Growing a Green Family » Grow Green Kids

Plan a green birthday party for your child

Jennifer Chait — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:30:11 +0000

If you have little ones, at some point you’ll be having a birthday party or two, so why not plan an eco-friendly event? Following are some simple ways to keep your child’s birthday party green and fun.

Green your birthday party invites: If possible, send electronic birthday party invitations by email vs. paper invites via snail mail. If you go with paper, buy recycled invitations or print some out on your printer using recycled paper and refillable ink cartridges.

Image by Flickr User clevercupcakes

Green your child’s cake: Always go organic and to cut down on costs, go ahead and bake it yourself. If a cake seems too hard, try easier cupcakes in reusable silicone baking cups. If even cupcakes seem crazy hard, consider going with organic birthday cookies. Place natural or edible decor atop the cake vs. little toss-away plastic toys.

Green your candles: Instead of smoky wax, try some pretty and less toxic beeswax birthday candles atop the cake.

Green your food: If you’re serving food for the kids, go organic and as healthy as possible, while still keeping it fun. For example, my son’s birthday is coming up, and I’m letting the kids make homemade organic pizza with wheat crust. I’ll also serve cut organic veggies and fruit, plus some sort of organic juice. We do this sort of fare every year and the kids eat it up. Healthy is perfectly okay.

Green your party favors: Bags of plastic junk are lame and no good for the planet. Choose better, greener favors that will get used up and actually enjoyed, like Crayon Rocks, recycled drawing pads and recycled smencils, organic flower seeds, homemade play dough or a small LED light.

Image by Flickr User sushi_zume

Green your fun: Active or nature fun is perfect for kids. A sun paper art kit is a great outdoor summer party activity. You can also throw a nature scavenger hunt, plan some eco-friendly art projects, have a eco-friendly cookout or let the kids sleep outside in a tent.

Green your theme: You can easily plan an outdoor active party in the spring or summer, a tree planting party anytime or take all the kids somewhere cool like a Farmers’ Market or a national park.

Image by Flickr User bearbooandyumyum

Green your decor: Make your own decor when possible or use a previous year’s decor items. Hang recycled paper lanterns or use recycled luminaries. Always skip the balloons as they’re no good for the planet or animals when let off into the wild. Use nature decor like flowers and leaves. Use real dishes not paper and cloth napkins.

Green your gifts: First, go simple. Kids don’t need a million gifts. A few nice, well-thought out gifts will do. If you can choose green toys and gifts. You may want to consider a gift with an active nature slant or a cool DIY gift. Secondly, wrap those gifts right in recycled birthday wrap or get creative and use newspaper or other used items (like a scarf) to wrap with.

Healthy & Green Lifestyle Series: Childhood Weight, Food and Activity

Jennifer Chait — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:39:40 +0000

This year I’ve been working on a series about healthy food and other food issues, exercise and activity, the pressing childhood obesity epidemic and more.

Image by Flickr User Bruce Tuten

All of the posts in this series relate to healthy kids, with a focus on these main topics:

How to be more involved in what and how your kids are eating.
How to recognize and deal with food and activity problems in your home.
How to deal with any food and exercise issues that may be holding you back as a good parent.

The overall goal of this series is for parents to gain the tools to raise kids who are allowed to and able to make healthy and green choices for a lifetime. Following, I’ve broken this series down into more manageable chunks…

If you like, bookmark this page, as I’ll be updating it as the series continues.

Start Here

Image by Flickr User guy schmidt

Understanding Food & Activity Issues in America

Parents in Denial

Health Consequences of an Overweight or Obese Childhood

Healthy Meal Tools

Affordable Healthy Meals

Healthy Activity Tools

Get Over Your Fear of Kids Being Kids – so they can be more active

Parenting Food Fails + How to Solve Them

Image by Flickr User woodleywonderworks

Legal and Public Issues Surrounding Food and Activity

Extras

Saving Money with Reusable Cloth Diapers

Jennifer Chait — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:29:11 +0000

Here at Growing a Green Family we’re looking at how to save $50,000 by going green. In case you’re curious, so far we’ve managed to save $13,761.00, just by taking some basic green actions. That does leave us $36,239 left to go, but cloth diapers should cut a nice big chunk off of this figure.

Image by Flickr User simplyla

How many disposable diapers will you need?

The average newborn baby can speed through 12 diapers in a single day. Older babies and toddlers use less, but still average around 6 to 10 diaper changes a day. That’s a whopping total of 7,500-8,000 disposable diapers over 2.5 years. However, many babies are in diapers longer. Still, for the purpose of this post, we’ll assume you toilet train one of your children super fast.

