Going Green Early – The Sooner The Better

I’m starting to prepare for my trip to The Blogher Conference in Chicago and wanted to write a bit about one of my sponsors that will help me to offset the cost of my trip. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I have a very explicit review policy that boils down to – I only review selected products and am brutally honest in my reviews.



So though I discussed sponsorship with a few different brands, I have been very selective about with whom I am willing to work. So today I want to write about The Goddard Schools.


There was an article about Goddard’s yoga program in The Houston Chronicle this week.

I’m a big believer in yoga in schools. Several of my son’s teachers have incorporated it into the curriculum. It’s beneficial for children several reasons. The Yoga Journal cites:

“Yoga enhances their flexibility, strength, coordination, and body awareness. In addition, their concentration and sense of calmness and relaxation improves. Doing yoga, children exercise, play, connect more deeply with the inner self, and develop an intimate relationship with the natural world that surrounds them.”

I actually had the opportunity to visit a Goddard School near my home (they have over 330 schools for infants through kindergarteners across the country.) We talked about a number of green initiatives that Goddard offers, including simple things like automatic faucets and recycling bins to more complicated programs like solar water heaters and spending the extra dollars to purchase furniture and equipment made from recycled materials. (I, of course had to add my two cents by suggesting they add an organic vegetable garden in a corner of their (large and lush) play yard.) Not surprisingly, considering their focus on green, they liked this idea.



Spending so much time on sustainability, I tend to judge whether a company is committed to green by which initiatives they implement and how focused they are on the end result – which I perceive as constant improvement and publicizing the results. I don’t consider that greenwashing, I consider it education and increasing awareness with the general public. Goddard also has the responsibility of educating a new generation, which they do, by incorporating “earth-friendly” activities into the curriculum.



You’ll be hearing more about Goddard from me in the future – this is an early childhood development center I can recommend. You can follow them on Twitter too!

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When Organic …Isn’t

It’s been bubbling around the web for awhile, but today I read a report in the Washington Post, Purity of Federal 'Organic' Label Is Questioned that goes into detail about, how “business as usual” has impacted the certified organic label – you know, the one on products for which we get to pay exceptional amounts of money.

Three years ago, U.S. Department of Agriculture employees determined that synthetic additives in organic baby formula violated federal standards and should be banned from a product carrying the federal organic label. Today the same additives, purported to boost brainpower and vision, can be found in 90 percent of organic baby formula.

Isn’t that just terrific?

The article goes on to discuss how a lobbying effort by baby formula manufacturers caused a USDA program manager to over rule her staff and allow certain non organic ingredients.As a marketer, one has worked in the food industry, I certainly understand that there are non-organic stabilizing ingredients that need to be added to processed food products to extend shelf life. But, then, they should not carry a label that consumers interpret as “all organic”.It really annoys me.

No, I’m not annoyed at the food manufacturers. They have a product to sell and restrictions on what they can actually do and stay in business. I’m annoyed with the USDA and by extension, the last administration which hampered their ability to do their job. (OK – let’s just say it, they are under- regulated, understaffed and under-directed.)

If I’m going to pay extra; I’d really like to know what I am getting. Now “certified organic” joins “natural” as an ambiguous label that means we get to pay more for…well…umm…what? (BTW- Natural Means Nothing.)

Would it be so hard to put in a graduated scale that consumers could understand, with certified organic at the top and various grades underneath? It’s back to that pesky transparency issue. We don’t care what you do; we just want to be informed so we can make buying decisions that are right for our families!

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3 Rainy Day Summer Activites For kids

I made three phone calls one day last week. All were business calls to clients, vendors or associates.

Each call was punctuated by the person on the other end marginally covering the phone and saying one of the following:

1) No, wait, not now sweetheart, mommy's on the phone.

2) Yes, No... can you get that for your sister please.

3) Daddy has some work to do you'll have to wait just a minute.

One caller finally admitted, "School's out and camp has not yet started."

In the new work at home world, it's tough to give kids a summer like you had as a child and actually get some work done! I admit, I'm not above putting in a video from time to time (my son and his friends are watching a Schlessinger Space Video, borrowed from the library right now as I type.) But in general, I try to be a bit more creative.

Most days that means trading with neighborhood parents, taking turns supervising outdoor activities and pool side watching. This week it's a bit too chilly, so we've come up with some other ideas. Nothing too elaborate, mostly just things we did as kids... and kids don't necessarily do as much anymore.

1) Make a couch fort- a few blankets and all the couch cushions on the floor. No need to elaborate on this one!

2) Make "potions" - it's amazing what kids will do with a big bowl and copious amounts of flour, sugar, salt, etc. this time I snuck in baking powder and white vinegar. Ha! They were too smart and KNEW to expect a bubbling explosion. (Yes I did have to sweep and mop the floor afterwards.)

