book review: The Last Child in the Woods

"Healing the broken bond between our young and nature is in our self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demand it, but also because our mental, physical, and spiritual health depend upon it."—from "Last Child in the Woods," by Richard Louv.

I finished reading Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. It really is eye opening when you think about it... when WE were kids, we played outside until our parents BEGGED us to come in!! I remember playing outdoors with mud pies, climbing trees with my brothers, going fishing with cane poles, finding leaves and acorns, using a magnifying glass to discover, and creating my own outdoor adventures. There was no sidewalk chalk in my childhood! I've fell into the trap as a parent. We're reversing our ways, we're taking more time as a family outdoors.

We're down to egg timers on TV and Xbox time... and it's very minimal. I remember watching cartoons on Saturdays and Sundays, and as a preschooler I would watch Mr. Rogers or Captain Kangaroo in the mornings on weekdays after breakfast...after that brief TV time, I remember a day filled with endless possibilities of imagination in the yard, or doing things with my mom, or playing in my room on rainy days. We V-Chip the TV upstairs to only allow 'decent' cartoons and educational children's TV or we will watch Discovery or Science together as a family after dinner on rainy days. Our kids do NOT have TV's in their rooms... I hope we're on the right track. Living in the city, without a huge yard and woods, we're being as creative in our endeavors as possible. Most children I've personally talked to (neighbors, friends at school, and kids at the church) DO watch more TV then play outdoors and/or with their parents.... so we're really encouraging our kids to be a little 'different' these days!

book review: Creative Family

I wanted to do a quick review of "the creative family", by Amanda Blake Soule; her blog has been inspiring me for a little under 6 months now so I can't wait to see what the book has in store for ideas of simple crafts and activities for the family.

A quote from the book, and it hits home. I'm not going to make it seem as if I have it 'together' all the time, I could stand some improvement in this area!

"A sad product of our modern world is that our children are taught early on to over consume and want more, more and more. Chances are that they do not need more toys, but fewer. When there are too many things around, there's little room for imagination. "

I'm guilty, and plan to manage this better! I started already by using storage bins to rotate toys. I went to target and grabbed some 10gallon bins and seperated toys into 'themes' and he LOVES getting a new tote each day!

book review: The Green Book

I figured if being a little more environmentally conscious means being a "hippie" or being a "tree hugger" then sign us up. It's no secret that it's easy to be wasteful, and reckless with our environment, and I'm guilty in so many ways! We're trying our best little by little to make a difference in our house, in our little world... hopefully what little bit we do somehow makes a dent in the big picture. When I read 'The" Green Book' I found some more simple ways to do our part. I thought I'd post 5 interesting bits of the book:

1. Dishwasher - By running full loads and not pre-rinsing you can save up to 20 gallons of water per dish load, or 7,300 gallons over a year. That's as much water as the avg. person drinks in a lifetime!
2. Refrigerator - Don't linger in the fridge! It's the single biggest energy-consuming kitchen appliance, and opening the door accounts for between $30 and $60 of a typical family electrical bill per year. The amt. of energy saved in a year by being more efficient with the fridge could be enough to light every house in the US for more then 4.5 months straight!!
3. Dryers - Clean the lint screen (daily!) and don't overload the dryer. You'll save up to 5 percent on your power bill. If everyone did this, we'd save the energy equivalent of 350 million gallons of gasoline per year.
4. Organic - Lower your exposure to pesticides by 90% just by choosing organic varieties of certain fruits and veggies. If just 1% of the Nations farmlands converted to organic (non chemical) agricultural systems, it would remove 26 million pounds of pesticides per year from the food we eat AND from the environment! Each time you chose organic, you encourage this type of farming!
5. Toys - Look for toys made from materials other then plastic. Many plastic toys are made from PVC and contain toxins known as phtalates that are potentially harmful to both the environment and children's health. If every child under 12 received just 1 alternative-to-plastic birthday gift this year, not only could an estimated 25 million pounds of plastic toys be diverted from landfills, but the total energy savings could bake 31 million birthday cakes!

The book is loaded with nifty and thrifty ideas on how just taking simple steps with choices makes a huge difference in both our health and environment! We already eat organic mostly, and do alot of recycling, and buy natural soaps and cleaners, but this book opened my eyes to even more possibilities that are costy worthy!

create, encourage, nurture

I just received my copy of "the creative family", by Amanda Blake Soule; her blog has been inspiring me for a little under 6 months now so I can't wait to see what the book has in store for ideas of simple crafts and activities for the family.

A quote from the book, and it hits home. I'm not going to make it seem as if I have it 'together' all the time, I could stand some improvement in this area!