How much will all these disposable diapers cost you?

It sort of depends on which diapers you use. This being a green blog, I suggest you use the least toxic disposable diapers possible. I’ll be using Seventh Generation Free and Clear Baby Diapers because they’re probably the most popular less toxic disposable diaper around.

Seventh Generation Free and Clear Baby Diapers

Below are typical diaper prices, if you buy in bulk, along with the sizes you’ll need for various baby ages – although note, the sizes are only average estimates. Some babies run bigger or smaller of course.

Newborn diapers – up to 10 lbs – 25 cent per diaper (1 mos to 1.5 mos) – 12 diapers a day – 540 diapers = $135
Stage 1 diapers – 8-14 lbs – 20 cent per diaper (1.5 mos to 4 mos) – 10 diapers a day – 750 diapers = $150
Stage 2 diapers – 12-18 lbs – 25 cent per diaper (5 mos to 7 mos) – 8 diapers a day – 480 diapers = $120
Stage 3 diapers – 16-28 lbs – 18 cent per diaper (8 mos to 23 mos) – 8 diapers a day – 3,600 diapers = $648
Stage 4 diapers – 22-37 lbs – 32 cent per diaper (2 years+) or Stage 5 diapers – 27+ lbs – 37 cent per diaper (2 years+) depending on your kid – 5 diapers a day – 750 diapers = $255

Total diapers needed – 6,120 for one kid, 12,240 for two kids.

Total cost = $1,308 for one kid, $2,616 for two kids.

You’ll also need some Seventh Generation Chlorine Free Training Pants (55 cent per pant). We’ll assume one of your kids potty trains fast, by age 2.5 and the other not until 4. For the first child you’ll need about 5 months of training pants, along with regular diapers, or about $247 worth of training pants. For the second child, you’ll need about $1,133 worth of training pants. That’s a total of $1,380.

Total diapers + training pants for two kids = 14,749

Total costs for two kids = $3,996

Keep in mind that research shows that the average family, with two kids will go through 16,000 diapers, so there’s a good chance I underestimated price.

How many cloth diapers will you need?

Again it depends on what sort of cloth diaper you use. In this case, I’m going with ease of use, which for me, means you use all-in-one-cloth diapers or a hybrid, which are a little more expensive, but also easier than traditional pre-fold cloth diapers. Some choices include:

Once you choose a brand, you’ll need to choose sizes and amounts. I suggest going with real sizes, not one-size-fits-all, mainly because fit can be iffy. To read more about how to choose the best cloth diapers, I suggest reading Eco-nomical Baby Guide, which has an excellent cloth diaper section, or you can simply read Cloth Diapering Myths to get started.

gBaby Bundle

Overall, say you use gDiapers with reusable inserts. You’ll need about 6-8 little gPants per size (small, medium and large). You can get the gBaby Bundle which comes with 12 tiny gPants, 6 small gPants, 80 gRefills and a swishstick for just $125. Then you’ll also need 8 gDiapers Little gPant Diaper Covers Medium ($136), gDiapers Little gPant Diaper Covers Large ($79) and 3 or so packs of reusable gDiapers Cloth Diaper Inserts ($79). Plus probably an extra 6 or so diapers along the way ($79). Total cost for the gDiaper system = $498.00.

Now, if you go with another brand, like FuzziBunz Perfect Size Diaper, you’ll need about 12 small, 12 medium and 12 large diapers. That’s a total cost of $577.

If you don’t want to work too hard, you could also go with a mega set, such as the GroVia Live Package ($349), which pretty much allows you to cloth diaper your baby for his entire childhood so long as you add 24 extra shells ($196). Charlie Banana is also easy, as they offer quick sets with 6 reusable diapers + 12 reusable inserts. Once you buy all the sets you need, it’ll be about $600.

You won’t need training pants, as larger size cloth diapers double up as both diapers and trainers.

Charlie Banana cloth diapers

Other supplies you’ll need for cloth diapering:

A few wet bags, which hold wet cloth diapers and inserts on the go, such as Itzy Ritzy Zippered Wet Bag – $36 for two.
A bin for wet and icky diapers – same cost as the garbage can you’re using for disposables.
Disposable inserts some of the time (maybe) when out and about or on a trip. $34+ depending on how often you use them.
A book about how to use and care for cloth diapers. Again, I suggest Eco-nomical Baby Guide – $14.
Water for washing and laundry soap. You can use basic, natural laundry soap and cold water. You’ll wash maybe every two days or so. I’m not figuring in this cost because you’ll also spend money on gas to go and get disposables, plus extra garbage fees to toss those disposables, so I’m guessing it all evens out.

