Eco Child’s Play

Just in time for back to school Uranus Apparel has launched their line of soyshorts panties for woman which come in small enough sizes your tween or teen could wear them.

My daughter received a set and the first thing she said was, “Wow, these are soft.” Read the rest of this entry »

Can’t get that baby to sleep through the night?

Want those full 9 hours of sleep you remember?

Pump your baby full of Enfamil’s “Restfull” formula! It’s,

Specially designed to help babies feel full longer and sleep better…[It] thickens gently in baby’s tummy and digests slowly.

Because didn’t you hear? Formula-feeding is apparently,

A natural way to help keep your baby feeling satisfied.

Ri-ight. Because as a natural parent, when you’re not forcing your baby to sleep through the cry-it-out method, certainly you’re hoping to find something that will stick in their bellies. Or even better, something that will magically “thicken” in their bellies. Read the rest of this entry »

For a while, I didn’t read a lot of fairy tales to my small girls. I avoid presenting them with content that represents violence, and there’s not much more violent than the Brothers Grimm–remember how the stepsisters REALLY try to trick the prince when he comes searching for Cinderella? Shudder.

We’ve been implementing some elements of the Waldorf style of schooling into our home, however, and one thing that’s emphasized in Waldorf study is the experience of myths, legends, and fairy tales–they speak to us as a people, tell who we are as a culture, and are especially relevant to the emotional language of children, both light and dark. They’re also, like the Earth is Our Mother series of books, seen as connective, showing children their place in their community as a whole. And it’s true that my girls love hearing these cross-cultural fairy tales. Read the rest of this entry »

One Small Step was founded by a mom who needed alternatives for her daughter’s lunches. Renata Bodon’s daughter’s school requires waste free lunches.

That led to One Small Step, an online resource for reusable, eco-friendly, stylish, and environmentally safe lunch products and food wraps with no BPA, no phthalates, and no PVC.

In addition to eco-lunch containers, reusable sandwich wraps, and environmentally friendly lunch bags One Small Step also carries eco backpacks, EcoStaplers, and Greenciles (pencils) for your back to school needs. Read the rest of this entry »

Kimberly-Clark, makers of Kleenex, Cottonelle, and Scott products has ”set a goal of obtaining 100 percent of the wood fiber for its products — including its flagship brand, Kleenex— from environmentally responsible sources. By the end of 2011, the company will no longer use any pulp from the Boreal Forest unless it is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified. The policy also prevents the company from cutting endangered forests, and increases the company’s use of FSC-certified pulp and recycled fiber globally.”

Finally.

Greenpeace and countless other activists have been after Kimberly- Clark since 2004 trying to get them to stop clear cutting ancient forests, especially the North American Boreal. Read the rest of this entry »

Like the sand dough and the sawdust dough, oil dough is another unique sensory experience. It’s smooth and creamy and soft, and yes, it will leave your hands and work surface oily, so be prepared.

The oil is what makes this dough truly special, however. You can use the cheapest oil available and your dough will work just fine, but for a treat you can substitute in any other oil that you’d like, taking advantage of its properties—something to soften the skin, perhaps, or something soothing especially for a child with eczema can play with, or you can substitute in some essential oils for an aromatherapy benefit (be cautious, of course, about using essential oils on children—they’re smaller than we are, and you know that a little essential oil already goes a long way).

You will need:

Read the rest of this entry »

Does every mom struggle as much as I do with signing up to have the doctor stick their baby with a needle full of potentially harmful ingredients that makes baby scream with teary eyes that say “why are you doing this to me” followed by two days of fever?

OK, maybe I’m a wimp, but, when I read books like Dr. Sears’s The Vaccine Book and articles like “Vaccine Debate” in Mothering Magazine this month, I feel rather vindicated for being very cautious about vaccinating my little one year old girl, Emerson.

Read the rest of this entry »

Eco-friendly pencils, soy crayons, smencils, Forest Stewardship Council approved colored pencils, banana paper notebooks, washable markers, recycled paper sketchbooks and journals…Stubby Pencil Studio has eco-back to school supplies for your little ones.

I love Stubby Pencil Studio because they have the cutest and most practical eco-art supplies for my kids. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a safe family friendly way to ease the itchies from bug bites, Brittanie’s Thyme Organic Bug Bite Relief.

I’ve had the chance to sample this handy little roll on and I keep it close to use during the inevitable event that someone gets bit by something. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning I turned on my computer and saw this video. It’s worth watching. I was one of the 1,400 women at BlogHer, and I always find an outsider’s view interesting.

I immediately sent an email off to him and it was followed up by a phone call. Michael Schott is a writer in Chicago and he was kind enough to allow me to ask five follow up questions. I’m going to publish without editorial. He’s clearly a bright man, and I’d like you to hear his voice, both on video and in print.

Read the rest of this entry »