3) Cleaning out the bookshelves. Yes, this sounds like work, but really, not too many books get thrown away, but lots of reading goes on.

What are your ideas?

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Raising Kids With Less or Rather Without More

I have a bit of a reputation for re-purposing various articles and making do with less. I have been at times been considered tight.

I’m now considered fashionable. In these tight times, frugal has become cool!

This didn’t always extend to purchasing things for my child. But in the last few years as toys have slowly threatened to extinguish any semblance of living space in our home, I’ve found that yes, my child can make do and actually prosper with less or rather, without more.

And, not only are we conserving cash, we’re promoting creativity; finding ways to teach humility and raising a whole person, not just an aspiring consumer.

What do we do? Well, lots of things

1) I’ve always supported recycling, but recently tinkered with another of the 3 Rs – “reuse”. This started with saving paper towel tubes, and plastic containers and progressed to my drowning in recyclables.

But along the way the children who haunt our playroom have made plastic trays into paint palettes, paper towel tubes into swords and amazingly creative art projects.

2) I’ve always been a pack rat, so we tend to keep toys for years – not all of them, but many. And as a result, I’ve rarely bought a toy with which he didn’t play- eventually. He still has his toddler “button pushing” toys, now repurposed as space ship control panels. Stacking blocks are now used as counter weights in his latest “physics experiment”. What’ I’ve found is when kids don’t have the latest and greatest, they find new ways to use the old.

3) While I enjoyed shopping for my infant and toddler as much as any new mom, I’ve more recently become a fan of “pre-loved” clothes. Since my “suppliers” are all friends with older or bigger children, my son knows the previous owners and thinks about his buddies when he gets dressed.

It’s like wrapping oneself up in friendship.

4) Though our home is filled with books, most of them are pre-loved too. And they are frequently of higher quality than anything I would buy at my local mega book store. We buy at used book stores local and online, library book sales and estate sales, all of which tend to traffic in older, more interesting books. At 25 to 50 cents a piece we can afford to buy a lot.

5) Old clothes don’t leave the house at our house. While we still give boxes full to charity, the thrashed and trashed play clothes, the silk dress I accidentally put in the washer and the blouse with the ink stain, stay with us.

Some become rags, but others take on a new life. Some go directly to the dress-up box. Others are stitched together to make quick outfits for play figures and masks. Some replace the expensive and wasteful wrapping paper we used to buy and are used again by the present’s recipient.

We’ve “bought into” reuse. And I’d say, we’re richer for it.

This post is an entry into the TROP50™ Be a Guest on The Juice contest running over at Blogher.

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Knitting With Children

My son's school started a handcrafts program this year!Impressed with the Waldorf School philosophy, they hired a lovely lady connected with the local Waldorf school. They bought some wool yarn, they informed the parents about the benefits of handcrafts.

I was ecstatic.


First project for the first grade - Knit a Teddy Bear

Ummm...isn't that, shall I say, a bit ambitious for children who have never done much handcrafts?


Well...yes it was and a month later after tangled threads and knots and holes, we were well behind schedule.



Fortunately several moms jumped in to help. Even more fortunately, since most of the moms couldn't knit either, some grandmas were recruited.


We managed to complete the bears on time. Aren't they cute?

So, what project will the First Grade do next year? They'll start with finger knitting...much better idea!

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Please Sell Your Ticket To Blogher

Please Sell Your Ticket To Blogher............to me!

In my often procrastinating manner, I did not purchase a ticket to Blogher in Chicago in July this year.

Now I want to go!

If you find you can't go, Please email me, I'll be happy to buy it from you! I'll be happy to take notes for you! I'll be happy to shout your name from the top of the Sears Tower!

Whew! Can you see I'd like to go?

Update: I found a ticket thanks to the power of social media! Now I'm going and would love to hook up with my blogging friends!


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The Tasting Garden – Container Gardening For Better or Worse

Last year I wrote about my sorry excuse for small but cherished garden. In it I planted strawberries, carrots and a variety of herbs. After a lackluster harvest I promptly dubbed I the tasting garden.

Since it’s short, I’ll reprint the post below.

For the past two years we have attempted to plant a garden on a tiny plot of salt encrusted soil behind our house. Tirelessly we plant, fertilize, water and watch our crops grow…or not. Striving to grow an yields less than half that of conventional gardeners, we expected to lose 50% of our crop to various wildlife. But, we didn’t quite realize what that means.

Now in year two we understand low yield means 10-12 strawberries over the season, 2-3 tomatoes and savory bits of various vegetables. And with this knowledge comes freedom. Lowering our expectations we don’t expect our carefully tended crops to yield bushels. Rather than gathering our crops and storing for future use, we snip off pieces as they ripen and savor them in situ, in our garden.

