Green Options

I’m always looking for baby clothing that’s organic and stylish.  A recent shopping find is the company Cozy Cocoon and their Organic Leopard Baby Bunting Cocoon available through eConsciousMarket.com.

This baby body sock for swaddling newborns is made from 90% organic cotton knit and 10% lycra which parents can roll up, tuck and hold their baby in.

Cozy Cocoon uses:

• Organic materials.

• Recycled, reused or resalvaged materials/fibers in production.

• Biodegradable materials/fibers in product line.

• Vegan or Animal-free materials/fibers.

Are you finding it challenging to choose a summer camp for your child?

Choice Camps, a Boston-based summer camp and youth travel referral service, has just launched a great resource for parents - ChoiceCamps.com.  It’s a website designed to improve the way families find summer camps and teen travel programs online.

Says Nick Riotto, co-founder of Choice Camps:

“Until now, there has been no comprehensive, trusted resource for families to find safe, reliable, and top-rated summer camp and teen travel programs online. Through our online and phone components, it is our goal to inspire families to send their kids to camp, help them make informed decisions, and guide them in selecting an appropriate summer experience.”

The current slow economy can actually bring children and their parents closer to nature, says REAL School Gardens. It suggests parents slow down, take a deep breath, and step into the backyard or a local park with their child.

“Connecting with nature calms and soothes both children and adults, and it is something that both children and adults can do for a wealth of benefits, for free”, says REAL School Gardens.

A 3-year study focusing on 35,000 children, parents and professionals, claims British children are less happy than those in almost any other developed country.

The aggressive pursuit of individual success by adults today is the greatest threat to our children….There is unease about the unprecedented speed with which children’s lives are changing; the commercial pressures they face; the violence they are exposed to; the rising stresses of school; the increased emotional distress they feel.

Parents have a tremendous influence over how their children eat.

To emphasize this, researchers at Saint Louis University have determined that families who eat out often are more likely to skimp on fresh fruits and vegetables compared to those who eat more meals at home.

After focusing their study on young families in southeastern Missouri, it was found that close to 73% of parents don’t consume the minimum recommended amount of fruits and vegetables each day.

Researchers also discovered that families who eat out frequently are less likely to have fresh produce on hand at home.

Many parents and caregivers are uninformed that routine practices like providing healthy snacks and sharing utensils may increase their child’s risk of developing cavities, according to a new survey.

The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive for the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), a leader in children’s oral health.

It found U.S. parents and caregivers are uninformed about cavity-causing bacteria and teeth-friendly snacks.   One result showed 96% of U.S. adults with children under 12 years old in their household thought a cracker was better for children’s teeth than a piece of caramel.  Starches, however, can also cause cavities like sugars, and caramels dissolve more quickly from the mouth than crackers.

I’ve seen some nasty diaper rash in my day (thankfully those days are over). My only solution was bare buns for awhile, but sometimes you got to put a cloth diaper on the rash covered bum to head out of the house.

Many parents rely on diaper rash creams and talc, but the solution to diaper rash is much easier and cheaper in the long run if you use cloth wipes.

Bummas has the solution!  What are Bummas?  Bummas are:

Bummas are small soft, luxurious baby-sized cloths made especially for drying baby bottoms, as well as blocking those surprise squirts. And with a little douse of water, they can also replace wet wipes for clean up of sensitive bums. They are small enough to conveniently carry on the go and durable enough to wash over and over again and won’t pill shrink or fade. We think you will find Bummas to be an indispensable item in your diaper changing regimen.

Temperatures in Jackson, Wyoming, ranged from -6 to 30 during my visit over the weekend. And yet folks were much more likely to be found outside than in. Perhaps that is because the “outside” of Jackson, Wyoming, is so beautiful and offers so much in the way of wonderful outdoor activities, from skiing (alpine, nordic and telemark) to snowboarding to snowshoeing through the magnificent Grand Teton National Park, to name the most obvious. I think the beauty of the scenery and the thrill of the activity keeps us warmer than the temps suggest. This notion occurred to me when I overheard a seemingly non-sensical statement during my trip. As we waitied for a shuttle on one particularly chilly morning, it was -4 at the time, a woman waiting beside me told her friend,

You know, with these temperatures back home, it’d be freezing!

In keeping with the rest of the media at this time of the year, I came up with a Top 10 list for 2008. But… to be a little different, I made it a Top 12 list. (You know, 12 days of Christmas and all…)

In 2008, parents and children were hit with a number of warnings for toxic products and toxic lifestyle, and we got a couple of wake-up calls from both the environmental and health sectors. There were a number of studies released this year with disturbing conclusions, so read up and make sure you’re making the healthiest decisions for you and your family.

[photo by Becky Striepe]

Halloween is probably my very favorite holiday. I just love carving a pumpkin, putting on a costume, and playing make believe. Of course, this meant I was overjoyed to stumble upon Green Halloween, an organization aimed at promoting what they call “The Three G’s:

It’s late in the year; harvest season is upon us. If this year in local food has had a “theme” it would be the victory garden. Growing your own has a new appeal. If you haven’t started your garden yet, maybe it’s a bit late, but it’s not too early to think about sharing the garden experience with your youngest family members next year.

DK Publishing’s resident children’s cooking expert, Jill Bloomfield, just published her own children’s guide to gardening. Grow It, Cook It is a great step-by-step visual guide to how to grow a plant on the first spread of pages, then shows step-by-step how to cook the ingredient on the next.