Teaching Kids About Green Living

The first steps in teaching kids about green living and an eco-friendly lifestyle begins by getting them involved in household recycling. Telling children about recycling and actually letting them be active and see the benefits are two completely different things! You can talk till your blue about how vegetable peels and eggshells turn into black gold in the compost pile but when you take the time to walk them through the process from start to finish, chances are that you've just created a recycler for life!

Even a toddler can do a little recycling. It makes them feel like such a big, smart kid to know which bin to put the plastic, glass and/or paper items

Why should we start teaching them these practices early? Because if you raise them to automatically do these few small things, then they never have change they way they live and go through a transitional period. In other words, raise them in the way they should go.

Another important part of teaching kids about green living that can start very early in life is the introduction to proper eating. They may not understand exactly what it means when mommy and daddy say "We only eat organic" but learning not to eat sugary junk until we can teach them to identify the signature organic labels on food we buy from the grocery story is a great start.

There will be plenty of time later to fill them in on the facts of how organic foods are free of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides. It's my belief that our children deserve to be fed organics and to have a chemical free, green baby nursery and that this will most likely prevent issues down the road such as cancers and immediate problems like rashes and breathing problems.

After you have recycling and diet under control, it's time to talk about pollutants and harmful chemicals and how they much harm they can cause especially to small children and babies. Kids need to know that pesticides are poisons and they don't just harm bugs!

They should also know why we buy and use non-toxic cleaning products, cosmetics and personal care products like shampoos and soaps. It's up to us to be ever mindful of the ingredients that manufacturers sneak into the items that we bring into our homes. Why would these companies want to do this? Well, often it's about money and being more effective than Brand B. Often products that are the most natural, organic and animal cruelty-free cost a penny or two more to manufacture and caustic chemicals take less time to clean the oven. OK? The good news is that you can make many of the most effective natural cleaning products yourself from common baking soda, salt, lemon juice and vinegar!

Those are just a few steps to take in teaching kids about green living, the importance of maintaining a green home and and living an eco-friendly lifestyle. If we start them out early, we will have done our part to launch a new generation with respect for the environment.

HOW to CLEAN the WASHER with VINEGAR

Guess what, we have to know how to clean the washer and dryer! Soapscum, limescale and lint are the enemy in the laundry area. I'm not ashamed to admit this came as a complete surprise to me. When we got our first home, we got all new appliances. They were so shiny and clean that I happily washed and dried many loads of laundry without ever so much as knocking the dust off the tops.


About a year passed before my husband finally got around to replacing the lightbulb in the laundry room (hey, don't judge him he had been sick!) casting light on lots of lint, dust and dirt that the dim light had camouflaged. The build up that had been taking place right before my eyes was shocking. I was appalled at how dusty, dirty and lint-y my beautiful machines had become. The guilt that I felt was more than you could imagine in light of my children's breathing problems.

After a moment of much-deserved self recrimination I set out to learn how to clean the washer and dryer, FAST! I'm not a lazy housewife (well, actually maybe a little lazy but my kids' asthma keeps me going) but my dusting, mopping and disinfecting routine had completely bypassed the laundry area. Well, that has now changed and I have become a pro at learning how to clean the washing machine drum, filter and all without using chemicals!


How to clean the washing machine with with vinegar:

Some household cleaning tips informed me that I should learn how to clean my washer with bleach but that went against my campaign for using only green household cleaning products. I try to use only non-toxic and environmentally friendly home cleaning solutions. I went in search of a cleaner to use besides household bleach and learned that my old friend, vinegar, would do the trick. Vinegar does a fine job of removing soap scum, limescale and just plain old dirt that floats to the top of the tub and sticks when combined with hot water and doesn't leave a bunch of nasty chemicals floating in the air of my green home. Some people claim that you can learn how to clean the washing machine with baking soda, but I haven't tried that method yet. If you know how to clean your washer with baking soda, please direct me to the instructions so I can give it a try.

1. Adjust the settings for a wash with HOT water. While the tub is filling add about a gallon of vinegar. You may be able to use less and get the job done but I was dealing with a significant amount of build up.


