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January 24, 2008
by heather
0 comments

Hush Little Baby

It’s 3 am, I’m rocking my 21 month old to sleep, are we on the looking glass, billy goat or horse and cart in this darn song? I know all the words (perk of motherhood) but they’re lost in my foggy brain. S. doesn’t usually wake in the middle of the night but what must have been a dream has woken her screaming, and brought me into the room. I was in a deep sleep and this disturbance is so unwelcome. My head rests against the hard wooden back of the rocking chair. Uncomfortable. My great desire is to be horizontal. Oh, how I’d love to carry her into the guest room (why wake hubby, too, in our room?) and lie down, snuggling to sleep. Wouldn’t that just be the best solution to this problem. NO!

The tiny inkling of a rational thought screams at me to be wise with number two. My son, just four, still comes into our room each night. We’re on Happy Face stickers now. Two if you can stay in your bed ALL night, one if you go back to sleep in your bed, without me lying down, on the first try. It’s slow going, painful to be consistent when sleep deprived.

We had good sleep habits at first. I followed the books when he was a baby and our nightly routine worked well. But newbies we were, ignorant of the most basic fact of sleep training: What you allow one night or two, quickly becomes habit and hard to undo! Charlie had a twin bed in his room along with his crib. When he woke at night, it was oh, so easy to climb into it with him, initiating a lovely snuggle and off to sleep. Who wouldn’t want to keep that up? Oh, yeah, until you try to climb out to return to bed and, oops, “Mommy!” And there we are.

When our son started climbing into our bed, we didn’t mind at first. How nice to snuggle and not bounce back and forth to his room. He’s not feeling well, he’s in a new developmental stage where he needs some extra attention. Yeah, right. If only it were possible to sleep with a flopping fish! The only way to break this habit is to return him to his room every time he comes in, no matter how many times it takes in a night. Consistency is key.

Back to my rocking chair. I muse to myself that if Sophie had a bed in her room along with the crib, we’d be in it now and a pattern would form. I realize that the only think keeping her good sleep habits is this hard rocking chair. I force myself to remain in it. After all, I can spend this time awake getting her back to sleep tonight, or postpone it six months when I’m trying to break her from wanting to sleep with me in a bed. In a few minutes, I’ll slowly return her to her crib, rub her back, and leave the room.

Okay, well, I did need to get her some warm milk, do you think she’ll wake for it tomorrow?

January 3, 2008
by heather
0 comments

Mommy Time Management

It’s January and time to start planning for 2008. And before resolutions can be made or kept it helps to have a solid time management system to organize your time. Mothers, especially, are faced with organizing:

Kids’ schedules, meals, shopping, birthdays, activities and school
Our own appointments, calls/emails to make, to do’s, shopping and errands
Household to do’s, repairs, chores, décor
Family finances, activities, entertainment and meals
Business schedule and tasks, if working another job
My “desktop” used to be Microsoft Outlook and a notepad of to do’s. My life oriented around these two items, which organized my hourly, daily and weekly life quite well. I was grounded by this system, whether I viewed it on my handheld or at a desk. I always knew where to go to learn where I needed to go or what to do. Then, suddenly I’m on maternity leave. I can’t even begin to wrap my hands or head around the new items I should probably be organizing. And my old system doesn’t apply. Even back at work three months later, I can’t seem to combine household and baby-oriented tasks with work ones. My system fails. Eventually, I leave the job and return home to be with baby, rudderless. I need a new system. A mommy system.

Well, four years and another baby later, I think I’ve got it. Through trial and error I’ve developed my time management, sampling a few mommy organizers as I went. I still use Microsoft Outlook for my business organization and keep my laptop and this system locked away in my home office for when I work. (In my experience, trying to touch one key on a computer in the presence of two toddlers is asking for little hammering fingers and begging exuberance to damage any hopes of using this system in the home.)

So, paper it is and here are the two organizers I’ll praise:

Last year, I used Mom Agenda and raved about it to all my friends. This attractive vinyl calendar provides a weekly view with rows for multiple kids. If your kids are school age and up, this is especially helpful to keep track of all family members’ schedules in one place. (Since my children are younger, I tried to use each row for separate areas of my life but eventually they just became general to do’s.) What I also loved were handy colored pages in the back for listing favorite books, wines, movies and restaurants; recording gifts, organizing parties and vacations. It was great to have one place to record all these areas of my life. And what’s really neat, is the address book in the rear that is self-bound and can be removed for easy access in following years. The address book featured separate pages for recording family medical information and listing babysitters and household service provides. All in all, for $40 I felt pretty well organized throughout the year.