Total diapers needed for cloth diapering – about 36, although most people collect a few more. Plus you’ll need reusable inserts – about 24 to 30. If you use disposable inserts, you’ll need more and it’ll cost more, but I suggest reusable inserts on most occasions.

Total cost of cloth diapers – it varies depending on brand, but on average about $556 plus supplies = $636.

Note that this is a high estimate in my opinion. You can easily pick up gently used all-in-ones at your local thrift store or baby consignment shop. Seriously, we’re talking $1 to $2 diapers, which would bring your costs down considerably. You can also register for cloth diapers for your baby shower.

Plus, don’t forget, cloth diapers will last through both kids. Assuming you need to replace some diapers and inserts, which you will, your total cloth diaper costs should only be around $700-$800 if you splurge and $120 – $300 if you really shop around at consignment stores. If you use basic pre-fold diapers, you’ll save too.

Here are some more cost comparisons of cloth diapers – what real parents spend, cost of cloth diapers and cost savings of cloth diapers.

Comparing costs

Overall, if you have two children, you’ll spend $3,996+ on disposable diapers. If you go with cloth you’ll spend about $300 to $636 for both kids that’s a savings of $3,360 for two kids. Even if you totally go nuts and splurge on all sorts of adorable reusable cloth diapers, plus buy brand new for both kids you’ll still save around $2,724.

Image by Flickr User IngaMun

PLUS…

Beyond cost benefits you’ll be helping the planet. Most research suggest that 250 to 500 years is a conservative guess as to how long disposable diapers will sit in the landfill after you toss them and most conventional disposable diapers are 100% gross. They’re stuffed with icky SAP, pesticides, perfume, latex, chemicals and plastic (made with non-renewable oil) and other junk.

Where we’re at right now…

Save $3,360 by using cloth diapers
Save $835 per kid by using to reusable baby wipes
Save $1,612 by using homemade green cleaners
Save $2,960 by having a less consumer Christmas
Save $1,000 by ditching paper towels
Save $1,354 by using cloth napkins
Save $6,000 by switching to reusable water bottles

TOTAL SAVINGS SO FAR: $17,121.00

$ left to save: $32,879

Green Review: Artterro Art Journal Kits

Jennifer Chait — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:40:48 +0000

We’re in the middle of our Artterro Eco Arts & Crafts Giveaway so I wanted to fill you in on one of the great prizes, the Artterro Art Journal Kit.

Use:

Crafty free-form fun that allows imaginative kids (or adults) to explore their artistic creativity through art journaling. Available in many different colors as shown above.

Cost:

A super affordable $12.95 at the Artterro online shop.

Eco-perks:

For general information on the eco-perks of these art kits, please read my Artterro company review, which discusses materials, eco-benefits and other stuff about the company. With only very minor cons, I gave this company 5 out of 5 trees, a perfect score. These art journals are made with eco-friendly materials. You can see a run-down of the sorts of eco-materials used by Artterro at their website.

Art Journal Kit

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Unique artist quality custom paper

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Custom paper choices

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Beautiful paper designs

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Easy and free-form instructions to inspire kids

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Art journal in the making

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Various directions included

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Tons of supplies and handy folder included for one low price

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What’s this art journal all about?

The Arttrro Art Journal is a wonderful, cost-friendly craft idea. Artterro has teamed up with Strathmore Artist Papers to create a these unique art journals. Kids may learn and experiment with fun doodling, drawing and collage techniques with the help of some inspiring materials.

Each Art Journal Kit Includes the following: Spiral-bound 6.5 x 8 journal with solid book board cover to personalize, 14 inspiring project pages, 5 pages of beautiful handmade decorative papers, 6 solid colored papers, artist-quality drawing paper, and a handy pocket folder to store pictures, scraps and found images.

Your family provide: Pens, pencils, markers, scissors, glue and any other art materials you choose.

Best perks of this art journal

When this journal first arrived both my 10-year-old son and my partner’s 13-year-old daughter thought it was a very cool idea. My son is already a fan of blank drawing books, doodling books and creative journals, such as Wreck This Journal so it didn’t really shock me that he felt this journal was an excellent idea, but he commented specifically about how he liked the prompts and unique paper choices.