"A sad product of our modern world is that our children are taught early on to over consume and want more, more and more. Chances are that they do not need more toys, but fewer. When there are too many things around, there's little room for imagination. "

I'm guilty, and plan to manage this better starting today with going and buying some more storage totes, and organizing Jesse's toys into 4 or 5 totes with variety. Then we'll begin rotating them in and out of the multi-purpose room weekly... off to Target I go - for some storage bins!

5 (more) ways to be a hippie...

I figured if being a little more environmentally conscious means being a "hippie" or being a "tree hugger" then sign us up. It's no secret that it's easy to be wasteful, and reckless with our environment, and I'm guilty in so many ways! We're trying our best little by little to make a difference in our house, in our little world... hopefully what little bit we do somehow makes a dent in the big picture. I recently read 'The Green Book' and found some more simple ways to do our part. I thought I'd post 5 interesting bits of the book:

1. Dishwasher - By running full loads and not pre-rinsing you can save up to 20 gallons of water per dish load, or 7,300 gallons over a year. That's as much water as the avg. person drinks in a lifetime!
   
2. Refrigerator - Don't linger in the fridge! It's the single biggest energy-consuming kitchen appliance, and opening the door accounts for between $30 and $60 of a typical family electrical bill per year. The amt. of energy saved in a year by being more efficient with the fridge could be enough to light every house in the US for more then 4.5 months straight!!


3. Dryers - Clean the lint screen (daily!) and don't overload the dryer. You'll save up to 5 percent on your power bill. If everyone did this, we'd save the energy equivalent of 350 million gallons of gasoline per year.


4. Organic - Lower your exposure to pesticides by 90% just by choosing organic varieties of certain fruits and veggies. If just 1% of the Nations farmlands converted to organic (non chemical) agricultural systems, it would remove 26 million pounds of pesticides per year from the food we eat AND from the environment! Each time you chose organic, you encourage this type of farming!


5. Toys - Look for toys made from materials other then plastic. Many plastic toys are made from PVC and contain toxins known as phtalates that are potentially harmful to both the environment and children's health. If every child under 12 received just 1 alternative-to-plastic birthday gift this year, not only could an estimated 25 million pounds of plastic toys be diverted from landfills, but the total energy savings could bake 31 million birthday cakes!

The book is loaded with nifty and thrifty ideas on how just taking simple steps with choices makes a huge difference in both our health and environment! We already eat organic mostly, and do alot of recycling, and buy natural soaps and cleaners, but this book opened my eyes to even more possibilities that are costy worthy!

From the library...

"Healing the broken bond between our young and nature is in our self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demand it, but also because our mental, physical, and spiritual health depend upon it."—from "Last Child in the Woods," by Richard Louv.

I'm reading Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. It really is eye opening when you think about it... when WE were kids, we played outside until our parents BEGGED us to come in!! I remember playing outdoors with mud pies, climbing trees with my brothers, going fishing with cane poles, finding leaves and acorns, using a magnifying glass to discover, and creating my own outdoor adventures. There was no sidewalk chalk in my childhood! I've fell into the trap as a parent. We're reversing our ways, we're taking more time as a family outdoors.

We're down to egg timers on TV and Xbox time... and it's very minimal. I remember watching cartoons on Saturdays and Sundays, and as a preschooler I would watch Mr. Rogers or Captain Kangaroo in the mornings on weekdays after breakfast...after that brief TV time, I remember a day filled with endless possibilities of imagination in the yard, or doing things with my mom, or playing in my room on rainy days. We V-Chip the TV upstairs to only allow 'decent' cartoons and educational children's TV or we will watch Discovery or Science together as a family after dinner on rainy days. Our kids do NOT have TV's in their rooms... I hope we're on the right track. Living in the city, without a huge yard and woods, we're being as creative in our endeavors as possible. Most children I've personally talked to (neighbors, friends at school, and kids at the church) DO watch more TV then play outdoors and/or with their parents.... so we're really encouraging our kids to be a little 'different' these days!

I've found a new release that I plan to read once I'm done with my current read. Luisa's Nature, a book written in an infants/childs persepctive.. “Luisa's Nature” is based on real-life events. Split into four parts — one for each season — the story follows her throughout infancy as she discovers things many people may not ordinarily notice, such as leaves falling, a snow-capped mountain, a squirrel's tail twitching or a rainbow. Watching her mother prepare carrot juice, her parents engaging in a snowball fight and listing to her father tell stories about his own adventures with nature are among the personal experiences conveyed through the narrator. Birds, insects, flowers, trees, weather, fish and other animals are all noticed by Luisa.

LUISA'S NATURE is an insightful interpretation of life as viewed by the youngest of the young. With his daughter, Luisa, serving as the narrating voice of this creative non-fiction, Mark J. Stevens unfolds a playful and purposeful chronicle of a child's first year.
Following Luisa as she discovers the natural world around her will inspire parents to find new ways of using nature to nurture their own children. Readers of all ages will appreciate nature as an essential contributor to the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being of family life.