Children and Chemicals October 30, 2008

It’s time to baby-proof your home.  What does the Pediatrician tell you?  Lock up those cleaning supplies!  That’s because every year hundreds of thousands of parents call poison control because their young child has drank or inhaled dangerous chemical cleaners. 

Here’s some better advice: replace those toxic cleaners with safe alternatives!  Did you know that your family is exposed to more VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) via conventional household cleaners when used as directed than via airborne exposure if you lived across the street from an oil refinery!?!  Yikes.  And while VOC exposure does not usually cause immediate life-threatening reactions, their cummulative damage is being felt in our society.

I just listened to clips from “A Conversation About Children and Chemicals” hosted this October with several experts and an Emmy award-winning journalist in Boston.  The peditrician shared sobering statistics about how many childhood diseases and disorders have dramatically increased in the past years.  Asthma (which is directly triggered by VOC’s) has doubled in the past 15 years to the point that it is considered epidemic.  We’ve also seen dramatic increases in childhood type 2 diabetes, autism and high blood pressure in children. 

What’s causing all this ill-health?  There are lots of theories. But, we know that unhealthy environmental conditions (VOC’s, plastic exposure, artificial fragrances) are contributing to the sad state of American health.  And, since there are environmental contributors, there are environmental solutions.

I encourage you to listen to “A Conversation About Children and Chemicals” and make changes to purify your home environment.

A dress for Mama October 28, 2008

I will confess that I’ve been in a bit of a fashion rut lately.  I guess I’ve just had so much on my mind that I haven’t had the energy to be inspired by fall’s new looks and work creatively with my wardrobe.  

So maybe with the economy and everything else, we all won’t be shopping as much this season.  Still, I think it’s worthwhile to have one or two outfits that really make you feel beautiful.  Doubly so, if you’re pregnant!  There’s not a pregnant woman on this earth who doesn’t have trouble at some point accepting the ongoing changes her body experiences those nine months.  And, then if you’re post-partum… well let’s just say it doesn’t necessarily get easier.

For me that feel-beautiful outfit will usually be a nice dress.  Dresses skim over troublesome spots at the middle and have an innate feminine allure that makes me feel less “mom” and more “woman”.  During the winter, I love to pair a dress with tall boots (as seen here in the picture currently on the EuphoriaMaternity.com homepage).  Add a long coat and some funky jewelry and take me to dinner.  Now, doesn’t that sound nice?  So, grab some boots, some tights and a dress, and look your best, mama!

P.S. My friends and I have been known to organize a group dinner date almost soley for the opportunity to go out in a nice dress.  Of course, the time with our husbands and social interaction sans-children is actually the most wonderful part of this experience.  I think it’s about time to put another social on the schedule.  Has it been a year already?!?

Tagless Clothing on the Outs October 27, 2008

The news has been out for awhile now, but lately articles are popping up just about everywhere about the dangers of tagless clothing.  It’s not an isolated incident - tagless clothes are causing chemical burns on children and even on some adults.  Parents have reported everything from red, sensitive skin to open, oozing wounds found on children just under the ”tag” of tagless clothes.   Something about the chemicals manufacturers use to stamp the “tag” is causing skin reactions that can be very painful and persistant even after clothes are washed.  If you haven’t done so already, stop buying clothes with tagless “tags”. 

Ironic, isn’t it, since the entire idea was to ensure our comfort?  Once again, the simple old-fashioned way turns out to be healthier and safer too.

Top 5 Eco-Switches that SAVE MONEY! October 25, 2008

With the economic uncertainty we’re all facing today, it’s time to adopt new habits that prevent wasted money and wasted resources.  Some folks feel that “going green” is for the wealthy.  Actually, many environmentally responsible practices are thrifty as well.  Here are my favorite changes I’ve made in the last year that have definitely saved my family money:

1. Glass Storage Containers:  What’s with ziplock bags?  Why not use something reusable and washable to store your leftovers?  I mean, sure, you can fit more into the fridge with ziplocks, but do you really want that many leftovers stuck in the fridge?  Are you really going to eat them before they go bad?  Using glass storage containers makes leftovers look appetizing.  In lieu of plastic storage containers, which leach toxins and get those ugly food stains, glass is eco-friendly, safe to microwave in and pretty too.  We stopped using plastic bags and started buying glass containers here and there.  Now we’re stocked with glass and saving money too!