2. I let the washing machine run through the super cycle so that the acidic cleaning solution would have plenty of time to do its work.


•3 After the wash cycle was finished I took a wash cloth and wiped out the inside of the tub just so I could see if my green household cleaner had worked. And other than some crud around the top of the tub, everything looked great!

HOW TO CLEAN THE WASHING MACHINE EXTERIOR

Learning how to clean the washer with vinegar on the inside is just the first step of the cleaning process. I then started at the top and cleaned down the sides, front and back of the washer using one of my homemade cleaning products that I made from a recipe.


HOW TO CLEAN BEHIND THE WASHER and DRYER
Nobody sees it, but it just makes sense to go on and clean behind the washing machine and the dryer while you're at it. If you have a stackable washer and dryer, it's inadvisable to attempt to move it without help but you can use your vacuum cleaner tools to reach behind and beneath the stacked washing machine and dryer to do some good.

If you have the old-fashioned kind (like me), you can move the washer and dryer using casters (available at hardware and discount stores) but do not stretch the hoses attached to the dryer and washing machine too far! If you can't move the appliances far enough without stretching them, disconnect them. This is also a good time to inspect your washing machine hoses for cracks and bulges which indicates they need to be replaced.

While your appliances are out of the way, clean not only the floors but the lint from behind the dryer, the inside of the dryer hose and the dryer vent using your vacuum cleaner tools and brushes that will reach into the cracks. After you have removed as much as you can by brushing and vacuuming, wipe everything down with a clean cloth.

I wish I could tell you that you don't have to do this again for a very long time, but the truth is that the soapscum, lint and gunk with start to accumulate once again with the very next load of laundry that you run. Regular maintenance helps, but I can see that this process will have to be repeated at my house every six months or so.

GREEN NURSERY IDEAS

These green nursery ideas are affordable and will give even low income families some tips on how to reduce their baby's exposure to toxic chemicals that tend to sneak inside our homes when we aren't looking. If there is one piece of information that I want you to get from this article it’s that when it comes to baby's room, green is always better in all your purchasing decisions.

ARE GREEN NURSERY IDEAS TOO EXPENSIVE?

It's true that some designer brands are playing the eco-friendly card in order to market their brand. However, there are many conscientious manufacturers that are working towards providing the average consumer with baby safe products available at your local discount store. Your responsibility is to refuse to buy items made from questionable materials.


PAINTING THE BABY’S NURSERY GREEN
Just so you know, while I love nurseries that have a green color scheme; what we are talking about here is eliminating dangerous toxins in your baby’s environment by using "Zero VOC" paints that have no volatile organic compounds. If you live in an older home please check to be sure that your baby will not be exposed to lead based paint that was used before this nasty stuff was taken off the market.


THE BEST NURSERY FLOORING

Our home had hardwood flooring when we move the info of course I didn’t replace it. And even though I have fond memories of wall-to-wall carpeting and miss it’s coziness and cushion, we only have small washable area rugs because the flame retardants and petrochemical stain repellents are not something that I would ever want in my house even if my babies didn't suffer from asthma.

SAFE BABY FURNITURE

The only thing that I have against buying cheap baby furniture is that it is often made of pressboard and plywood that may include toxic resins in its construction and cheap nursery furniture made from synthetic materials may compromise the air quality of my baby‘s room by off-gassing. Thankfully, my father is they would work for that builds natural wood furniture from reclaimed wood. For those of you who are not as fortunate I highly recommend giving your local woodworking guild a call to see if there is someone that would be willing to build your furniture to your eco-friendly specifications. I’m also a big fan of looking for stuff to recycle so if you can find good, used solid wood furniture to repaint with baby safe paint, go for it!

SAFE BABY BEDDING

Investing in organic cotton fabric to make your own crib set, buying a set of used organic baby bedding and an organic crib mattress are the best green nursery ideas ever! Your baby will spend most of his or her time snuggled in the crib that you provide and it just makes sense to be sure that there are no questionable chemicals coming from dyes or synthetic fabrics going into your baby’s lungs or being absorbed into your baby’s skin.

