Holistic moms network
Encyclopedia
The Holistic Moms Network is a national, membership-based and managed, non-profit organization with more than 100 chapters across the US and Canada. The organization is headquartered in Caldwell, New Jersey and launched its first chapter in 2002 in Essex County, NJ. The group was started by mothers who were looking for a support network that was respectful of non-mainstream holistic parenting choices such as homeschooling
, attachment parenting
, vegetarian or vegan diets. In 2003, Nancy Massotto founded the Holistic Moms Network as a national, non-profit organization and has overseen its growth and development into a voice for holistic parenting and green living. Local Chapters of the organization hold monthly meetings for its members on a variety of topics related to holistic living. The organization also holds an annual Natural Living Conference where internationally-recognized health and parenting experts such as Joel Fuhrman
and Barbara Loe Fisher have delivered keynote addresses and is supported by a prestigious advisory board. The Holistic Moms Network also welcomed actress Mayim Bialik
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/avital-binshtock/mayim-bialiks-latest-role_b_324206.html as a celebrity spokesperson in 2009.
For parents who choose to raise their children holistically, having the support of like-minded parents is critical. That is why HMN is dedicated to facilitating grassroots community-building throughout the nation, offering moms the opportunity to create local chapters where they can connect and find friendship and resources that are so necessary for successful parenting.
Through local Chapters, special events, and dynamic online forums, HMN members share information and advice on a variety of topics including pregnancy, breastfeeding, natural childbirth, healthy eating, positive discipline, alternative medicine, and all aspects of green living. Through the Network, they seek to help members gain confidence to make important decisions for their families. HMN members claim to have discovered natural remedies for their child’s asthma and fever, found the courage to have a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), become educated about vaccination choice, and tried recipes for making their own non-toxic cleaners.
HMN believes that many parents want to make informed choices and are looking for advice about parenting. It claims that some mothers in the U.S. say that pregnancy inspired a shift to green living and leads them to seek out some form of alternative medicine. In just a few short years, HMN has grown to include over 100 Chapters across the United States, with new Chapters forming all the time. HMN is a growing parenting movement with a goal of helping thousands of families make what it believes are positive, lasting changes in their lives. HMN is proud of its achievements because it believes that it is a community of informed and empowered parents making a positive difference in its own families’ lives and the world.
The Holistic Moms Network believes there are 7 fundamental ideals for holistic parenting:
1. Making informed and educated parenting decisions around issues such as childbirth, breastfeeding, healthcare and well-being, nutrition, interpersonal communication, and education.
2. Seeking respectful and nurturing relationships with others, imparting the values of empathy, love, and compassion to our children, and embracing attachment parenting techniques (including babywearing, extended breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and positive discipline).
3. Actively participating in our own healing process when we’re out of balance; using minimally invasive healthcare modalities to help the body and spirit heal while respecting the many paths to healing, both holistic and conventional.
4. Balancing and integrating the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of being into everyday life; using the principles of wholeness – healthy eating, regular exercise, natural healing, stress reduction, non-violent communication – to create a balanced life for the entire family.
5. Teaching our children to respect and care about the natural world by actively providing opportunities for them to be in nature, and teaching them about how they can protect our environment.
6. Limiting our children’s exposure to advertising, marketing, and a consumer-driven culture that is creating rampant materialism, disconnecting them from nature and healthy social interactions.
7. Living more simply and consuming less in an effort to reduce our impact on the environment and to emphasize non-material values.
HMN represents the growing demographic of holistic-minded parents who strive to give their children the love, support, and information they need to become healthy, compassionate, and informed individuals who can live in balance with our world.
and green living issues. The event draws hundreds of holistic-minded families and practitioners as attendees, hosts a Silent Auction Fundraiser for the non-profit organization, showcases holistic businesses and products in the exhibit hall and features workshop sessions for those in attendance.
Sara Snow
, Green Living Expert and TV host, and Naomi Aldort, leading parent counsultant, will be featured as the keynote speakers at HMN's 6th annual Natural Living Conference in Basking Ridge, NJ on Saturday, October 17, 2009 at the Dolce Conference Center. Workshop sessions include Maureen Drummond of the Network Organization for Vaccine Awareness and Choice, Healthy Chef Alex, Heal Your Life workshop instructor Pam Rich, and Dr. Susan Rubin of Better School Food. Registration is open to the public.
Homeschooling
Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...
, attachment parenting
Attachment parenting
Attachment parenting, a phrase coined by pediatrician William Sears, is a parenting philosophy based on the principles of the attachment theory in developmental psychology. According to attachment theory, the child forms a strong emotional bond with caregivers during childhood with lifelong...