2. Cleaning with Vinegar & Baking Soda:  When I first had that “aha” moment in which I realized that using conventional cleaning supplies was leaving a trail of toxins around my sparkling “clean” home, I started using Method cleaning products.  They say they’re safe and they’re packaged so nicely.  Well, cleaning with home-mixed vinegar and baking soda based products is really the way to go.  It’s easy and so, so, so cheap.  Learn how to Make Your Own Household Cleaners and start saving.

3.  Cloth Diapers:  It was about this time last year that I switched from disposables to cloth diapers.  My husband and I took a lot of convincing, but once we tried them, we never looked back.  Diapering with cloth is nicer, cheaper and not much more work.  Once you get in the habit of pushing that washing machine button a few more times a week, you wonder why it ever seemed to make sense to drive to the store and fork over hard-earned cash.  Check it out at Cloth Diapers Explained.

4.  Cloth Pads:  Alright, I’m coming out of the closet… I switched to cloth pads.  Ewwww… I know, I know, it sounds awful.  It’s not.  It’s nice.  Softer than paper, not scratchy like disposable pads.  Really, a lot more like underwear!  I was a tampon-only girl, but now I’m happier with cloth.  After all, if I’m going to wash diapers, why not pads?  My menstrual blood is natural, not some nasty abhorrent substance.  Anyhow, they’re cheap (about $10-12 each) or you can make your own so easily.  My mom and I made them with some old cotton flannel shirts.  Recycled and reusable.  Just think how much I’ll save on disposable menstrual products throughout my life!

5.  Oil Cleansing Method:  This is my latest switch.  I put aside my arsenal of facial products (cleanser, scrub, mask, toner, moisturizer, serum) for one little bottle of my homemade oil mix.  I use 20% castor oil and 80% sunflower seed oil to cleanse my face once per day or less.  Now my skin is balanced – not too oily, not too dry – and I’ve had annoying combination skin for ages.  It’s one less thing to do in the morning and it’s saving me oodles of money on cosmetics, which are so often of questionable safety (see Skin Deep: Cosmetic Database to check the safety rating on your cosmetics).

Made in China October 22, 2008

If you’re pregnant or nursing, you’re well aware that what you put in your body has the power to nurture or harm your baby.  Do you buy products Made in China?

The recent melamine scandal has given Americans one more reason to worry about the safety of products Made in China.   If you missed it, authorities found melamine in Chinese infant formula and milk products, which caused the deaths of four Chinese babies, the sickening of 54,000 Chinese babies and recalls world-wide of many international products that are made with Chinese milk (Cadburry chocolates, Nabisco Ritz cheese crackers and Lipton Green Tea). 

There has been a growing concern amongst American consumers about products Made in China, and for good reason.  It is sad, but true that China does not have a good track record.  According to this article in The International Herald Tribune:

“Chinese products have been failing food inspections for years. Hundreds of Chinese shipments have been stopped by inspectors in Europe, the United States and Asian countries in recent years because they contained banned chemicals or were unfit for consumption, government data show.

In the European Union alone, Chinese fish and shrimp were rejected because they contained fungicides, antibiotics or other banned drugs; dried fruit and vegetables were found to have more than the allowable level of the preservative sulfite; peanuts had excessive levels of fungus-related toxins; and packaged foods tested positive for heavy metals that leached from their packaging.

Although only the world’s eighth-largest exporter of food, China ranked in first place last year for the number of hazardous imports detected by regulators in the European Union. China had 352 notifications, its highest level ever, compared with 191 for the United States, which is the world’s largest agricultural exporter.”

I have been on the fence on the issue of buying products Made in China.  I hate to reject everything exported from China, because some things must be made safely and responsibly.  And, yet the simply truth is that authorities cannot possibly test all products for toxicity.  If a country does have a consistently bad track record, why am I willing to take the risk? 

As of today, I am off the fence.  Given the state of our economy, I say it’s time to make the effort and spend the cash to buy Made in the USA whenever possible.  If things are rocky at home, why send our money overseas?  We help ourselves by helping our neighbors who have continued to produce products in the USA despite higher costs due to paying a fair wage and not cutting corners on product quality.  Quality = safety.   What do you think?

Remaking Halloween October 21, 2008

What’s Halloween to you?  An adorable costume?  Pumpkin carving? Trunk or treat?  Candy… candy… candy?  When my oldest was a baby, we did Halloween like everyone else in America – make/buy a costume, do the fall festival featuring inflatable play structures or candy-earning games, trick or treat with a plastic pumpkin pail (I didn’t buy it!), etc.  Naturally, when the fun was over, we’d allow her to eat a few pieces of candy.  And then… the rest would disappear.  After all, she had collected enough candy to fuel a massive sugar-overload!