I liked how the paper was high quality and gorgeous and I love the idea that no two kits are alike, meaning siblings or best friends will get different choices to experiment with. Or, if your child goes thorough one journal, you could always get him or her another without fear of the exact same paper.

Best of all, the affordable price was well below what most eco-art journals cost too, which was an excellent perk. In fact, I haven’t seen a free-form eco-art journal under $20 ever, so this is fun every family can afford to enjoy.

I couldn’t find any cons associated with this journal and neither could my kids. We all thought this would make a great green gift for just about anyone.

Beyond art journals, Artterro offers a huge wonderful selection of other eco-art kits. Read two of my reviews below:

Overall Score

Five out of five little trees! This is a great journal if you’d like to encourage your child to think up creative art projects on his own but while using eco-materials. The beautiful papers will entice anyone’s imagination and you can’t beat the low price. I highly recommend this for schools or as a gift for any child.

See my green product rating system and green product rating criteria or read more green product reviews.

How to cut screen time and get your kids outside

Jennifer Chait — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:31:18 +0000

I recently wrote, 50 things I did outside as a kid that didn’t kill me, a post that got me thinking about how come I did all this cool stuff outside, but kids today don’t. I think it’s due to two major issues – screens and parent comfort with the outside world.

Photo © Flickr user N8tr0n

Kids are glued, almost literally, to screens nowadays from television to computers to Kindle to cell phones and other screens. Research backs this up and also shows that screen addiction results in some health and social consequences.

Anyhow, I’ve been pondering the situation and I’ve tried to come up with some ideas that will get your kids outside and active vs. constantly sedentary. Later I’ll be posting a challenge about this, since screen time and activity is something we need to work on in my own house. But first, some tips…

Photo © Flickr user KellBailey

Admit that the world is safe to explore

As I noted in that 50 things I did outside as a kid that didn’t kill me post, many parents are scared about letting their kids roam outside on their own. As a kid, I wandered around all the time on my own, as did my peers, and statistically, there was more crime in the 70s and early 80s than now. We survived.

I think about what life would have been like had my mom (or some other adult) shadowed my every movement as a kid and the first thing that pops into my mind is yikes! What a downer. Life would have been considerably less fun had I never gotten any free kid time. I imagine that kids today maybe don’t mind as much, because they’re not used to exploring on their own. Still, I bet many would give their teeth to be allowed some awesome wandering time outside or at a mall or in a big city.

Admit to yourself and your kids that there are bad people and bad times, but for the most part, people are okay. Bad things don’t always happen. Life should be an adventure. If you’re brave enough to accept that being outside is safe and fun, maybe your kids will too.

For help coming to terms with the fact that the world is mostly safe, read the following:

New & Somewhat Healthier USDA School Lunch Guidelines

Jennifer Chait — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:50:33 +0000

Supposedly, school lunches are going to be getting a healthy makeover. At least, that’s the rumor circulating around first lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Also rumored is that the first lady is running into some problems because last year congress blocked the Agriculture Department from making healthy changes such as limiting french fries and pizzas. Also, the new rules will costs states some cash, when really states have little to spare. In fact, the new standards are expected to cost $3.2 billion over the next five years.

This is the very first time in 15 years that the USDA is making and major changes to school meals.In any case, a little change is better than no change at all, although I won’t believe it’s happening until I hear more and see better school lunches in action.

The new final rule standards were just released today. Key points include…

Offering both fruits and vegetables every day of the week
Increasing offerings of whole grain-rich foods.
Offering only fat-free or low-fat milk varieties.
Limiting calories based on the age of children being served to ensure proper portion size.
Increasing the focus on reducing the amounts of saturated fat, trans fats and sodium.

Check out a sample lunch menu (pdf) with a before and after comparison. In honor of the changes, let’s take a look back at some past Growing a Green Family school lunch posts:

What’s wrong with school lunches

Pack your own:

Image via USDAgov

Is it safe to let your kids play outside alone?

Jennifer Chait — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:15:05 +0000

As I noted in that 50 things I did outside as a kid that didn’t kill me post, plenty of parents today are too scared to allow their kids any freedom when it comes to outside play. In fact, the Kids Fighting Chance website notes that a recent study of parents’ worries by pediatricians at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, showed that nearly 3/4 of parents said they feared their children might be abducted and 1/3 of parents said this was a frequent worry, greater than that held for any other concern, including car accidents, sports injuries or drug addiction.

