The Healthy Parenting Blog

NJites have a chance to ban Bisphenol A!

Lauren — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:17:18 +0000

Please pass this on to ALL your friends and family in NJ! There is currently a bill in the works to ban bisphenol A. The more folks that know about this, the better for NJ. Maybe we can do this state by state?

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=23858

Organic Label Lawsuit

Lauren — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:01:09 +0000

An old friend to this gal, Dr. Bronner’s is pushing change in the coolest way. This company that produces liquid soaps that I’ve used since I was 15, has brought about a lawsuit in conjunction with the OCA (Organc Consumer Association) against a list of so called “natural” companies using not so natural and often carcinogenic ingredients. The gruesome list of offenders can be found on the press release below. Its time we hold these companies using the term “Organic” on their labels, accountable!

Read the press release.

Sign the petition to hold these companies accountable!

Fish Expert on NPR

Lauren — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:14:53 +0000

I listened to a very informative interesting show on NPR yesterday. We all know the hazards of some fish. Most of us have probably printed out the little charts telling us which fish is high in mercury, etc. But this Fresh Air segment provides some very informative information about fish that I never knew. Many of the fish in stores are named with made up names! Chilean Sea Bass, for instance is just a nice name made up because the real name of the fish is much less aesthetic.

The marine scientist also shares information about farm raised fish and why some of it is less than desirable. He also addresses which fish are bad for the environIf you have time, its worth listening to.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89807877

Bisphenol A Ban in Canada!

Lauren — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:23:06 +0000

GO CANADA!!! This was shared last Friday by a commenter on my blog.
http://www.cbc. ca/canada/story/2008/04/18/bisphenol-a.html

For the whole story on this toxic chemical that babies are exposed to daily,
check out the Bisphenol A category.

Electronic Recycling

Lauren — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:11:10 +0000

How very cool! Costco has teamed up with Greensight Technologies to offer an electronic recycling program. You can actually get a rebate for turning in your old electronics, depending upon its condition. What an amazing idea! Get an estimate at the link for your computer, printer, fax, camera, game system or MP3 player. Even if you don’t qualify for a rebate, they will still take the electronic in for recycling.

Buying Natural Personal Care and Vitamins

Lauren — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:07:34 +0000

I’ve been buying from online shops for awhile now and am constantly
checking for new places. I was using (and recommended here previously)
A1Nutrition for awhile and was happy with them but they’ve since gone
WAYYY downhill with me having to cancel my last order AFTER they took
my money and then 2 weeks later nothing (only to find out that everything
was on backorder…when did they plan to tell me?) This happens from time
to time from these discount places but figured I’d share my current favorites.

I’m currently splitting my orders between Vitaglo.com and Vitaminlife.com
You really have to continually check pricing. For instance, I order
MegaFood Essentials Mini Tabs for the kids..most places online are selling
this for around $27.00 (for 270) but I found it at VitaminLife the cheapest, at
$18.00.

VitaGlo.com had the cheapest Aubrey Organics, except for some Mens
Aubrey that my dh uses, I found VitaminLife to have the better price there. Weleda
toothpaste (2.99) was the cheapest I’ve found at Vitaglo.

Shipping is really decent with being around $5-9.

Wordless Wednesday

Lauren — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:13:37 +0000

Walmart: Is it Really Worth the Savings?

Lauren — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:37:37 +0000

A fabulous article that is a must read for anyone who shops at Walmart or knows someone who shops at Walmart.
How Walmart is Remaking our World by Jim Hightower

