Slang dictionary
crunchy mom
[ kruhn-chee mom ]
What does crunchy mom mean?
A crunchy mom is someone who practices a parenting style that typically avoids technology, modern medicine, processed food, and societal institutions in favor of natural alternatives and personal choice.
The term crunchy mom is typically used to describe a mother or female caregiver who typically follows a natural lifestyle and incorporates it into their parenting. A crunchy mom attempts to avoid modern medicine, limits reliance on technology, and eats only organic foods.
Some common behaviors of a stereotypical crunchy mom include:
- A preference for holistic medicine and an aversion to modern medicine
- An opposition to vaccinations
- Natural births at home
- A diet of organic foods
- Avoidance of plastics and products high in pollutants
- Emphasis on recycling and environmentalism
- Homeschooling rather than public schooling
Depending on who is using the term, crunchy mom may have positive or negative connotations. The term is used both as a positive self-identifier and a critical term.
The term crunchy mom is often contrasted with the term silky mom, which refers to a mother who practices a lenient parenting style that embraces modern technology, science, and convenience. A third term—scrunchy mom—refers to a mother who is a blend of a silky mom and a crunchy mom in that they sometimes prefer modern technology and sometimes prefer natural options.
Example: She is a crunchy mom who only lets her kids eat organic foods and no animal proteins.
Where does crunchy mom come from?
The term crunchy mom usually refers to a mother who practices a natural lifestyle and natural approach to parenting. Crunchy seems to reference literally crunchy organic foods, such as granola, that are often part of the diet of the stereotypical crunchy mom or the earlier hippie parent stereotype that crunchy mom was heavily inspired by.
The term crunchy mom seems to have emerged in the early 2010s to describe a mother who followed a natural parenting style similar to that of hippie parents of the counterculture movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Even from its earliest usage, crunchy mom was often used negatively in criticism of someone’s parenting choices.
During most of the 2010s, the term crunchy mom was commonly used in parenting circles and on websites concerned with motherhood and parenting.
While the terms crunchy mom, silky mom, and scrunchy mom have been used since the early 2010s, they became more popular in the early 2020s due to an increase in usage on social media, especially TikTok.
Examples of crunchy mom
Who uses crunchy mom?
Crunchy mom is used both as a positive self-identifier and a critical term. On social media, the term crunchy mom is much more likely to be used critically or jokingly by people who disagree with the crunchy mom parenting style.
Just took a crunchy mom quiz and I’m gonna go eat granola barefoot in the woods now.
— cαssssssssıε* 🧟♀️ (@CassieSux) April 2, 2023
im like a crunchy mom except im cool with chemicals and vaccines and gmos and i dont have kids
— jungkookaine (@jeooons) January 16, 2023
If I ever have kids I’m gonna be an annoying vegan gentle parenting crunchy mom and no one can stop me
— Aoibhín (@Aoibhin_B) May 17, 2022
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of crunchy mom like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of crunchy mom that will help our users expand their word mastery.