Do you let your five-year-old go to the park alone?

As a parent, you need to get the facts and pass them on to your kids, because it’s not just parents who are scared of this world, but kids too. You don’t need to dwell on and relate the super scary facts you see on cop shows and the news, but the real hard core facts about safety in today’s world.

But kids are kidnapped!

This is true. Some kids are victims of horrid crimes. But very few.

The U.S. Justice Department released a huge report on U.S. child abduction (pdf) in 1999, and noted that during their study year, there were an estimated 115 stereotypical kidnappings, i.e. what we’d call stranger kidnappings. In 40% of such kidnappings the child was killed. In another 4% the child was never recovered. That leaves 56% of kids recovered, meaning, about 50 children are kidnapped never to be seen alive again. Teens, not young children were most frequently abducted.

Of course, those statistics are from 1999. Are more kids being kidnapped now? Some news reports state crazy stuff like 800,000 children disappear every year, but dig deeper into statistics and you’ll find that still very few (still only about 115) kids fall into that stranger-danger kidnapping category. Most child-minded organizations admit readily that cases of stranger-based kidnappings are extremely rare.

Obviously, even one child kidnapped is terrible. Plus, as Free Range Kids points out, it doesn’t much matter that just 50 kids are kidnapped, never to be returned each year, the bigger concern is that most parents think along the lines of, “My kid could be one of those 50.”

However, if you’re so worried about stranger danger that you keep your kids near you and inside at all times, you’d also better be aware of all the other dangers out there in the world.

Your child is more likely to be the victim of…

Fact: Your child is far more likely to be killed by a car crash, a pool, a parent-caused birth defect or your own home than kidnapped and killed by a raving maniac while playing outside.

Injuries suffered in a motor vehicle traffic crashes, not murder, is the leading cause of death among children in the United States. In fact, the CDC states that each day eight teens die in a crash. U.S. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics show that every single day in the United States, an average of 4 children age 14 and younger are killed and 529 are injured in motor vehicle crashes.

Deaths from fires and burns are the fifth most common cause of unintentional injury deaths in the United States (CDC 2006) and the third leading cause of fatal home injury (Runyan 2004). Four out of five U.S. fire deaths occur in homes, not outside, and kids are in a high risk group.

The CPSC estimates that about 300 children under the age of 5 years drown each year in home swimming pools. Additionally, CPSC points out that almost all child victims “Were being supervised by one or both parents when the swimming pool accident occurred.“

Radon gas affects 8 million homes a year and kills 20,000 in the USA alone annually.

The CDC notes that currently about 1 in 8 pregnant women in the United States reports alcohol use and because of that the March of Dimes notes that up to 40,000 babies are born with FASDs annually.

American Association of Poison Control Centers notes that 1.25 million kids younger than six years of age are unintentionally poisoned in the home each year by common household products.

Last year, a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found more than 1.7 million children live in homes with loaded and unlocked guns and it’s also been reported that there are about 500 child deaths per year due to accidental gun shootings.

According to The Consumer Products and Safety Commission reports over 230,000 toy-related injuries are treated at U.S. emergency rooms annually.

Year after year unintentional injury is the leading cause of death among children in the U.S. NOT kidnapping.

If you’re really hell-bent on protecting your child, then seriously, don’t ever take your child out in your car. Don’t take him to a swimming pool. Don’t give him toys. Don’t allow him to be inside too long, because he might die in a house fire or eat poison.

What happens when kids aren’t allowed outside freedom

Kids miss out on basic rights, such as forming fun childhood memories and making mistakes.
Kids don’t learn how to be brave.
Kids face health consequences such as obesity and other illnesses.
Kids loose out on all the major benefits of free play.
Kids can’t figure out how to entertain themselves or figure out what to do when a screen isn’t available.
Kids miss out on “nature buffers” which have been shown to protect children against the effect of stressful life events.

If you really can’t drop the kidnapping issue, consider that research shows that street-smart kids are less likely to be abducted. Kids cannot, no matter what you think, develop street smarts while sitting safely inside.

Sure, teach your kids basic safety rules. Wear a helmet. Look before crossing the street. Don’t go places with people you don’t know. However, don’t teach your kids that the world will kill them if they step into it. That’s not only a lie but it’s created a society of kids who don’t value outside fun and who have no clue what to do with themselves when they’re on their own.

It is safe and beneficial for your child to play outside alone.