So, now Aria is almost 4 and I’m starting to think, ”Where are we going with this Halloween tradition?”  Do we want this treasured childhood holiday, this festival of the harvest, to become an orgy of candy and “how much can I get!?!”  Come to think of it, we don’t believe in excessive candy consumption and that IS what Halloween is about to most kids.  We can’t just make it disappear every year.  She’s bound to catch on real soon!  And what’s with the inflatable rides in the parking lot anyways? 

If Halloween is about harvest time, could we make it more natural?  I don’t know… do it at a farm or something?  Well, I’ve actually been thinking about this for a month or so, and I have some ideas.  We’re going to remake Halloween, while we still can! 

Step one:  Make it a friend holiday!  So many holidays are about family, and that’s great, but this one could be about friends!  We’ll invite our like-minded friends over for a Halloween party at our home (which happens to be an aspiring farm).  That will mean we can pumpkin-carve and play silly games with children and adults that we know and love, instead of strangers at a “harvest festival”. 

Step two: definitely MAKE the costume!  Kids love dressing up, and it is pure, healthy fun.  To foster true creativity, self-expression and to prevent waste, we’ll make our own costumes!  I’ll pull out the dress-up closet and get creative.  With face pencils and play silks, a lot can be done!  If I do buy something, it’ll be an open-ended item that I’ve wanted for our dress-up collection, not some “ladybug” onepiece outfit that no one is ever going to wear again.

Step three: Celebrate the harvest, not candy.  Make pumpkin cookies, zuccini bread and apple pie.  Sure, I might have some candy, but I’ll focus on celebrating with homemade food that appeals to people of all ages.  While we’re at it, I think we might read some autumn-inspired poetry and do a storytime for the kids that highlights the harvest.  Ohhh.. this sounds like fun!

My Finds from Palumba October 16, 2008

As I weed through our current playthings, I’ve been dreaming of a whole new room stocked with beautiful wooden toys, luminous playsilks and quality art supplies.  We really don’t need too much (restraint is key here), but there are certain Waldorf-inspired play ideas that feel so right for my family.  Besides doing a little shopping at my store (Liam is going to love these Cathedral Blocks!), I’ve been browsing all over the internet at zillions of Waldorf and natural toy stores.

Today I finally made a purchase at www.Palumba.com.  Palumba has a beautiful selection of natural toys (80% made in the USA; the others are crafted in Fair Trade Cooperatives) and is one of the very few Waldorf toy stores to offer free shipping.  In fact, Palumba was kind enough to give us a little extra incentive: 5% off with coupon code “euphoria”. 

Anyhoo, I purchased this rainbow child’s broom, which I’m sure my kids will LOVE.  They use one like it to sweep the porch at Grandma’s house any chance they get.  One of the tennets of Waldorf theory is that young children learn best by imitation.  Children are naturally drawn to toys that give them an opportunity to imitate real work.  And, these toys develop real skills too!  It’s not fancy, but they’ll love it.

I also splurged on this gorgeous silk play canopy called Morning Sun.  I think it will fit beautifully in Aria’s soft pink room.  This canopy  is a long piece of silk dyed in various shades of pink, orange and golden yellow.  It is traditionally draped over a Waldorf playstand, as shown, to create a special play space for little one’s to make all their own.  A playstand can be anything:  a castle, a kitchen, a store, a boat.  It’s one of the classic, open-ended Waldorf toys that I’d love to have.  Since they’re quite pricey and my husband does woodwork, he’s planning to make one for us sometime this winter.  Until then, we’ll see what fun we can have with this luxurious silk.  Given my daughter’s intense attachment to her nighttime silk blankie, I think this is going to be one of her favorite Christmas presents.  By the way, www.Palumba.com does sell playstands from Camden Rose, who makes the loveliest playstand on the market.

Last but not least, I purchased from Palumba some watercolor supplies that I’m just dyeing to use!  Waldorf schools everywhere use the wet watercoloring method.  The idea is that quality watercolor paints come alive to the young child when worked on wet paper.  For little ones, painting is about self-expression, self-discovery and the enjoyment of color, making the wet watercolor method ideal.  Besides having great paints (Stockmar is best!) and quality watercolor paper, it helps to have painting boards and paint jar holders to make things as easy and mess-free as possible.  I can’t wait for our supplies to arrive so that we can experiment with wet watercolor!

