Conscious Mom

Last Wednesday, in honor of spring, many people posted close-ups of flowers for Wordless Wednesday. That's not what spring looks like where I am so I prepared a series of photographs showing the progressive melting of the ice on the river in our backyard, surrounded by trees with barely-visible buds. However, Wordpress kept hounding me to upgrade to its latest version; and upgrade we did. Now every time I try to upload photos I get an error message telling me to try again later. This is just one of the many bugs/features in the new Wordpress (another being that I cannot figure out how to cross out text). The old version of Wordpress worked just fine; why the continual ...

I found this at Everyday Yogini. Here's a game to calculate your environmental footprint. I got a 2.7 (I think this means we would need 2.7 earths if everyone lived the way I did.) The big surprise was that my biggest impact was in my food choices. I never eat meat and rarely eat dairy so I was expecting that to be my 'greenest' category. Apparently my 14 cups of coffee per week is wreaking havoc on the biosphere; even organic, shade grown coffee has a big impact on the environment when it is shipped half-way across the world to my coffee cup.

Most of Maia's toys are presents from other people. People like to give little girls teddy bears and dolls. Maia has been given four dolls so far; three of them have been Caucasian, one has been African. The African doll is a beauty, traditionally dressed and adorned with earrings, bracelets, and beads. In other words, not something a 15 month old can play with, but perfect for an older child to treasure. It was my favorite present from her baby shower. Until she's old enough not to choke on the earrings, spit up on the dress, and bite off the fingers, it's displayed a shelf and she can see it at every diaper change. On the back of the package ...

I'm looking for advice here. If you have kids, and you've successfully navigated the holiday season, please read on and help me! Even though we're not Christian ourselves, our family is so we celebrate Christmas. My family isn't very religious, so Christmas was pretty much all about Santa Claus when I was a kid. But it was a wonderful excuse to gather together in large numbers, eat delicious food, and have fun. And give the kids presents, lots and lots and lots of presents. I don't want to deprive my daughter of presents, well, maybe I do. There's a huge downside to all this adult generosity and it is called 'bratty kid greed'. I see it in children who say 'where's ...

It all started this past March when I went to Kohl's to find some clothes for my about-to-be adopted baby. I quickly realized I was in for a hard time when I saw they were only selling summer clothes. Who buys a season ahead for a baby? I then discovered there were two design schemes for the infant wardrobe: pink with butterflies and flowers, and blue with trucks and sports equipment. What's a socially-conscious, non gender-stereotyping mom to do? I managed to find one yellow outfit with a giraffe theme, and bought a pink flowery number which I balanced with a blue outfit with 'Daddy's Little Sport' emblazoned on the front. On the way to the register I took a ...

The Better World Shopping Guide by Ellis Jones This is a handy little reference for anyone wanting to spend their dollars wisely. It is divided into purchasing categories, everything from airlines to gum and mints to wine, and grades the brands according to how environmentally and socially responsible they are. It also names a corporate hero and corporate villain for each category. Because the book is written mainly in chart form it would be very easy to take this along to the store to use while shopping. The reasons for each rating are explained and referenced. Especially useful are the overall 10 best and 10 worst company lists. In case you are wondering, the top three on the best list are Seventh ...

I've started a new category: kid causes. Kid causes will feature small charities and non-profits that are doing good things for kids (and sometimes adults) around the world. The first to be featured is Ethiopia's Finest, a non-profit selling fair trade Ethiopian coffee. Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, so it is like a coffee drinker's Mecca. The coffee is delicious, and the coffee available here is purchased from farmers who are paid a living wage and use sustainable agricultural techniques. The proceeds from the sales are donated to orphanages in Addis Ababa, including the one Maia lived in for three months.

You know those baby videos, the ones that claim to help a child learn faster? Apparently they do exactly the opposite. Researchers in Washington state compared language development in babies who watched those videos to those that don't. They found that babies who watched the videos knew substantially fewer words than babies who didn't. This concurs with what child development specialists (and aware parents) have known all along: babies learn through interaction with real live humans, not screens, no matter how bright and colorful those screens may be. The full article is here, and another one is here. And it turns out that something else we've suspected all along has further proof. Young children who watch ads for fast ...

I've been reading a lot recently about the importance of play in childhood. Over the years there's been a steady decline in the amount of spontaneous play time for children. TV, video games, fear of abduction, over-scheduling of children, reducing recess for test prep time have all had their effect. Now there are eight year-olds who don't know how to make up games, twelve year-olds who don't know how to enjoy themselves without structured entertainment, and an ever-dwindling national attention span. This is one of those times when I wish I were bringing up Maia in a different generation. I want her to have the same sense of freedom and timelessness that so many ...

Depressing news for today: Mattel and Bonnie Bell are developing a line of make up for 6-9 year old girls. Great, just what parents need, one more product pushing our daughters to grow up way before they are ready. A few months ago I was in Target and saw bras in sizes 4-6X (that's for ages 4-6, for those unfamiliar with girls' clothing sizes). To those who say parents should simply control what their children are exposed to, I wholeheartedly agree. But I also ask marketers and the media to allow me to exercise this control. Leave me a few places I can take my daughter where we are free of products, images, and characters designed to sell ...