounding babbles. She’s SO clever”

Why did nobody stop me and say something like “Oh, you’re going to regret this one…”

And then, you were walking and talking. You said “mama” one Thursday night and I just held you and cried and laughed and smiled.

I WAS SO PROUD.

Until, of course, the day came. Anyone who is a parent knows this. The day comes where you begin to regret being so eager for your child to speak and talk and communicate.

And yes, folks, that day was Tuesday morning.

You’d been sick, poor thing. There’d been mess and vomit and pooh.

So, I cleaned us both up, started the mammoth laundry task. Tried to pry my fatigued eyes open to remember how to turn the machine on.

Both of us so tired and grubby.

And there I was, standing beside the machine. And you called me that name I know and love so well now.

“Mama?”

So, I turned and looked at you, my poor little sick child.

“Yes, Cameron?”

And you looked back at me, with your innocent eyes, all your precious teeth grinning at me.

And then you said, “F*ck.”
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“Children are natural mimics who act like their parents despite every effort to teach them good manners.” ~Author Unknown

The rise and rise of the Purple Dinosaur

By Cath Jenkin

I was steadfast in my belief that MY child would not fall prey to the tentacles of him.

I happily exposed her to the "good" stuff – Noddy and Winnie the Pooh. The very expensive but actually cute Baby Einstein. Even went as far as those annoying songs-get-stuck-in-your-head-sing-along-DVDs. I got her into programmes on early morning weekend television. Kool Kats - that rocked her world.

So I successfully avoided him - he of the clapping happy purple dinosaur.

And then, she started a new school. And my sister-in-law messages me in hysterics, because when she picked her daughter up one sunny day, all the children were sat in a neat little row - immersed in a DVD. And my daughter would not be moved.

It was him - BARNEY.

I thought, it's okay. She'll get her fill of him at school; It's okay, it's educational. And then she got sick. And I got desperate. So fate dealt me a swift one.

At our local DVD hire store, they were selling off old stock. Cheap. And there was...yep, you guessed it, cut price Barney DVDs. So, I bought one. Thinking, it can't hurt and it'll distract her.

Let me give you a few of my thoughts on Barney's "What's In A Name?" episode:

1. Every child looks stoned. Stoned, stoned, stoned. I don't know what drugs they feed them but no one could ever get THAT happy over foam alphabet blocks.

2. The child learning to spell her name, Linda. She is the exact model for the Children of the Corn. Yes, that horror movie we all watched as giggling teenagers. EXACT.MODEL.

3. The way Barney pops out of nowhere frightens even me. Hell knows what it does to small children - even if they do use sparkly-bubble-effect to make it look pretty.

4. That song - “I love you, You love me, We're a happy family, with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me too?” - makes me want to grab the nearest weapon and launch it in the general direction of the television.

And yet, Barney has redeemed himself.

Despite my concerns and annoyance, I have never before seen my child so flipping mesmerised. Entirely absorbed. Learning so much. Soaking up all that purple power.

And so, I am now not only the owner of three more incredibly irritating but lifesaving Barney DVDs (thank you Uncle Garry, who ruined his street cred for going in to buy them), but I am also involved in a deep and real relationship with "Bubby", a.k.a. Barney.

What are the benefits of this 'Bubby' relationship?

My daughter has learnt to sing the alphabet, say things like "A is for Apple", kisses a lot more, sings and does the actions for the "Ducky" song (quack quack quack the duckies dooo), all of which is flipping cute and, above all things, she's happy. She loves him. Oh and I’ll admit, I love him. I even love the way he's teaching her that transgender dinosaurs can be happy little beings too.

I think Barney’s an awesome role model. Because of him, she does not fight about seatbelts. She demands them on straight away. Anything with a seatbelt or harness and it must be strapped up. What a joy.

And me?

I get five minutes to wash the dishes or actually shower. And, the biggest joy of all, I have a never ending stream of kiddie friendly songs stuck in my head to hum and annoy my work colleagues with.

Barney, I never thought I'd say this, but dude, I really do love you too.