Shifting Costs Back and Forth Externalizing costs is a clever strategy. When business off-loads cost of dumping waste or cleaning up the environment or treating medical conditions caused by their toxic stew, they have successfully externalized costs in order to realize greater profit. Nice strategy, eh? Efforts to encourage lower impact products or just a…Read the full article.

Once upon a time, even in my lifetime, plastics were the future—the former and temporary future. In the film The Graduate, the main character, Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), graduates from college and returns to his parents’ house for a celebration. His parents’ friends are interested in asking him—and telling him—about his future. One of these…Read the full article.

Uh-oh. Baby in the pool! Do you worry that your baby will leave a mess in the pool? The answer is easy: use a swim diaper. The idea of a reusable swim diaper is very simple: catch poop and let the pee go through. A soggy, leaking mess of a plastic or paper diaper leaks…Read the full article.

Cool foods can be such a refreshing treat in the heat of summer. We often think of cool sweets—or cool almost sweets like frozen juice pops or smoothies. (See my recipes for intense purple, orange, and green smoothies.) If you are going out for the day, how about leaving drinks in the freezer for an…Read the full article.

The longest day of the year is a good time to consider sun protection for children. Being a sun-worshipper doesn’t have to mean that you and your children are looking for sun damage. A few sun protection tips can help keep the family healthy. Teach Healthy Sun Habits My mother made sure I understood the…Read the full article.

Every year as long as I can remember, my father’s family gathers for my grandfather’s birthday. I didn’t grow up with my father—he died when I was very young—so I didn’t celebrate Father’s Day. I didn’t even become aware of such a holiday until I was much older. I did celebrate my grandfather, though. My…Read the full article.

To moms, cloth is cute. To most dads, cloth is ick. This is a tribute to the brave few who can call themselves Cloth-Diapering Dads. Here’s to the dad who didn’t gag when his wife ditched the sposies, dressed their little one in cloth, and waited to see what his response would be at that…Read the full article.

What is the most likely cloth diaper for a father to reach for? How do fathers approach diapering in general? When Nature Mom asked for help determining what Dad’s approach to cloth diapering, one tweeting father wrote, “What do you mean what’s my approach? Why should it be any different than a woman’s approach?” Well,…Read the full article.

Big curious eyes look out from under the longest lashes ever to grace a human being. She looks up and up and up, begging Daddy to notice her. Eyes lock and an instantaneous reflex shoots chubby toddler arms to the sky, while a tiny cherry tomato of a mouth forms the words, “Hold me, Daddy.”…Read the full article.

For 7 years during my young children’s lives, my husband was the at-home, primary parent. He was definitely a father among mothers, going off to homeschool activities, play dates, and coffee afternoons with the girls. He didn’t really seek the company of other at-home dads. I saw the conversation a couple of times. “Oh, you…Read the full article.