, vegetarian or vegan diets. In 2003, Nancy Massotto founded the Holistic Moms Network as a national, non-profit organization and has overseen its growth and development into a voice for holistic parenting and green living. Local Chapters of the organization hold monthly meetings for its members on a variety of topics related to holistic living. The organization also holds an annual Natural Living Conference where internationally-recognized health and parenting experts such as Joel Fuhrman
Joel Fuhrman
Joel Fuhrman, MD , is an American board-certified family physician who specializes in nutrition-based treatments for obesity and chronic disease. He is a member of the board of directors of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and serves as Research Director of the Nutritional Research...
and Barbara Loe Fisher have delivered keynote addresses and is supported by a prestigious advisory board. The Holistic Moms Network also welcomed actress Mayim Bialik
Mayim Bialik
Mayim Hoya Bialik is an American actress who also holds a PhD in neuroscience.Her most notable TV roles have been as Blossom Russo on NBC's Blossom and as Amy Farrah Fowler on CBS's The Big Bang Theory.-Early life:...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/avital-binshtock/mayim-bialiks-latest-role_b_324206.html as a celebrity spokesperson in 2009.
Purpose and Mission
The Holistic Moms Network strives to connect parents, create supportive communities, and help parents and others to learn about holistic and green living.For parents who choose to raise their children holistically, having the support of like-minded parents is critical. That is why HMN is dedicated to facilitating grassroots community-building throughout the nation, offering moms the opportunity to create local chapters where they can connect and find friendship and resources that are so necessary for successful parenting.
Through local Chapters, special events, and dynamic online forums, HMN members share information and advice on a variety of topics including pregnancy, breastfeeding, natural childbirth, healthy eating, positive discipline, alternative medicine, and all aspects of green living. Through the Network, they seek to help members gain confidence to make important decisions for their families. HMN members claim to have discovered natural remedies for their child’s asthma and fever, found the courage to have a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), become educated about vaccination choice, and tried recipes for making their own non-toxic cleaners.
HMN believes that many parents want to make informed choices and are looking for advice about parenting. It claims that some mothers in the U.S. say that pregnancy inspired a shift to green living and leads them to seek out some form of alternative medicine. In just a few short years, HMN has grown to include over 100 Chapters across the United States, with new Chapters forming all the time. HMN is a growing parenting movement with a goal of helping thousands of families make what it believes are positive, lasting changes in their lives. HMN is proud of its achievements because it believes that it is a community of informed and empowered parents making a positive difference in its own families’ lives and the world.
The Holistic Moms Network believes there are 7 fundamental ideals for holistic parenting:
1. Making informed and educated parenting decisions around issues such as childbirth, breastfeeding, healthcare and well-being, nutrition, interpersonal communication, and education.
2. Seeking respectful and nurturing relationships with others, imparting the values of empathy, love, and compassion to our children, and embracing attachment parenting techniques (including babywearing, extended breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and positive discipline).
3. Actively participating in our own healing process when we’re out of balance; using minimally invasive healthcare modalities to help the body and spirit heal while respecting the many paths to healing, both holistic and conventional.
4. Balancing and integrating the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of being into everyday life; using the principles of wholeness – healthy eating, regular exercise, natural healing, stress reduction, non-violent communication – to create a balanced life for the entire family.
5. Teaching our children to respect and care about the natural world by actively providing opportunities for them to be in nature, and teaching them about how they can protect our environment.
6. Limiting our children’s exposure to advertising, marketing, and a consumer-driven culture that is creating rampant materialism, disconnecting them from nature and healthy social interactions.
7. Living more simply and consuming less in an effort to reduce our impact on the environment and to emphasize non-material values.
HMN represents the growing demographic of holistic-minded parents who strive to give their children the love, support, and information they need to become healthy, compassionate, and informed individuals who can live in balance with our world.
Natural Living Conference
The Natural Living Conference of the Holistic Moms Network is an annual event featuring internationally-recognized keynote speakers on a variety of holistic healthHolistic health
Holistic health is a concept in medical practice upholding that all aspects of people's needs, psychological, physical and social should be taken into account and seen as a whole. As defined above, the holistic view on treatment is widely accepted in medicine...
and green living issues. The event draws hundreds of holistic-minded families and practitioners as attendees, hosts a Silent Auction Fundraiser for the non-profit organization, showcases holistic businesses and products in the exhibit hall and features workshop sessions for those in attendance.
Sara Snow
Sara Snow
Sara Carinne Redmond is an American-born organic foods advocate, best known as the star of the Fit TV show Get Fresh With Sara Snow....
, Green Living Expert and TV host, and Naomi Aldort, leading parent counsultant, will be featured as the keynote speakers at HMN's 6th annual Natural Living Conference in Basking Ridge, NJ on Saturday, October 17, 2009 at the Dolce Conference Center. Workshop sessions include Maureen Drummond of the Network Organization for Vaccine Awareness and Choice, Healthy Chef Alex, Heal Your Life workshop instructor Pam Rich, and Dr. Susan Rubin of Better School Food. Registration is open to the public.