Category Archives: Eco Friendly Parenting

Consumer Reports Blows It?

There’s a recent post on the Consumer Reports blog that has a lot of people pretty upset, and I don’t blame them. Their recommendations for what parents should NOT buy for their babies include two very popular products for attachment parenting – cosleepers and baby sling carriers.

Not specific brands of these products, cosleepers and slings in general.

The problem I have with this is that if they held other products to the same standards, they’d never recommend any products at all. Children get injured or even die in all kinds of products. Accidents tragically happen.

Babies get hurt or even die in car seats. In strollers. In cribs and cradles.

But no one attacks these as a category. They’re what we’re used to.

Cosleeping and using a sling can have risks, but if the parents learn the proper precautions they’re very safe. Both are practiced regularly in other cultures. Cosleeping in particular is dangerous mostly when done wrong, such as with excessive bedding or an intoxicated parent. Otherwise it helps the parents to be very aware of the baby’s breathing and sleep patterns. It even helps mothers to get more rest at night.

The fact that they’re quoting 4 deaths in 5 years for baby slings only serves to accent how poorly thought out the post is.

Tell us the brands that are unsafe and why; don’t just condemn the product as a class. That’s where Consumer Reports normally shines.

Should You Avoid Food Additives and Coloring?

As a rule, I like to cook from scratch. Mostly because I enjoy it, but also because I like knowing what goes into the foods I feed my family. That’s not to say I don’t allow any packaged foods at all; my husband remains hooked on boxed mac n’ cheese, and so the kids love it too. We also enjoy boxed cereals. But I do what I can to avoid convenience foods and prepared foods.

Frankly, I find obvious food coloring to be pretty gross and unnecessary. We eat so many things that are a very different color from what they would be naturally and have been trained to think that that is how they are supposed to look. Kind of ridiculous when you think about it.

There’s a lot to be said for trying to get away from food coloring. There’s some evidence, after all, that getting certain types of food additives and coloring out of a child’s diet may help with ADHD. Not in all cases, but sometimes there appears to be a connection. If I had a child with ADHD, that is certainly one possibility I would test before using medications.

ADHD isn’t the only problem. As noted in Healthy Child Healthy World , which I reviewed recently, MSG is associated with reactions such as headaches and changes in heart rate. I remember my grandmother being very careful to ask at restaurants about MSG because it gave her so many problems.

I do notice that I feel better when I eat food I made from scratch, and I don’t think that’s just due to liking my own style of cooking. No doubt that’s a part of it, but I firmly believe that there is also something to do with the freshness of the ingredients and lack of preservatives, food colorings and other additives.

I don’t even like to use premade spice blends. Too many of those have too much salt or other ingredients I don’t want.

It doesn’t matter to me that my kids don’t have ADD or ADHD or any other conditions that might be made better by getting additives out of their diets. I don’t need most additives in my food. My kids don’t need them. Neither does my husband, but it doesn’t bother him like it does me. Can’t win all the battles, know what I mean?

Sharing a Nest

My husband and daughter made a fun discovery on the walk to school last week – a huge crow’s nest that had blown down in the heavy winds the day before.

They took it to her class, to her classmates’ and teacher’s delight. It took my husband several minutes to get away. Something about bringing a nest that is about a foot and a half in diameter into a room full of first graders makes a man really popular. Maybe even more so than bringing a baby into the room.

That nest is still making the rounds at her school. We thought we’d be picking it up today, but it’s gone out to yet another teacher. We don’t mind, as all we want to do with it is drop it in the field to decompose as it would have if it hadn’t been discovered. It gets a bit smaller as it goes, just due to the wear and tear from being passed around. It’s been in at least 3 classrooms so far.

My daughter’s class had a lot of fun exploring the bits of eggshell that were still in the nest.

My one regret will be if we don’t get a picture of my daughter with the nest. That’s the one disadvantage to it being found on the way TO school. With a bit of luck we’ll see it again someday and it might still be in good enough condition to take a picture of my daughter holding it. She’s so proud of that find.

Teens Gone Green?

My kids are quite a bit too young for this one, but there’s a book about to come out that might be a welcome gift to any green teen you know. It’s called The Green Teen: The Eco-Friendly Teen’s Guide to Saving the Planet.

Obviously, I can’t review the book; it’s not out yet. But it looks promising. The description says it will give tips on making eco-friendly decisions on a tight budget and schedule and how to get concerns recognized by decision makers.

Given that kids these days are very aware of the need to help the environment, I’m glad to see a book like this coming out.

Parents, what other titles do you recommend for teens? What about younger children?

4 Places to Connect Online with Other Green Moms

It’s a lot of fun meeting other moms who want to be green while raising their families. But it’s not always easy. Life can keep you pretty busy.

That’s where I love finding other green moms online. It’s a way for me to interact with other moms and get ideas on my own schedule. Here are some tips on finding other green moms:

1. Search for green mom blogs on Google.

There are tons of green mom blogs out there, such as Green and Natural Mom Blog, Organic Mania, and Green and Clean Mom. Oh, and Green Stay at Home Mom of course, but you’re here already.

2. Join Twitter and look for other green moms.

If you know they’re members and know their name, you can search that way. Once you are following some people, you can follow Mr. Tweet and get suggestions from him or join Twitter Moms and find people who are in the environmental groups.

3. Green mom forums.

Various green sites also have forums where you can discuss the environment. Some are mom focused, while others are more generally environmentally focused. Try the Hippymom forum or the TreeHugger forum for more general environmental discussions.

4. Green mom Facebook groups.

Search Facebook with the term “green moms” and you’ll come up with a variety of groups to choose from. Most are pretty small, but that’s not always a bad thing. Just be careful if you don’t want to always have people selling to you. Many people take the opportunity to talk about their products.