SAFE BABY TOYS

I realize that this article is primarily to provide green nursery ideas in terms of painting and decorating but what is a baby’s room without toys? Once I became educated regarding the dangers of BPA plastics, phthalates and other chemicals our kids’ toy box became almost empty. After the scare I decided that I would eliminate plastic toys from our household for awhile and started to make my own baby toys using 0rganic fabrics and my dad came up with some amazing homemade wooden toys that he made from reclaimed wood in his workshop. There are safer plastic toys available now, but if there is one thing that Thomas the tank engine toys , contaminated baby formula and BPA plastics remind us is that we should not let our guard down.

These green nursery ideas should put you on your way to keeping baby safe by improving the air quality in your home and reducing everyone’s exposure to toxic chemicals. Just because the immune systems of adults are stronger than an infant’s doesn‘t mean that chemicals in the home are OK . This is why it is important to check for hidden toxins no matter what the demographics of your home may be.

Our goal should be to ensure that all products that we bring into our home are eco-friendly and have the least amount of chemicals possible.
To achieve these goals we should look for stuff to recycle to reduce household waste, resist the frenzy of consumerism and buy fewer items and ALWAYS watch for organic tags and choose non-toxic products over items that are manufactured using chemicals that we are trying to avoid therefore putting pressure on the companies that want our business to develop more earth friendly merchandise.

SAFE DRY CLEANING

With winter coming on and lots of wool jackets that need attention, finding safe dry cleaning methods for those sweaters and coats should be the goal of every green minded individual. Are home dry cleaning kits the answer? Or would it be just be better to buy clothing and fabrics that are washable using only biodegradable soap and water?

DOES DRY CLEANING CAUSE CANCER?

A few years back there seemed to be an epidemic of cancer among professional women in my town. Everyone pondered on what might have caused all of these ladies of a similar age to be suffering from this disease. While looking for connections and lifestyle or history, the one thing that popped out was that they all frequently wore business suits that of course had to make visits to the neighborhood dry cleaning service. How could they have known that by taking steps to keep their wardrobe looking good that they would be putting their health at risk? Of course, it never was and never will be proven that their cancers were caused by wearing clothes doused in dry cleaning solvents but I'm entitled to my opinion, right?

Shortly after this time, I can remember reading articles that warned people to let their clothes “air” all while before wearing them. The objective was to allow any remaining fumes from the dry cleaning solvent to dissipate to prevent overexposure. The solvent to which I am referring is called perchloroethylene (or perc for short) which has been linked to various health and environmental problems.

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS GREEN DRY CLEANING?

How can busy professional people keep their fine fabrics and woolens looking clean and fresh without poisoning the environment as well as their own bodies? The first step would be to buy clothing that would allow you to exclusively use wet cleaning methods that combines biodegradable soap and water or liquid CO2 which is a non-toxic reusable form of carbon dioxide since these are the only methods that are approved by the Environmental Protection Agency as environmentally friendly alternatives to perc.

DRY CLEANING MYTHS

My family lived within a stone's throw of a neighborhood dry cleaning service when I was growing up. Long before safe dry cleaning was an issue, I can remember watching people who I considered to be very lucky to be able to afford to have their clothing professionally dry cleaned leaving with their nicely pressed clothes covered in plastic bags stamped with the dry cleaners logo. I can also remember thinking that the biggest danger from dry cleaning was suffocating from accidentally finding yourself with one of those plastic bags over your head! In fact, the warning was actually printed on the plastic bags if I remember correctly. Strangely enough, I can’t recall there being any warning printed on the plastic bags that that the clothes had been drenched in toxic chemicals. Go figure.

CARDBOARD BABY HIGH CHAIRS

I'm really excited about finding and buying a couple of the cardboard baby high chairs I've been reading about! Nope, I'm not trying to sell the things and NOPE again, the cardboard cribs that were all the rage about a year ago didn't strike me as something to get all up in the air about. In fact, (other than they were made from recycled cardboard which is a better option than buying NEW nursery furniture for sure) they left me yawning because HO HUM we co-sleep with our babies.