My one gripe, is that there wasn’t enough space for general to do’s: emails, phone calls, tasks, errands, and other items I need to do but not necessarily on a specific day. For example, when I listed them under Monday, I didn’t revisit that list later in the week and missed specific tasks left undone.

Which led me to revisit my calendar system for the start of 2008. Knowing I’d need a new Mom Agenda by January, I began looking this Fall. I seriously inventoried my organizing needs and sought a diary with more space for weekly to do’s. But, I thought, if I can’t find one that competes with the Mom Agenda overall, I may not change. I spent considerable time in the organizer aisle at Staples, flipping through weekly agendas including their new homegrown organizer for Moms. At $26 or so, it’s cheaper than others but had too little space for (in my sloppy handwriting) a To Do list.

And that’s where a Google search sent me to Truly Mom. Very attractive and on the expensive side (they start at $90) these organizers take a different approach than the Mom Agenda’s standard day organizer format. They are catchy looking foldout portfolios that organize:
A monthly calendar
A daily, well-organized To Do page
Three notepads for shopping list, misc notes and other lists
An Address book
Each insert is replaceable so while the initial price is steep, you don’t have to purchase an entire diary each year. Just the calendar insert.

This was it! Here’s why:
The My Day notepad is organized into Things to Do, Calls/Emails to make, Gifts to purchase, Don’t Forget, What’s for dinner, Kids’ activities and Just for Me. I don’t use one per day but start a new one when most items have been completed. And it turns out, I am very productive when I can separate my types of tasks to accomplish. After all, sometimes I don’t feel like reaching out and making calls so it’s nice to simply look down my list of To Do’s and organize my time or accomplish them immediately. I was worried that the monthly calendar wouldn’t provide enough space for me to jot down appointments, but my life is filled more with tasks than engagements so this has worked well so far. Plus I have a nice monthly window onto our family schedule. Finally, I love having three shopping lists or note areas all in the same location. I’m constantly thinking of grocery items we need and previously scoured the kitchen for my list even though my organizer was right at hand. Now, it’s easy to jot down items and create separate lists for grocery, pharmacy or superstore strips. Need to give my number or email to someone? A post it note is right there. Need to leave a note for hubby? Same thing. So, six weeks into my sharp pink “desktop” with the green stripe, I’m feeling the most organized yet.

Oh, by the way, both these organizers start mid-year in September so once I found Truly Mom, I started my new system in December.

Only you can determine how best to organize your family life and mommy schedule. Hopefully one of these organizers will help you do it or at least give you some ideas for how to get things done.

November 30, 2007
by heather
0 comments

The Power of No

I’ve been working recently on my ability to say “No” to my three year old son. Oh sure, I can say No quite easily and say it many times. It’s the random question from him, that I quickly reply No to, and then regret with the onslaught of his crying and carrying on. He sure knows how to plead his case. And I’ve found myself to be more of a sucker than I thought I’d be. After incessant whining for several minutes, what’s the harm in a bowl of Cheerios right before dinner, an extra television show, or dirty hands before eating? Well, over time, quite a lot is wrong if I give in to his demands. After all, he’s interested in his immediate gratification. It’s my job to see the bigger picture, set the rules, teach him the basic structure of how to live well in society. I know what’s best.

In reality, I needed a little training before I could help train him. So, I consulted my library of parenting books (is yours getting as big as mine?) and was fortified and comforted by one in particular: The Blessing of a Skinned Knee (see my booklist to the right). This book takes a different spin on the standard parenting issues. Its author, Wendy Mogel, Ph.D, uses Jewish teachings to emphasize the values needed to raise our children. It’s a bit more applicable for older children than mine, say six years and up, but on my first reading a year ago I found its principles to be a solid framework for parenting and one that closely matches how my husband and I hope to raise our kids. She pulls from the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) to create nine “blessings” that guide parents in raising responsible, caring children.