If you’re looking for a good video about “strangers” check out The Safe Side. It encourages safety but not fear and discusses “People we know well” and “People we don’t” vs. “Terrifying strangers.” I thought this video was great and especially liked that it encourages kids to be smart and safe, but not freaked out. If you can’t chill out, read Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry) – it’ll help I promise.

50 things I did outside as a kid that didn’t kill me

Jennifer Chait — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:57:31 +0000

Kids are pretty darn sheltered these days. On Facebook I once posed the question to some parents, “At what age is it safe to let kids play alone outside?” The answers I got freaked me out. Parents posted stuff like, “14, 18 years of age” or “Never.” Very few parents said they allowed their kids outside time without a parent at all, at any age. Even fewer parents said they allowed kids under the age of 12 alone time outside.

Do you let your five-year-old go the park alone?

It’s shocking. Not only do kids get almost no time outside they seem to get literally no time away from their parents. In fact, research shows that just 6% of kids ages 9-13 play outside alone. This is almost cruel in my opinion. Kids need nature. Kids need to be outside. Kids need to explore. Kids really, really need free play sans adults.

In some cases parents halt free play in favor of academics. In other cases parents halt free play because it’s easier to say yes to video games and TV. In a majority of cases though, I’ve seen parents halt free play because they’re scared to let their kids out of their sight. It’s a disservice to kids to be so scared of the world that outside play becomes a hazard. The world isn’t perfectly safe, but it’s not a big fat danger either. Not if you talk to your kids about basic safety rules.

My mom was far from perfect. However, she did give me outdoor freedom. She told me about stranger danger and advised me to look both ways before crossing a street. She liked when I was playing with friends, but also understood that sometimes I needed alone time. Because my mom was good in this respect I had a childhood full of normal healthy outdoor risks and adventures.

In fact, here are 50 things I did as a kid, before the age of 16 (WITHOUT an adult present) that didn’t get me killed, kidnapped or otherwise scarred for life…

Planned to build a clubhouse and sort of followed through using nails and (gasp) hammers.
Play acted movies out with my friends.
Kissed a neighbor boy.
Ran in the rain without a coat.
Climbed a million trees.
Walked 20 blocks to a corner store for soda and candy.
Rode my bike on very busy streets all over town.
Built stuff out of rocks, mud and other nature items.
Swam at my neighborhood pool without parents present – before 12 with a lifeguard, after 12 no lifeguard.
Jumped out of trees from way up high.
Biked without a helmet – not just in my neighborhood either. I used to sneak out and ride on the rural highway.
Tied a bunch of bikes and wagons together to make a parade.
Climbed on my friend’s roof (second story).
Played street football and baseball.
Jumped on a trampoline.
Sat in my friend’s hot tub sans adults.
Picked up stray cats.
Did cartwheels off a pool diving board.
Jumped off a pool diving board while sitting in a patio chair.
Got inside a pillowcase or old box and went stair sledding.
Played hide and seek at night.
Walked around a big city, shopping, looking, etc. with young friends.
Explored my neighborhood and other places.
Jumped in the rain and in puddles.
Went hiking, got lost. Got found.
Dangled into a sewer to get my Barbie doll who fell in.
Played monster – a tag game where the “IT” kid had to hit other kids with a plastic bat.
Rolled around in pink insulation in the outdoor playhouse my friend’s dad was building.
Did somersaults on concrete.
Rode tire swings with way too many friends.
Stayed outside too long in snowy weather.
Stayed outside too long in hot weather – didn’t drink water.
Went downtown on the bus to go to a music concert.
Cooked over a campfire.
Went to visit neighbor friends, starting at the age of four, who lived houses and houses away.
Climbed rocks.
Threw rocks and had some thrown at me.
Ran off alone at city parks, sometimes with friends, sometimes not.
Ran near the ocean.
Rode horses.
Got in fights and roughed it up with other kids.
Went swimming in rivers and lakes.
Picked and ate berries off of neighborhood bushes.
Played on splintery old playground equipment.
Slept outside with other kids, no adults. Suburban camping!
Slipped on a Slip & Slide.
Rode public transportation alone, no parents. Often at night.
Went on long night walks.
Had snowball fights.
Walked to and from school alone – I lived about 10 blocks away.

Do I recommend your kid jump into a pool while sitting on a patio chair, throw rocks or dangle into sewers? No, these are stupid things to do. I could have been really, seriously hurt. Yet, I wasn’t.