But now, I can get behind reusable, portable baby high chair big time! I'll tell you a little bit about one that I'm thinking of buying in a minute. First, I want to tell you why a high chair made of cardboard is blowing my hair back much more than a cardboard crib other than the reason I listed earlier...oh, and no this is NOT a review in case the FTC wants to know. I've never used either product and would, in fact, like to hear from any of you who have opinions on the Belkiz Feedaway if you have experience or alternatives if you know of one that is better or cheap.

How many of you have taken your babies out to eat and ask for a high chair only to have a nasty, sticky wooden baby high chair delivered to your table? Not to mention that the safety harness was either missing, damaged or tied in knots? Well, this has happened to me often enough that I'm considering carrying my own high chairs (I have more than one baby) when we go out.

What do you think about this plan? Is it worth it to carry our own cardboard baby high chairs with us when we go out to eat to avoid using those less than clean ones in the restaurant? Or would you just rather stay home, use your own high chair and eat a hot dog because flat pack or not...it's just too much trouble?

I'm all for going green, baby, but there are times when doing without an item completely is preferable to dealing with the hassle if you know what I mean.

GREEN HOME CLEANING SOLUTIONS

Any list offering tips for green home cleaning solutions should involve more than recipes for green household cleaners. Not that chemical free toilet cleaners are not a step in the right direction but those of you still using paper products should be aware that paper products (paper towels, facial tissues, etc) made up 20.7 % of the municipal waste discarded in 2008. Yep, that year it was reported that there was 6,550,000 tons of paper and paperboard waste.

I got curious as to how much my own home was contributing to this problem so I decided to conduct an experiment (being as experiments are so cool and I needed something to write about in the worst way). What I did was direct hubby and the older girls to throw every facial tissue and paper towel into a special trash bin. They were so enthusiastic about being asked to participate that they actually asked if there was going to be a waste can next to the toilet! I thought about it and had to admit that collecting toilet paper would have given more accurate results but dismissed the thought as a little too gross.

Before the day was out my trash can was overflowing with wet wipes and tissues used to wipe runny noses much less paper towels that I used to clean the glass, kitchen and bathroom surfaces!

Wow, this really made me aware that I needed to bone up on my all around green home cleaning solutions and not just how to clean a toilet without toxic chemicals and this is the plan that I came up with.

• toss the mop that has disposable mop heads and shop for one with a washable cover
  
• stop using paper towels and invest in low lint microfiber cleaning cloths
  
• stop using disposable scrub pads and buy scrubbing stones (that would probably be the only thing that will tackle those pesky toilet bowl rings anyway)

The results that I expect to see should come in the way of less money spent on disposables and a much emptier can on trash pickup day.

The unexpected amount of paper that I collected in such a short time was a reminder that even though I've made great strides toward making a green home for my family, there is much work to be done and that going green is an ongoing process.

NATURAL LABOR INDUCERS

I heard about a few natural labor inducers that sound like fun ways to induce labor naturally at home. Before you kick up your heels and shout HOORAY, you should know that nothing's going to work if your cervix is not ripe and ready to rock and roll. HOWEVER, there are a few ways that may help ripen your cervix by softening it and making it efface and dilate.

VALID REASONS TO INDUCE LABOR

So, you're pregnant and want to get the show on the road! Wanting to deliver in time to go on a Christmas ski vacation or a rock concert are NOT good reasons to induce. You know that I'm NOT a medical professional, this blog is for entertainment only AND that you should always take the advice of a trusted medical professional rather than trusting somebody that slapped a blog up on the internet...like me...but here's a short list of reasons for your entertainment ONLY!

• Mother's Health - If mom has heart problems, hypertension, a seizure disorder, cancer or any number of serious medical condition, induction may be necessary. That being said, lots of moms with medical conditions manage to give birth naturally. Whether or not induction is needed should be determined by the medical professional in charge.
  
• Baby's Health - The doctor may feel the baby needs to be delivered ASAP
  

Before trying any of natural labor inducers or the fun ways to induce labor naturally that I teased you with, you should talk to your doctor to be sure that it's ok. But just for kicks, here are some natural ways to induce labor.

