Mum slammed over controversial parenting style: 'No school, no doctors, no meat'

A mum has gone viral after revealing her controversial methods of parenting where her children don't attend school, don't visit the doctor, and don't eat meat.

Mum-of-two Kaytlynn Green, 23, also believes kids shouldn't have set bedtime routines, shouldn't wear shoes or socks, and be raised on a vegan diet.

Despite sparking plenty of controversy online, Kaytlynn isn't fazed by people's comments and is adamant she will continue to raise her daughter, Olive, three, and son Felix, one, this specific way.

Kaytlynn always knew she wanted to be a mum, and wasn't raised the way she wanted to raise her own kids, so she was excited when her and husband Jesse, 31, started their own family.

"I practice what's called holistic and respectful parenting, however people have told me I'm abusive for not allowing them to eat certain foods and tell me I don't deserve to have children," she said. "People also tell me it's dangerous to sleep in bed with them, and don't agree with me letting them be barefoot - as well as the fact I home school them.

"I know what I do isn't classed as normal, but I didn't think it was controversial. The hate doesn't bother me, I'm very confident in my decisions and these people don't understand that. They probably don't know any different and are probably miserable."

After being raised in a large family with eight kids, Kaytlynn knew she wanted to raise her own children differently.

"I changed my discipline values, they shouldn’t be hit, shamed or told their opinions don’t matter. I don’t agree with the whole 'what the parent says goes'. I was raised to feel shamed and not voice my opinion, and I don’t want my kids to feel like that."

When Kaytlynn started sharing her parenting styles, she didn't think she was controversial. Even from pregnancy she knew she wasn't going to follow the same route as everyone else, and opted to have a wild birth, with no pre-natal care.

"I'm healthy so I didn’t fear anything would be wrong and I felt as if I'd know if something was wrong as I was so in tune when I was pregnant before, so it felt unnecessary," she said. "If there was something wrong with my baby, such as a disability, it wouldn’t have changed what I'd do, I was always going to have the baby anyway."

Kaytlynn, her husband and the two kids all share the same bed, with two mattresses pushed together. They also don't 'force sleep', and let the children fall asleep when they're ready.

"They don’t have set bedtimes and so we follow when they're tired or ask to go to sleep. Sometimes it will be 5pm and sometimes 11pm, it varies and we don’t force naps either.

"For the first 12 months I also don't put them in a stroller I will wear them. Even when we're shopping, I won't put them in the cart and then when they become more dependent I'll use a stroller."

Raw food diet slammed as 'abusive'

Kaytlynn feeds her children a whole food vegan diet, high in raw food, rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouted grains and legumes, with very little food being cooked, to which some people have claimed as 'abusive'.

"We eat a whole-food plant-based diet and raise our kids that way too. They've been vegan since they were born. They've never had animal products. They don’t have processed sugar or packaged foods like Doritos and no fast food either.

"I make 100% of their meals. I'll make home made bread and avocado, oatmeal, muffins and banana bread, brown rice pasta, curry, rice and beans, and burrito bowls. We eat a lot of normal food I just make it at home from scratch."

"We'll also be barefoot in most places too. However when it's cold in the winter we'll wear shoes but it also depends where we are. We believe in child-led learning. I teach them whatever they're interested in, and that's what we learn about.

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"Apparently, when we choose to let them have a say it's controversial. We give leniency, for example if we were at the park and they don't want to leave, we'll resonate with them so they feel like they have a little control."

No day-care, no doctors: 'People think I'm crazy'

"We also don’t leave them," Kaytlynn added. "They don’t go to day-care and they don’t have babysitters, only when my family come to visit is when we'll leave them.

"We don’t take them to doctors either. We don’t go for regular check ups, we'll only go when they're sick, so we've only been once. Luckily, they don’t really get sick, but if they did, I'd use holistic methods such as herbs, homeopathies, water and rest.

"Everything I do people think I'm crazy," she said. "Our families are very accepting, they're very supportive. They're very respectful and they know the boundaries we've put down. We've made it clear that if they cross the boundaries we'll cut contact, and this has happened with my mum as well."

Since documenting their lifestyle online, Kaytlynn has received a flood of comments – good and bad – with some people supportive of her ways, although most are astounded by what she does.

"I've had a lot of comments. I've found a lot of people who agree with me," she said. "I always know what I did wasn’t normal, but I had no idea it was so controversial.

"Occasionally I'll respond to comments, but sometimes I just ignore them. At the beginning I'd always respond, but now I just delete and block people, I don’t need that kind of hate."

- Caters

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