So, I thought of Wendy’s book when looking for the power to say and reinforce my No’s. In Chapter Three, she discusses the need for children to honor their mother and father and asks some pretty pointed questions about how well your children might be honoring you. As I squirmed in my seat, she noted that many parents have trouble in this area. They have “bred disrespectful children in large part because they don’t demand respect from them.” Her reason? “Deep down parents don’t believe they deserve it or that they can master the struggle.” This phrase alone got me thinking. I realized the truth is that I’m not sure I can “master the struggle.” I don’t want my son to suffer and when he cries and whines and becomes close to desolate when he can’t have what he wants, I relent out of sympathy. But that’s not what is best for him. And it certainly isn’t setting the stage well for when his demands will become bigger and have more impact on his well-being (or our finances!)

Wendy goes on to set out helpful guidelines to establish authority but I decided right then and there that I would have the courage to “master the struggle.” And here’s what happened: My son cried and whined less. Yep. When No means No, they eventually move on. Sure, I think he senses when I may waver and plays upon past experience of my waffling tendencies. But a calm, firm No with a couple of choices sets a tidy parameter for both of us.

We’ve all heard that children like rules and limitations. It grounds them and provides security. Limitless options or the knowledge that they set the rules is actually very frightening for them. And this is why I think the Power of No is so positive. The results have certainly been. After all, if I hold firm, C. is the one who relents. He eventually comes around because no other options are presented to him. “No, you may not play with the vacuum (after finding him with the plug in a socket). This is for adults and those are the rules.” Or, “No, you may not have juice right before dinner. You may have some milk and a cracker or wait until we eat.” In this type of circumstance and when he says No himself with enough “power” for both of us, I find it most effective to present two choices: “You can brush your teeth now and we’ll read three stories or you can go to bed without stories tonight.” He gets a choice (this is a power struggle after all) and chooses the one in his best interest.

One of the biggest benefits of this approach is that when I feel confident that I can say No calmly and firmly and STICK TO IT, we don’t get to the point where I lose my temper. C. isn’t the one pushing me to my limits. I’m in control of the situation and guiding him to the right choice. Of course, it’s more difficult to stick to No when it’s over a trivial request that I realize is actually okay and find myself wanting to give in. In this case, I’ve realized it’s necessary to invoke my mother’s tried and true responses: “We’ll see” or “Maybe.” I never understood the reasoning behind these phrases until now. But I now see that a little careful consideration gives me time to determine whether a firm No is necessary so I can confidently hold my ground.

November 13, 2007
by heather
0 comments

Toddler Travel Tips

Last weekend we traveled up to Boston to visit family and had our first stress free travel morning. Some background. Since C. was born nearly four years ago, we’ve been learning how to travel with a young child – and a couple years later – two young children. You all know… it’s not easy. The “cost of entry” (as I like to call it) for an overnight is the same as for a two week vacation. You need a lot of gear. Without fail, we forget a crucial piece such as the monitor, crib sheet, white noise, or this time, C.’s winter jacket. Without fail, we manage to survive.

The hardest part of our stressful departure morning, however, is not gathering all the gear, per se. It’s that my husband and I are usually ready to kill each other by the time we leave (for this long awaited trip or vacation.) We know why it’s stressful to get out of the house with two young kids and all the gear, we laugh about it (later), but until this weekend, we couldn’t seem to make it go more smoothly.

So, here’s what worked this time. First, and I think most important, I packed for the kids and myself the day before and laid out our travel clothes. This gave me relaxed, adequate time to think about what we’d need (well, except the missing winter coat) and even made for a fun activity as the children got excited to visit their aunt and cousin. Next, I made a list of the gear we’d need to put in the car the next morning (this usually falls to my husband). This list also included last minute critical items such as “blankie.”

The next morning was so enjoyable we felt like we were already on vacation. I didn’t have to worry about what to pack for myself (which I usually leave until the last minute even if I pack the kids ahead of time) and could shower and get dressed in a much shorter period. And, to top it off, instead of trying to keep the kids from watching much TV since they would watch movies on the portable DVD during the long drive, I suggested they watch TV while we get ready. This was huge. It’s very difficult to take time out to pack or get ready, clean up and check lights, heat, etc. in the house when the kids are running around excited to leave. One of my smarter moves (you’ve probably been doing this all along…)

So, in summary, here are some tips for a less stressful departure on your next trip with young kids:

Pack clothes for everyone ahead of time (at least Mom and the kids)
Lay out clothes for travel
Make a check list of what to put in the car the next morning including:

Blankies and loveys
Two types of coats for various weather
Hats and mittens, if necessary
Two types of boots/shoes for various weather
Baby Monitor
Pack and play with crib sheet
White noise machine or radio
Pampers and wipes (for travel and the trip)
Stroller
Booster seat
Sleeping bag, if necessary
Books for travel and bedtime
Snacks and drinks for travel

Longer trips (to condos, hotels, etc.)