• SEX
  
• STIMULATING YOUR NIPPLES
  
• LAUGHING
  

Here's an idea...if your OB/GYN says it's cool, you might talk your partner into having sex, stimulating your nipples all the while telling you funny jokes and kill three birds with one stone! How's that for multi-tasking? You might call them natural labor inducers but they sound like good old-fashioned fun to me!

Recycled Artwork

Pay close attention while I tell you about how I found my recycled artwork because you are probably going to want to copy my idea! I love to buy old, previously loved items and give them new life. During my latest foray through the flea market, I picked up some old children’s storybooks that had seen better days. Actually, they were literally falling apart and my friends thought I was totally crazy at the time, but now they are so jealous of my recycled art!

Luckily, all of the other shoppers skipped over these wonderful Mother Goose books because their covers were so damaged and worn. I, myself, almost didn’t take the time to open them and see what was inside. But when I did, I found the most precious illustrations that after my recycling efforts, have a new life as my kids wall art!

What I did was to pick the books clean of all the pages that had frameable pictures on them. The results were delightful art prints that didn’t set me back a bundle. And I didn't even have to pay for framing. I don’t believe that I could have done better than the plain, wooden frames that I had bought at a thrift store awhile back.

A fancy, new (read: expensive) picture frame would have detracted from the beauty of the slightly aged pictures. To make them look just right I wanted to surround my recycled artwork with wood that was either reclaimed or that had been rescued from a second hand store and thankfully, the ones that I had on hand were just the right size.

I would have felt lousy tearing the old book apart if the binding had been in good shape. But as it was, the pages were coming loose from the spine and were headed for the landfill. What once was a beautiful book that when read by a loved one eased a sleepy child into dreamland was no longer suitable for its original purpose.

Should the book have been better taken care of, there is no way that I could have violated it even though I may not have wanted my teething babies to chew on it in fear that the book’s print may have contained lead. But as it was, I pulled off the ultimate recycling coup and my recycled artwork looks super in my kids’ room.

PAPER OR PLASTIC

The next time you’re asked whether you would prefer paper or plastic, why not make an informed decision rather than just choosing paper because you think that might be more in keeping with going green. Do you ever wonder if banning plastic bags really has an impact on the building piles of plastic litter? Does choosing paper over plastic have it’s drawbacks as it leads to more deforestation?

THE PROBLEMS WITH PLASTIC BAGS

The very first run-in I ever had with plastic bags had little to do with green living. I was too young to remember my near death experience of suffocation by plastic but my mom gives the event credit for giving her a gray streak in her hair. The story goes that a small portion of a plastic cleaner bag blew across my face and stuck while I was riding in my baby car seat unbeknownst to my mother who was driving. She swears that she happened to glance in the rearview mirror and swerved to the roadside just in time to rescue me from becoming a plastic bag suffocation victim. The lesson learned is to not hang the dry cleaning anywhere near sleeping babies or kids of any age.

Beyond their tendency to suffocate kids, the plastic bag problem encompasses overflowing landfills, clogged sewers and ingestion of the stuff that refuses to biodegrade by animals, birds and marine life.

BANNING PLASTIC BAGS

There are a number of countries banning plastic bags outright and others are imposing taxes on their use. San Francisco, California is the first and only major city in America to pass a plastic bag ban.


ALTERNATIVES TO PAPER OR PLASTIC

Environmentalists are in favor of our using bags made of a biodegradable cornstarch-based plastic to customers who don’t have their own reusable canvas grocery bags. These bags have the same biodegradable characteristics and convenience of paper bags without contributing to deforestation.

ARE PAPER BAGS BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

If plastic is banned will that just lead to more problems? It’s a fact that this could lead to increased deforestation but the good news is that most paper bags are now made from recycled materials not virgin wood. Plus, there is the additional benefit of paper’s biodegradability.

The truth is that there are issues surrounding the use of paper or plastic bags. For now, perhaps the best answer is to break out the old sewing machine and make some fabric shopping bags to use while the argument of paper vs. plastic rages on. And while you’re at it, make some for your friends who are devoted to green living. Mother Earth and future generations will be eternally grateful.

