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.

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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.”

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“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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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:

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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.

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Obviously, nature is often “red in tooth and claw,” as Tennyson puts it.1 However, nature also has its soft-and-fuzzy side, which provides a wonderful lesson and model for how humans in general and environmentalists in particular can relate to nature. A particularly splendid example of this is animals “adopting” other animals.

I have been watching a pair of cardinals parenting a baby cowbird at my bird feeders recently. Cowbirds (like other birds, such as the cuckoo) will lay their eggs in other birds’ nests and let the foster parents do the dirty work–changing dirty diapers, wiping runny noses, feeding at all hours of the night and day. And so along with the little baby cardinals flapping flopping and squawking like mad, this little cowbird is right there with the rest getting dutifully fed by the cardinals. I am sure all pet owners can recount endless tales of cats adopting dogs, dogs adopting cats, and so on.

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When I was a young lad, my father sat me down for two minutes of the most awkward conversation I have ever had the misfortune to be a part of; in the end I was left with a shaky sense of fear, and a healthy dose of confusion. This isn’t that kind of talk.

If you have a parent, or grandparent (or for that matter brother, sister, or friend) that displays all the outward signs of intelligence, but doesn’t seem to be doing any of the many simple things to make this world a better place, it is up to you to help them understand why they should start. My advice: start small.
Try and get them to alter one portion of there life. I would start with recycling. Most places have curb side recycling, or a recycling center close by. If they aren’t into all that "hippy crap," then try the tactic of showing how much financial sense it makes to keep waste out of landfills. They will have to deal with the problems of what to do when the local landfill is full, so it’s a good idea to keep it from filling up. Explain that recycling makes the local government money, and hence provides funds for other services they enjoy (parks, schools, whatever).

Enable there choices by providing the tools needed to make the change. Get them the recycling bin as a gift, buy that programmable thermostat, or bring over a couple compact fluorescent light bulbs. Let them drive your fuel efficient car, and show them it won’t kill them. Take them for a walk in the woods. Most importantly, don’t be confrontational. Make suggestions, not demands. My mother used to tell me "you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar."

Most people don’t think much about the kind of light bulb they buy, or the kind of potato they get from the store. Talking to your parents about this will get them to stop and consider the choices they make. The biggest influence in our lives is our friends and family. The opinion of trusted loved ones can do more to change our behavior than a million Al Gores telling a million inconvenient truths.

Most importantly, make sure to praise and reward any changes they do make. If someone is very set in their ways ("I have been doing it this way for 45 years…"), it can be very hard to suddenly change. Once you have them doing something small (recycling, new light bulbs), start dropping hints about insulating the attic, or buying that new energy efficient washer dryer combo. Before you know it your mother will be showing off her new hybrid and reminding you to recycle your pop can. Good luck!