Outlet covers
Nightlight
Small flashlight
Extra plastic grocery bags (for easy dirty diaper disposal)

Anything else? Submit a comment if you have more ideas.

Happy Travels!

November 3, 2007
by heather
19 Comments

Preschool Lunch Ideas

Wondering what to pack for lunch now that your child is starting preschool? Well, so have I and in a moment of brilliance, I asked all my smart mommy friends who already have kids in school. Below is a list of their contributions. It’s especially helpful if you, like me, find that your kids aren’t interested in sandwiches yet.

Main Course (sandwich alternatives)

Sandwich Roll-Ups – Flatten bread or tortillas, spread with whatever, roll and slice to show spirals. May freeze slightly to make slicing into wheels easier.
Raisin Bread Fingers – spread with cream cheese, may add apple & dates.
Graham Crackers – spread with cream cheese or peanut butter or topped with cheese, raisins & app
Meat Spread – combine 1 c finely chopped cooked beef, chicken, turkey or chicken livers and 1 c chopped celery or onion in a bowl. Add 2-3T mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

We make “homemade” Lunchables. I use a biscuit cutter and cut out rounds of bologna, thick sliced ham or turkey. I also cut out rounds of cheese. I put these in round, small Tupperware containers and then put crackers in a separate container.

Leftovers that are ok chilled or room temp – pasta/mac n cheese/ cut-up chicken and rice
Hummus and lettuce sandwiches
Egg salad, light cream cheese on wheat bread (sometimes with jelly)
Cooked chicken nuggets or sliced hot dogs (only when past choking age) in a thermos with a side of ketchup
Greek salad (grape leaves, olives, feta cheese with chopped lettuce
Whole wheat pasta with chopped broccoli, olives, feta or parmesian cheese, touch of oliveoil
Whole wheat pasta with chopped egg and a touch of mayo
Lox, tomato and cream cheese on a whole wheat bagel or the english muffin;salmon salad on whole grain bread or on lettuce
Ham or turkey and cheese, cubed, with wheat crackers

My youngest son loves cold pasta (after seeing my first child eating it I know a lot of kids started bringing it to preschool too)…I make wheat elbows or rotini and top it with a little parmesan cheese

Mini whole wheat pitas or bagels filled with: – cream cheese and jelly- cream cheese and smoked salmon- cream cheese blended with raisins- peanut butter and banana- jam and banana- egg salad
“Cracker sandwiches” with stone wheat crackers and turkey or peanut butter
Breaded chicken cutlets (leftover from dinner) cut up and cold for lunch
Small yogurts (the mousse kind by Danon sticks best to the spoon for less mess but only comes in vanilla)

In the winter I sometimes give them Chicken Noodle or Tomato soup in a Thermos (I didn’t start this until Kindergarten).

Snacks/Veggies

Celery Sticks, Carrot Sticks, Bread Sticks, Pita Wedges or Rice Cakes spread with- peanut butter- cream cheese, raisins & sunflower seeds- cream cheese blended with apples and dates- a creamy dip or dressing- hummus
1/2 of a pitted avocado… I just squeeze a little lemon on it and send it in with a plastic spoon.
Ants on a log: celery sticks stuffed with peanut butter or cream cheese, with a few raisins on top
Cucumber sandwiches – sliced rounds with cream cheese in the middle
Steamed broccoli or green beans (so they’re softer but still crisp) with Ranch or Caesar dressing or hummus
String cheese, pretzels, goldfish, chewy granola bars, peanut butter crackers, yogurt or yogurt drinks (these can double as main course items if yours is picky like mine)!
Sliced carrots/peppers with a side of Ranch dressing if they want it
Raisins
Graham sticks (Earth’s Best)
Trader Joes rice and seaweed snacks and soy chips (high protein, low fat)
Trader Joes dried apple rings or dry mango
Veggie Booty, Pirate Booty
Shelled edamame is a fun vegetable.
Stonybrook Farm smaller sized yogurt smoothies
Baby Bell cheese (cute and fun for them to unwrap the wax covering)
Corn nuts, sesame sticks, yogurt covered raisins for fun snack
Veggies fries or pita chips

Dessert/Fruit

Cut up strawberries dusted with powdered sugar (they LOVE these), peeled apples with caramel (individual caramel sold in produce dept.- especially this time of year).
Any kinds of berries in season
Dried fruit: apricots, raisins—even prunes! I also pack cut up pears

I also find that any fresh fruit that is cubed and served with a toothpick for eating goes over well. It is the toothpick that is magical, I believe.