Keep in mind:

I didn’t always live in safe neighborhoods as a kid. Sometimes we lived in pretty sketchy areas. I never, not once in my childhood, required doctor’s care due to an accident from playing outside. I’ve never had a broken bone, or even stitches. Even so, if I had experienced accidents, I’d still be glad I had all that outdoor time. Kids need to make mistakes and sometimes fall down. That’s life.

The new depressing version of childhood

It’s incredibly depressing to me to think about all the kids in this generation who will look back on their childhood as a time when they sat and sat and sat, safe and secure in front of computers and the TV. These are kids who won’t get the chance to learn how to be alone or how to be free to explore their world. Plus, a sedentary childhood can lead to all kinds of health and mental problems. It’s very depressing.

If you’re having trouble wrapping your head around this issue, I highly suggest you read Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry). This is one of my favorite books and can really help if you’re too worried to let your child be an explorer.

What did you do as a kid that didn’t kill you? What are you allowing your kid to do now, alone, outside that also won’t likely kill him? Share in the comments.

Top Eco-friendly Books for Green Families

Jennifer Chait — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:14:28 +0000

If you’re scrounging for last-minute holiday gifts, a good book can’t be beat and is easy to find, even last-minute, so long as you have a local bookstore in town. I’ve reviewed many books, and below are some of my favorites – all are perfect for growing green families too!

If you’re looking for some books for a family that loves to prepare food together, check out my list of green and healthy cookbooks. There are also some books around that I haven’t reviewed yet, but I have read and recommend, that will also make great gifts, such as:

Some green-minded books for the kiddos:

My son disqualifies me from mentioning childhood obesity

Jennifer Chait — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:56:34 +0000

As you may have noticed, I’m writing a series on the childhood obesity epidemic and family health related to food choices and exercise. After I posted, signs your child may be overweight, I got an email from an individual who apparently noticed a picture of my son on the Growing a Green Family Facebook page, then decided to write. The email wasn’t snotty or mean, but it did say that I should be quiet, since I’m not the parent of an overweight child, thus I have no clue what it’s like.

It’s a valid comment. I’ve felt the same way myself in the past. My son is shy (slow to warm) and I don’t love it when parents with outgoing kids offer me advice about how to “fix” my kid and make him less shy. I tend to think, “Be quiet you – with your totally outgoing child!”

Also, it’s true, my son is not overweight. Obviously I don’t understand what it’s like to be the parent of an overweight child. That said, I don’t agree that I should keep quiet, because overweight kids is a topic that has not only become extremely relevant to many parents but it does affect everyone.

Childhood weight is not purely about numbers on a scale. It’s about healthy food options, parenting choices, exercise, advertising in America, the economy, the fact that weight issues are so misconstrued by families and the media and much more, not to mention, the health of your own child. All of these issues do affect me. For example…

Weight issues do affect me:

When Cedar was one and a half, his pediatrician told me that Cedar was too thin, although he was eating well, very active and otherwise healthy. Cedar’s dad is very tall and was always slender growing up, so I always assumed genetics may have played a role in my son’s body type – tall and slender. But it didn’t stop that pediatrician from bugging me about Cedar’s thin stature. Was I actually feeding this kid, was I making him do laps? I have no clue what the doctor thought, but until I changed to a much cooler pediatrician who got that my son was just really active, thus likely burning calories quickly, I felt like a crummy parent for a while, and it was due to weight issues.

As a kid and teen my own mom was 100% weight obsessed (she was diagnosed with anorexia). Although I was actually very slender, I wasn’t thin enough for my mom’s liking. I was told over and over that if I lost 10 pounds I’d be just perfect. My mom’s belief was that thin equals pretty and good while fat equals ugly and bad. I’d see my mom make fun of overweight people and panic, thinking, that could be me. Add to that all the super skinny girl images I saw in magazines, and well, it did seem like I could never be too thin.

I feel insanely lucky that I managed to grow up free from any major eating disorders or insane passed on beliefs, but I didn’t feel really comfortable with my body until my 20s, and even now these issues nag at me sometimes. Often I think, “Hey, if I just lost those ten pounds…. life would be perfect.” Of course I’m wrong.

Honestly, with how America is so weight obsessed, I’d be surprised to meet someone who hasn’t been affected by this issue.

Food issues do affect me:

I have to make the same hard food choices that all parents do. I’m not immune because my son is thin. Food is about portions and calories, sure, but it’s also about balance, cooking time, variety, costs and for me, a green parent, packaging and organics too. I struggle, change things up and make food mistakes just like every parent.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m also stuck with the ultimate picky eater. I’m lucky in that Cedar eats healthy, but he’s also a complainer when it comes to food. He likes the same stuff over and over. Rarely anything new and god forbid nothing mixed. Getting my kid to eat right, as I also deal with his food finickiness is a major challenge, just like it is for other parents.