Renamed, our tasting garden we gleefully now plant whatever comes to mind. Soybeans last year (we harvested two pods), corn (not a traditional plant for Southern California) this year. Later in the season we’ll try pumpkins, while my DH watches for real bananas on his decidedly tropical tree. Who knows, perhaps he’ll be successful.

Meanwhile, we’ve cheerfully bought into the process not the outcome and that has been the best outcome of all.

I’m taking the time this year to report on how we are faring in year three.

We’ve progressed!

Yes, we still have tiny harvest of strawberries and the corn never did come up last year, but we also have some good news.

My DH’s banana tree actually yielded a tiny bunch of small but sweet bananas, much to everyone’s amazement. We have not bought lemons in over a year as our harvest has met our needs. Tomatoes are plentiful and our herbs as well as our lettuce yields supply the table on a regular basis…all grown in pots!

Yes, we still buy into the tasting garden idea since we once again planted carrots and expect a similar harvest – that is tiny. We’ve also branched out to try to grow green beans (awesome in a pot) and even spinach. Those that come up plentiful we will eat. Those that don’t well…we’ll rejoice in the process!

This post is part of the Green Moms Carnival hosted this month by Green and Clean Mom! Stop by and see all of our great posts on green gardening.

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A Decorative And Healthy Dessert

I don't often post recipes, many of you know why this is - I'm not the most creative or capable cook. As I often put it: I CAN cook. I DON'T cook.

Or bake for that matter, though I DO make birthday cakes each year and managed a strawberry chiffon pie a few weeks ago. But usually I am one to just whip something together and place food on the table, in no particular fashion.

My son, it turns out has other ideas. perhaps he has spent to much time in Japanese restaurants, where presentation matters. Or maybe he is just a bit more creative.

Either way, one night he requested a glass, some skewers and a variety of fruit and "made dessert".

Who can argue with perfection - healthy, tasty and pretty too!


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A Birthday Party Craft - Eco Art

Though I recycle, recently I have been trying to reuse before I recycle. This has resulted in a huge pile of boxes, egg cartons, plastic trays, paper towel rolls, plastic bits and bottles and a wide variety of bits and pieces in my playroom designated for “crafts”.

It has gotten a bit out of hand.

So, I borrowed an idea from my friend Prism and included an eco art station at my son’s birthday party this year.

The set up was simple. I pulled out and organized my boxes of crap recycle items and set up a table with glue, pom-poms, pipe cleaners, markers, scissors, some bits of fabric, buttons and beads. I eschewed the Glue gun and instead supplied Tacky Glue and some old bottles of colored and glitter glue. I also skipped the paint as I thought party guests’ parents would be less than appreciative.

It was, fortunately, a hit. Rather than give them direction (I had considered showing them how to make a diorama) my son and a friend made a few samples of various things that could be done and left them on the table. No more direction needed.

….which meant while children happily glued and cut and pasted, I could enjoy the party.

Added bonus- now all of those boxes, rolls and various bits and pieces of recycle stuff adorn my guests’ parents’ homes…not mine!

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Raising a Bibliophile

I've been asked to review two books targeted at the youngest bibliophiles. (You can read the review here.) Perhaps it would be better to say that they are targeted to those interested in creating bibliophiles from of our newest members of the planet – of which I am one.

With all of the screen time activities available for both children these days, an interest in reading has all too often taken a back seat to more passive activities involving a screen. I know, I know, video games are hardly passive, but it’s a rare screen activity that both provides information and develops imagination. So, I’m a reading buff.

I tried to instill that love in my son at the very earliest age…that is when he was an infant. I spent those hours and hours of down time, in between nursing and frantically trying to squeeze in my work, reading everything I could about child rearing. I discovered that whenever I read a brightly colors book with pictures of babies, he was happy to “read” along.

This lead to months of reading board books to my infant and then longer and harder books. It has lead to my haunting library book sales, yard sales and used book stores trying to find books on every subject under the sun. it has lead to a house filled with children’s books.

For years he would spend hours at a time (OK. Not hours, who am I kidding?) leafing through the stacks of books that lie in every corner of the house. Now he reads by himself, but…also just looks at the pictures.

This has lead to my not always subtle query, “Did you read it or just look at the pictures?” Often the answer, is, “I just looked at the pictures.” This, I must say, frustrates me.

But, I’ve come to terms with it. My goal was perhaps not necessarily to create a bibliophile, but to raise a child who loves books – or is that the same thing? If a child loves to look at the pictures as well as read, is that bad or is it a sign that he knows information is be found there? And perhaps that’s a good thing. It sure beats relying on the often misleading information on the web.

When he finally does start doing research on the web, I’ll have to instruct him, as I do the college students I teach, that there are facts, opinions, gossip and blatant untruths on the web…and how to tell the difference.

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