Pudding snacks
Rice crispy treats (pre-packed), sweet snack items
Mini-packaged applesauce
Cookies: Fig Newman’s, ginger snaps, chocolate chip cookies, Nilla wafers
Mini muffins
Homemade oatmeal cookies
Fruit bites

Drinks

Milk
Small bottled water or low-sugar, high vitamin/calcium juice box/drinks
Lemon or grapeade juice box (no sugar added)
Apple or grape juice
Chocolate milk (this always makes my daughter happy!)

Enjoy!

October 24, 2007
by heather
0 comments

Ladybug Lessons

Yesterday, I opened the door to my back deck into an explosion of ladybugs. Yes, dozens, maybe hundreds, of lucky little black and red insects crawling over railings, siding, table and chairs. What really caught me by surprise was the fluttering of teeny tiny wings up into my face, around my hair and out over the yard. I waved my hands, brushing the pretty pests away, and prayed I wouldn’t insult their lucky charms.

Could this mean we’re in for a lucky spell? A really lucky spell? Like, if the entire backside of my house is covered with ladybugs, maybe we’re in for the lottery, a trip to the South of France, free preschool tuition next year…even a quiet night when the kids miraculously fall asleep early?

I ran through the fluttering wings to safety in the backyard, where my children played unaware of our ladybug intrusion. How many wishes could I manage to make on all these ladybugs? Would random wishes offered into the flurry of multiple wings count? Like when you release a ladybug from your finger, close your eyes, and silently pray for the cute guy to ask you on a date? Okay, that was way back then when I made carefree wishes on ladybugs who chanced to land near me.

Now, I’m a harried mother of two toddlers with the chance to wish upon a hundred ladybugs cavorting around my house. What will it be? How many wishes can I imagine?

Okay, real quick while the kids are playing on the swings, I wish:

That they’ll grow old together, laughing and leaning on each other as they do this afternoon.
That I’ll let them run around and play carefree, holding back from telling C. to pull up his pants and shouting at S. to BE CAREFUL!
That I’ll stop worrying whether they’re eating enough vegetables and bartering dinner for dessert as if it were a hostage negotiation crisis.
That I’ll relish the ONE MORE story C. begs me to read before bed instead of wishing I had more time of my own.

I suppose my children are a little like ladybugs. They’re beautiful and precious and they carry a magical aura of all things possible. And sometimes they can just be pests. I guess this afternoon’s fortune is that my little ladybug moment has taken me away from their peskier qualities and back to their beauty.

PS
I did a little research and it turns out, according to The Ladybug Lady, that ladybugs like to hibernate on the south side of light colored houses. Apparently the unusually warm weather has drawn them out in mid-afternoon. Looks like they’ll be with us until Spring.

October 11, 2007
by heather
4 Comments

When the Pickin’ is Easy

Yesterday’s New York Times ran an article, “Picky Eaters, They Get it from You”, about a study showing that picky eating is genetic. Yep, it’s in your genes. And I’ll admit I’ve harbored a secret fear since my kids moved off baby food that they would become (the dreaded) picky eaters and force me to cajole, trick and finally, cook multiple meals. If it’s genetic, well, then I don’t have as much need to worry. My siblings and I (all five of us) have had hearty appetites since childhood. My mother’s a good cook, she didn’t keep junk food or sugar cereal in the house, and she basically starved us until dinner time which was 7:30 pm or so after my father returned home from work. We ate whatever she served.

My children’s appetites fall somewhere in the middle. They both ate well their first year or so, (S. is still going strong at 19 months!), but C. became pickier and pickier after age two. As it turns out, this is a natural occurance, according to the NYT article, and stems from a savvy protectionist gene inhereted from our cavepeople days. Hint: Once cavebabies could crawl or walk out of the cave, they needed a guarded instict not to eat every wild berry and plant in sight! This lasts until they can think a bit about what’s edible – around age 5 or so. They grow out of it (yay!) So, don’t fret nutrition-worried parents, it’s okay if your toddler doesn’t want to eat.