GREEN WEED KILLERS

It’s time to break out the green weed killers because the cracks in our driveway are filling up with weeds! Am I heading out to the lawn and garden supply store for a buggy full of poisonous chemicals? Well, heck no because I have one of the best earth friendly weed killers right in my kitchen cabinet at home and vinegar is the cheapest thing going when it comes to killing weeds!


Chemical weed killers are not cheap but I wouldn’t use them even if they were giving them away for free! You may have already guessed my secret weed killing weapon; yes, I’m going to use plain, old garden variety vinegar to kill those weeds right in their tracks. It’s slower acting than the most common poison, Roundup, and you have to dump it on the plant a couple of times before you kill the roots, but using natural products over chemicals is worth a little extra time to me.


I would rather use green weed killers than chemicals that will first soak into the earth and then leach into our water supply, evaporate into the air we breathe and on and on. Everything we dump into the ground will eventually land on our doorstep so think about that the next time you take the quick and easy chemical method of weed killing when you could have killed those pesky weeds with something much less harmful to the planet. PLUS, I have a real problem with my kids playing on a lawn that has been doused with chemicals!


The only dangerous thing about using this green weed killer is that you have to protect the surrounding plants that you don’t want to kill. Pour to your heart’s contest on sidewalks and around fence lines but be careful around your flowers and any shrubs you want to keep because this green method of weed killing really works.
I have always used household vinegar that I buy in gallon containers but I have been told that there is such a thing as agricultural vinegar that is 20-30% acetic acid where the vinegar that I’ve been using (and it works just fine) is only 5%. Even though it’s much more acidic word is that it still is environmentally friendly. All you do is spray it on the pesky weeds and they shrivel up and die. However, I have not tried it myself and I understand it’s not EPA approved for use as an herbicide and can be difficult to find.

The weaker stuff is working just fine for me which is such an affirmation for my efforts in going green but if you have a resource for agricultural vinegar, would you please leave a comment telling us where to find it, how much it costs and how it worked for you?

GO GREEN TIPS

GOING GREEN is not that hard. It's going green and STAYING green that's tough. I have some "GO GREEN TIPS" for homes and work that might help moms resist the urge to drift back into nasty environmentally UN friendly habits when stress on the job or in our daily lives makes going the extra mile for Mother Earth too time consuming or (horrors!) expensive.

Inside the home, there are two easy tips that if everybody would put to use would have a major impact on home energy savings and a reduction in our carbon footprint.

1. Wash your clothes in cold water

2. Stop the dishwasher before it goes into the dry cycle

You can manage either of these Go Green tips for your home by pushing a button!

That's the kind of energy saving, environmentally thing that is so very easy to do and if you're a busy mom, sometimes baby steps is the best we can do. The thing is that baby steps are just the beginning. I started out with the little things and then dedicated myself to learning and utilizing more green living practices along the way and that works for me! My current goal is to pass my desire to clean up the environment to my children so if you have some green parenting tips, please take a minute and share them.

TERRACYCLE PRODUCTS IN WALMART

Here's a heads up to look for Terracyle products in Walmart from April 5 to April 29 coinciding with Earth Day! I just read that Terracycle will be keeping 60 products in every Wal-Mart across the United States during that time span and it would be a shame if anybody misses them!

If you're wondering what I find so exciting about this company, you should visit the Terracyle website and take a look at their garbage recycling process. Their claim to environmental fame is that they actually convert your household trash into products that are being sold at major retailers. And the day that there are Terracycle products in Walmart, well, that's a day to crow about!

HISTORY

The company was nine years ago by a Princeton graduate right out of business school and what they do is convert non-recyclable stuff like plastic potato chip bags and plastic bottles into items that are now being sold at big name stores like Wal-Mart, Target, and K-Mart.

Not only is the company doing something to clean up the planet, but they actually pays consumers to send in their garbage or drop it off at one of their collection centers to be converted into usable items like children's toys, kitchen cutting boards. And they do all this using a very small amount of energy which is key to effective recycling and green living in my book!

Make a point to check out the Terracycle Products in Walmart and if you see a manager lurking around give him a big, hearty pat on the back for drawing attention to earth friendly companies and their products...now if they would only stock more organic foods.