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 more
We come back to the subject of natural toys often. When the main motivation for choosing toys is to make them plastic-free, I see three main options for materials: wood, natural rubber, and cloth. There are so many great, natural toys available that no child needs plastic toys. It’s just not necessary. Wood Before there was hard plastic … Read more
When the U.S. CPSIA banned certain phthalates in children’s sleeping products, I think they had in mind primarily sucking products. Pajamas count here, too, since there could conceivably be soft plastics in surface decorations or in the skid-preventing patterns on footie pajamas. Kids can suck those, but they aren’t designed to be sucked. Basically, because very young … Read more
In our Focus on Plastic, we want to take positive steps to reduce the use of plastic for our families. For the rest of this week, I’ll write about plastic-free products for children. Two Big Issues with Plastic Use The first issue, off-gassing. New car smell. You know that characteristic smell and that of a new shower curtain or … Read more
Plastic is pervasive in our lives. Some of us have made efforts to avoid plastic because of a sense that natural materials are better for our families and better for our babies. Let’s add some concrete reasons to our avoidance of plastics. We need to face the costs of plastics at both ends of the chain: … Read more