Toddler Food

What may not be so okay for your sanity, time management and patience, is a need to cook him whatever he wants. Or “toddler food.” (My “toddler food” includes Trader Joes chicken nuggets, fish sticks and meatballs, pasta, and hot dogs). This choice is purely individual and dependent on you and your child’s mood, that day’s and evening activities and whether you had the time and foresight to prepare a meal ahead of time.

For my part, I’m using this Fall to get back to basics. In full disclosure, I got really lazy with my cooking for the good part of this year. We moved to a new house in April and getting settled with two toddlers just didn’t leave time to prepare home cooked meals ahead of time. And it was just easier to prepare food I knew my kids would eat.

But, the truth is, my kids actually like most foods (okay, sea bass in Portugese tomato sauce is just pushing it). Lasagna, meat loaf (we’re pretty generous with ketchup around here), baked chicken and frozen veggies go down easy. So it really comes down to whether I’ve planned and managed to cook a meal ahead of the 5:30 dinner hour. I’ll tell you, my incentive increased recently after an illness scare by my father. After numerous heart, lung and stress tests; he was found to be in excellent health at 76 years. His reasoning: his regular cycling, which he continues to this day, and “your Mother’s good cooking.”

Eating Close to the Earth
This got me thinking. After all, (way back) in the 70s, we ate lots of meat, potatoes and gravy, whole milk, and eggs fried in bacon fat. Not exactly a light diet. But what it wasn’t was processed. My mother cooked every meal. The food we ate was relatively “close to the earth” as opposed to heavily processed and packaged. So, I’ve decided to cook more and save “toddler food” for emergencies: Restaurants, busy days, and sanity relief when desperately needed (if you need relief every day, let’s talk.)

Of course, I still have my tricks for helping healthy food go down. Here are some:

Keep cut up carrot sticks, celery, red peppers, and cucumbers handy in the fridge. Serve with a generous dose of Ranch dressing (my kids’ favorite), plain hummus, cream cheese, or peanut butter (not for children under 2 or 3 years based on your pediatrician’s guidance). This is also good to pack in lunches. Put dressing, etc. in a little tupperware container.

Sprinkle “crunchies” (honey coated wheat germ) on vanilla yogurt for dessert or a snack.

Add ham and cheese to scrambled eggs or make an egg sandwhich on cut out round bread with egg, ham or bacon and cheese. My son finds this to be an adequate substitute for our local breakfast joint.

My general philosophy is, if it takes a little bad (ketchup, dressing, the promise of dessert) to help the good go down, go for it.

Bon Appetite!

October 9, 2007
by heather
1 Comment

Welcome and What about this weather??

Welcome
Welcome to Mommy Truths – my new blog devoted to giving tips based on what I’m learning raising my two toddlers (S, 19 mo. and C, 3 1/2 years). I also plan to opine about certain subjects (lead tainted toys, global warming’s effect on our kids, banned cough medicines) so be prepared! Please post your feedback so we can have meaningful discussions.

Weather Warnings
Now, on to the strange weather we’ve been having. In four decades of living, I’ve never experienced 85 degree days in October! It’s absurd and rather frightening. I keep thinking, this is another one of those early warning signs. At some future time, when the seasons are long gone as we know and remember them and our efforts to finally conserve energy are simply too little too late, will we look back and say “I remember when it all started…” Signs I’ve seen this week such as daffodils blooming along the road in October, my dead tomato plant growing two new tomatoes after basking in the summer-like sunshine, my children red-faced and perspiring while picking apples.

I’m starting to experience a nagging, daily fear for my children’s future on this planet. Will they never know cool, crisp October mornings when the leaves are turning and apple picking requires a wool sweater? Will their kids play on a completely different coast line. Sure, this can simply be part of a normal weather cycle. But, come on, after having lived this long it’s hard to believe.

We all need to start really thinking about the minor tweaks we can make to our lifestyles to make this planet friendlier for our children’s futures. Here are some early suggestions. Please share your own!

Stop idling when you wait in line to pick up your kids
Look for ways to carpool
Pack refillable water bottles or straw cups instead of purchased bottled water in your kids’ lunches
Teach children to turn lights off in rooms they leave
Devote times to play at home versus filling days with outings to entertain the kids
Think of more ways to be a green family and share them with others!