A Waldorf Toy Revolution October 14, 2008

 

In my house we’re having a Toy Revolution.  Mmm-hmm, that’s right.  Last year it was a diaper revolution (welcome cloth diapers).  Closely followed by a plastic revolution (goodbye BPA and pthalates).  Now, we’re rounding out our lifestyle with a Waldorf Revolution… which can be simplified (overly so) as a Toy Revolution.  Just in time for Christmas!

My little ones are almost 4 and 20 months.  Now is the time for change!  It’s little noticed.  In fact, I think that the growing mountain of reject toys is a bit more painful for me (I hate money wasted).  Anyhow, I am completely inspired by Waldorf’s standards of beautiful, natural and open-ended toys that allow room for the imagination and create a peaceful, nurturing play space. 

Sound wonderful?  Start small: take out all battery operated toys and those ugly plastic ones that your children play with rarely.  Think simple.  If the toy talks, moves for the child or is only able to be played with in one “correct” way (like, umm.. Leapfrog), it doesn’t allow the child to interact creatively.  The time for learning facts is not now.  Early childhood is the time to explore, imagine and dream.  Afterall, creativity is at the root of real genius and creating makes a family come alive. 

As I take toys out of the room, my children play more attentively with their favorites like legos, dolls and our wooden train set.  In fact, we’ve noticed that they are arguing less too, but that’s just pure luck, right?  Less toys means clean up is easy.  And, now we have room to add some good ones!  Next time I’ll share some wonderful new additions from quality art supplies to imaginative play.  Many of them I’m putting away for Christmas gifts.  It’s been a lot of fun!

Melamine Children’s Dishes – Safe or Toxic? October 9, 2008

Last year when I rid our house of BPA-plastics, I wondered about melamine children’s dishes.  You know, those hard plastic kids plates and bowls with cute painted designs?  They are what everyone uses for kid’s tableware.  Safe or toxic?

I scoured the Internet for info on the safety of melamine for children, but came up with few hard facts: melamine is NOT dishwasher safe or microwave safe (something about the heat can cause dangerous fumes), melamine dishes are a polymer (that means combo) of melamine and formaldehyde, and formaldehyde is a known carcinogen.  These few facts did not boost my confidence.  Since my thought is to err on the side of caution when it comes to man made chemicals and my children, I decided to donate the melamine.  Since then, my 3-year-old has been using ceramic plates (none broken yet!) and my toddler has been eating out of Bambu Bowls (available at EuphoriaBaby.com).

Now, months later, I received an interesting email from Healthy Child Healthy World.  They noted that the FDA states that no level of melamine is safe for infant formula.  Considering that the FDA thinks BPA-emitting plastics are safe (yah right!), this makes one wonder why they’re taking such a strong stand on melamine.  Any research will reveal that melamine leaches its constituents into food and beverages(especially those that are acidic or warm) when used.  In the past, experts have claimed that this chemical would be safe in small amounts.  However, those experts always seem to forget about the dangers of cumulative exposure and unpredictable reactions when different chemicals converge within the body.

This June, The National Toxicology Program declared that more research is needed on the safety of melamine and that a new public health recommendation needs to be developed.  I can see where this is going.  If you are still using your cute melamine dishes, you may want to consider donating them or relegating them to the play kitchen or sandbox.   For the youngest ones, use wooden or stainless steel dishes.  And, let your older ones use ceramic dishes – a few broken dishes is well worth their health, and your child may be more ready for it than you think!

A Gift for You from Plan Toys! October 7, 2008

The weather is getting cooler.  The leaves are turning.  Acorns and chestnuts are falling as squirrels scamper about.  I love fall, and I love looking forward to the holiday season!  This year I am inspired to work with my children to make homemade gifts for our family.  I’m also excitedly making plans to give my children some quality wooden toys and imaginative open-ended toys this year. 

I have a little gift for you as well!  Plan Toys generously sent us boxes full of miniature pull-along snails and frog tambourines.  They are crafted from organic rubberwood and finished with non-toxic dyes.  Want one?  Use coupon code “bloggift” to receive one of these adorable wooden toys free with your purchase of $50 or more.  Yep, here’s your chance to stockpile some holiday gifts for your little ones at EuphoriaBaby.com or treat yourself to something special at EuphoriaMaternity.com.  Enjoy!

P.S. we plan to pack the toys randomly, but feel free to note your preference in the comments field.  We’ll be happy to oblige while supplies last!