Top 10 Wal-Mart Worst Actions

From Walmartwatch.com

A judge fined Wal-Mart $18 million because the company provided incomplete and false evidence in a lawsuit brought by a woman who had been abducted in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
Upholding a $2.3 million verdict awarded to two women sexually harassed by a Wal-Mart manager, the judge said, the manager’s conduct was “outrageous and apparently Wal-Mart was aware of this, since his conduct was witnessed high-level [supervisors].
Federal judges in three states have fined Wal-Mart–as much as $120,000–for destroying evidence, withholding documents, and other violations in cases where Wal-Mart shoppers were either injured or a crime victim at a Wal-Mart store.
A jury found that Wal-Mart fired a white female employee because she was dating a black man, in a 1998 case.
A 14-year Wal-Mart worker was awarded $2.75 million after a jury decided store officials wrongly accused her of stealing.
Three existing community jobs are destroyed for every two new jobs at Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart, the company that wrapped itself in the American Flag, is so patriotic it runs a Buy Mexican campaign.
Wal-Mart sold fake Tommy Hilfiger apparel to consumers after a judged ordered the company to stop.
Only 38% of Wal-Mart employees have company provided health insurance–compared to a national average that shows 60% of employees are covered by company plans.
After the FTC charged Wal-Mart with not identifying the country of origin on apparel items listed on its Internet sales site, Wal-Mart removed the items, apparently preferring not to disclose where the clothing was made.

Another Reason not to Shop at Walmart

Lauren — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:29:11 +0000

This is yet another reason why we don’t step foot in Walmart. Remember this company profits over 2 billion dollars per quarter. Over 60% of its workers have no health insurance (or get it in other ways). And now taking money away from poor families that need it.

Walmart Sues Permanently Injured Employee

Excerpt:

Employers grab accident victims’ cash

Wal-Mart’s health plan sued an ex-worker, brain-damaged in a crash, to collect money from a settlement she’d received. It’s part of a trend in which companies aggressively try to recoup insurance costs.

By The Wall Street JournalA collision with a tractor-trailer seven years ago left 52-year-old Deborah Shank permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Her husband, Jim, and three sons found a small source of solace: a $700,000 accident settlement from the trucking company involved.

After legal fees and other expenses, the remaining $417,000 was put in a special trust. It was to be used for Deborah Shank’s care.

Instead, all of it is now slated to go to Deborah’s former employer, Wal-Mart Stores.

Read the above link for more on the story and you can also donate to the family at Walmart Watch.

The Basket Hunt!

Lauren — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:59:10 +0000

Each year at Easter, we hide the Easter Baskets..or ahem, the Easter Bunny does. He also does something that my mother did for me when I was a kid. She leaves clues. The kids come downstairs on Easter and find one clue on the table for each of them. For Connor, its like a pun where he actually has to first figure out what the clue is pointing to. Here’s an example;

They call me a box
But I don’t look like one
Inside me you’ll find letters
Check me daily for some

A place to cook
Not in the kitchen
Under my lid
Might be some chicken

I spin in circles but
I’m not a ride
The only passengers I have
Get dried

For a few years for Owen, I’ve printed out pictures as the clue (van, bike, oven, dryer, mailbox, etc). This year, I’ll probably use short words. Each clue takes them to a new place, which has another clue. I try to make this last for a good 20 minutes and have them go back/forth, inside and out. The final clue they search for is where their Easter baskets are!

They love it as much as I recall from my childhood.

Easter Eggs!

Lauren — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:57:32 +0000

We dyed some Easter eggs this morning and I wanted to share the results. The above purple is from blueberries. I didn’t follow to the T any instructions. I put about 2 cups of frozen blueberries into a pot and covered with water and about 2 tablespoons of white vinegar. Let come to a boil, then simmered for about 10 minutes and strained out the blueberries. The color is mottled but a very pretty purplish blue.

We had no blue as I forgot to buy the red cabbage which is supposed to make a really nice blue! Next time.

This is an egg in the beet juice. I cheated and used the beet juice from 2 cans of sliced beets I had in the cabinet. I added a few tablespoons of white vinegar and simmered it for awhile. It makes a nice pink egg.

The color to the left is the yellow from tumeric. I put about 1/2 cup of tumeric in a pot with about 2 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of white vinegar. I brought it to a boil and then simmered for about 15 minutes. My plan was to mix the blue dye and yellow dye for a green dye but since I didn’t have the blue, I figured I’d try the purplish color and yellow. The result was pretty good but the bizarre thing is that the dye actually looked orange but turned the eggs green!