Food advertising affects me:

We don’t have cable television, but of course my son sees commercials at his dad’s house or learns about products from friends. Does Cedar ever ask for plastic toys, non-organic junk food, happy meals and other commercial nonsense? Of course he does.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating, marketing affect my son just like it affect every other kid. He’s not magically immune from commercialism because I’ve got some eco-values. I’ve had the hard discussions with him about why we aren’t going to buy the GMO-loaded cereal or the gross food colored candy, and while he’s pretty understanding, sometimes we still don’t see eye-to-eye.

Parenting choices and guilt affects me:

I’ve met parents who feel upset or guilty that their child is overweight. I haven’t been there, but I have been in the same sort of position. Cedar has had health issues that I’ve felt guilty over and had to make decisions about, such as, “Do we see the doctor or let the issue slide for a while?” I’d guess that whenever our kids are less than perfectly healthy, parents start to feel the brunt of the guilt involved, no matter if the issue is weight, crying jags, cavities, depression, shyness or so on.

As a parent there will be times when your kid isn’t 100% healthy and he needs your support to deal with the issue. Making hard choices about your child’s health is part of this parenting gig, whether or not you’re ready or if you really feel like it’d be easier to climb into a cave and hide.

No one wants to go to a doctor and say, “Help, my kid has such and such problem” while at the same time thinking, “Maybe I could have done something to prevent it” or “This doctor probably thinks I’m an idiot parent.” As the parent we do need to buck up and deal with said problem, but I’ll admit, stuff like this is not easy.

Activity affects me:

I’ve always hated formal exercise, but still, for years we’ve been pretty active as a family – taking walks, hiking, running around at the park and so on. This year though, we’ve been slackers. It’s been extra cold here in Oregon, plus this year I’m on the council at my son’s school which is keeping me busier than I already was. But these are just lame excuses.

Mainly we’ve just plain slacked. We could make time for hiking, but instead we’ve played more video games than usual, gotten out into nature less and failed to exercise enough and none of that makes me terribly proud.

One of my goals with this series is to get back to some healthier lifestyle choices in my own house. It’s not like I think we’ve made so many mistakes that we can’t go back, but seriously, our motivation is at an all-time low around here. I know this affects other families too.

Overweight kids affect me:

With one in three kids in this country being overweight it would be impossible to be immune to them. I’ve met parents who are in denial about their overweight kids. I’ve known overweight kids who are fed fast food most days of the week. I’ve listened to parents complain about their kids eating habits as I notice huge bags of chips and jugs of soda in that same parent’s kitchen. It affects me a lot when I see an overweight kid I know huff and puff their way across a park or eat 15 cookies at a time as their parent stands by watching them do so. It’s very hard when I imagine nice kids; kids my son and I like, sick and needing diabetes treatments in a few years.

During nursing clinicals and in social work jobs I’ve held, I’ve met many overweight children with already present weight-related health issues. Overweight kids aren’t just numbers on a scale. These are kids you like or care about. These are kids you’d like to see free from weight-related diseases.

I don’t understand what it feels like when your own child is overweight. I’ve always discussed food choices, weight, exercise and portions with my son since he was little, so I honestly can’t imagine having that first, “We need to get healthy and eat better” conversation with a possibly embarrassed and / or reluctant older child or teen. That said, my son, as noted above, is not immune to health or behavior issues. I’ve had to deal with some extremely hard parenting choices. If I didn’t deal with them I’m sure some other parent would say, “How come you haven’t dealt with such and such issue your son is having?” – and they’d be in the right.

This is a health issue that effects enough kids to have me very worried. I believe, without question, that when there’s a health issue that affects your child now and in the long-term, it’s something you need to deal with, hard or not. I believe this about any health issue, not just weight issues, but the fact that excess weight in childhood is now more prevalent than asthma, HIV, autism and many other diseases that affect kids, makes this particular issue seem very pressing.

To sum up: I want this country to be as healthy as possible. I want my son’s peers and extended family’s kids to be healthy as well. I also strongly believe that all kids deserve the chance to learn about how to make healthy lifestyle choices. I don’t believe that having a slender child relieves me from discussing this important issue. It’s an issue all parents should be thinking about and discussing with their kids.