Here is the an egg in the “green” dye;

And the result is below in the bowl with the other colors…not too bad!

And here’s a look at some of the eggs together. We used wax crayons to make doodles on some..and we also doodled on the finished dyed eggs with magic markers.

I made all the dyes first and we dipped/soaked the eggs at the table. The longer you let the eggs sit, the more colorful they are. It was fun all around!

EWG Answers BPA Questions

Lauren — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:22:57 +0000

The Environmental Working Group answers basic questions on the BPA issue. A great site to send someone who isn’t aware of the BPA concerns as its a simple read with clear and concise information.

The HP Blog’s BPA entries.

An Organic Green Easter

Lauren — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:26:12 +0000

Easter is coming! As per usual, I’m behind in getting started but save the info for next year if you’re already 10 steps ahead of me.

Basket

One thing everyone can do to green up Easter is to NOT buy those throw away Easter baskets. There are many greener options available these days. For one, invest in a nice basket that will last many years. I have used the same straw Easter baskets for each of my boys for about 5 years now.

You can also buy galvanized tin paint pails at your hardware store and have your children help you paint them or you can decopage them, if you are crafty.

Another idea I found was to use an actual outdoor hanging plant basket, which might be suitable for older children or the adult in your life that likes the Easter Bunny to visit.

Grass

I still bought the Easter grass last year and was hoping to find an alternative this year. If you start a few weeks early, Creative Kids at Home offers a great instructional on growing your own real grass for your Easter baskets.

This is a great opportunity to let your kids help out with the greening up of Easter. Now more than ever, global warming is an important topic that kids want to know and do something about. So I think for this year, we will hold a “construction paper rip”event. We have tons of construction paper (who doesn’t?)….so I’ll let each child pick their colors and rip into tiny pieces. The explanation is for our house an easy one, since we’ve always told our kids that the Easter Bunny (and Santa) use the wrapping paper and supplies at each house. So they will be helping to supply the Easter Bunny with a more environmentally sound option. Perfect!

Candy

Baskets do not need to be filled to the brim with candy. Things like stickers, small games, books, balls, etc. all make wonderful additions to your child’s Easter basket. If you have any icing bags laying around, you can fill it with any orange item, add some grass to the ends and you have a homemade carrot to add to your basket.

For organic, natural and free trade chocolates and candy, here is what I found;

Jelly Belly is now offering naturally colored and flavored jelly beans.

Natural Candy Store offers natural, organic and dye free hard candies and more.

Check out Global Exchanges Fair Trade store. They have tons of Easter candy, chocolate and items for your child’s Easter basket!

Liz Lovely’s Organic Fair Trade Bakery - Kid’s Easter Treats

Sweet Earth Chocolates - Organic/Fair Trade Easter Bunnies and eggs

Vegan Divine - Organic Easter Egg Hunt packs

From Kate’s Caring Gifts, Chocolate Easter Egg Pack

and Vegan Chocolate Bunny

World’s Finest is one chocolate company that over 40,000 schools and youth groups use for their fundraisers. At Democracy Now, you can send a free fax asking them for fair trade chocolate.

Eggs

Here’s a cool option for dying easter eggs;

This is done actually by wrapping eggs in onion skins! Learn how here at Instructables.com

If you want to dye eggs naturally, here are a few ideas for coloring eggs naturally. Or check out Martha Stewart’s step by step instructions on how to dye eggs using natural ingredients. Serious natural egg dyers will want to check out Mama Lisa’s Blog entry, How to Dye Eggs Naturally. Its an amazing egg-speriment! She takes you through her step by step eggventure in dying with photo results.

Happy Easter!

Cool Eco Art Link

Lauren — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:21:58 +0000

If you haven’t seen this site yet, its worth the look.

http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?icl=7

The Pox on my house…has left

Lauren — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:20:01 +0000

I’ve been neglecting my blog while attending to pox and other fun things at home. The chicken pox made its way through everyone in my house including my husband (which was not fun for him)….all a week or so apart. We are now pox free! YAY. Back to our regularly scheduled program.