Eco-novice

Switch Witch Saves Family from Candy Overload

2019-10-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

[This post may contain affiliate links.]

Every Halloween parents everywhere face a daunting problem: what to do with all that candy???

Here's how we handle Halloween in our family.

Our children collect obscene amounts of candy trick-or-treating. When they return home, they may eat 3 or 5 (there are often negotiations) pieces of candy right then. I am aware that they snitch candies while trick-or-treating or even back at home. I am just trying to contain the deluge. I also try to steer them away from what I consider to be the most disgusting candy because it pains me to watch them eat it.

All the rest of the candy gets left near the fireplace for the Switch Witch, usually right in their trick-or-treat bags.

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What I Use Now: Non-toxic Household Cleaners & Personal Products

2019-05-15T15:28:00.003-07:00

Knowing my propensity to over-research consumer products, sometimes a friend or family member will call me to ask my advice about a particular non-toxic cleaner, lawn treatment, or mattress. But recently my neighbor decided to completely overhaul all her household cleaners and personal products and asked me to share with her what I use. And as I pulled up some old blog posts to share with her on these topics, I noticed that while much of the information and reasoning behind my choices was still up-to-date, many of the products were not. Some products have been discontinued. Some have been replaced with less toxic or more effective ones.

So I decided to make an exhaustive online list of our household cleaners and personal products to share with her and others that I intend to continually update. This list shares what I am actually using now in my own home and with my own family, 10+ years into the eco-friendly journey. The page also includes links to posts on the category (laundry, kitchen, teeth, hair, etc.) and where to find more information about your own cleaners or my cleaners

I would also like to note that there are a lot of great green cleaners out there now (or you could make your own non-toxic cleaners, although I never have), but for certain categories, it took a lot of trial-and-error to find something that worked for us: in particular, dishwasher detergent and hair products (our family has thick curly hair). I hope my painful experiences will spare you some.

You will find the continually updated list here:
What I Use Now: Eco-friendly Household Cleaners & Personal Products

Did I leave something off that you'd like to see? Let me know in the comments below.

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Would you like more ideas and tips about Going Green Gradually? Sign up for my free email subscription to get each of my posts delivered to your inbox (I usually post one or two times a week). You can also follow me on Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest, Twitter, or with your favorite RSS Reader. I hope to see you again soon!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. Your purchase via these links helps support my blog. Thank you for your support. Read my full disclosure policy here.

The Wonder of Snow

2019-01-22T05:00:00.000-08:00

My children love snow. Are fascinated by snow, as only California children could be. And every winter we read together the amazing story of Snowflake Bentley.

6 Fabulous Christmas Picture Books about the Joy of Giving

2018-12-02T12:49:00.001-08:00

One of our family's very favorite Christmas traditions is a children's book advent countdown. Each night in December, we unwrap and read a beloved children's book about Christmas each night, some from the library and some from our own collection. Several years ago I shared a post with 15 of our all-time favorite Christmas picture books. This list includes new favorites that have found a special place in my collection because of their focus on the spirit of giving, and the joy we get from trying to make others happy.

9 Ways to Help Your Child Connect with Nature (no matter where you live!)

2018-09-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

Do you want to encourage your child to connect the natural world but aren't sure where to start? You don't need to plan an all-day hike or trip to the beach to help inspire a love of nature. Whether you live in suburbia or a downtown apartment highrise, you can raise a wild child right now right where you are. Here are 9 ideas to get you started.

10 Fabulous Picture Books about Birds to Read-aloud

2018-05-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

This past year we have spent a lot of time learning about animals through picture books. Most young kids are fascinated by animals, and learning about animals (and observing them in person) is a wonderful way to help kids to care about and fall in love with the natural world.

Birds are so fun to learn about because they are everywhere. Whether you live in the city, country, or suburbia, you will usually have opportunities to observe birds right where you live. When we began studying birds together this year through read-alouds, I was amazed by the number of wonderful picture books we found just browsing the shelves of the library. We read one or more picture birds about birds for nearly a month this year. These ten were our very favorites. I have listed them in order from least text (youngest listeners) to most text (for multiple read-aloud sessions and/or older kids). My kids are 6, 8, and 10, and these ten titles were big hits with all three!
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How Green Is Your Hair? Non-toxic Hair Care for the Entire Family

2018-05-02T15:05:00.001-07:00

We are a family of very thick, very curly hair. I am particular about hair products (I never use whatever happens to be in the shower when I stay at hotels or with family), and it always takes me a while to find non-toxic products that I like and that work for me and my family. I go through a period of mourning when a product I love is discontinued.

I last wrote about my favorite non-toxic hair products in 2013. Most of those products have been discontinued (sadly), or in some cases I have found something better. So here is an update. This post addresses the hair products my entire family uses.

If you are interested in the nitty gritty of my approach to choosing personal care products and the reasoning behind it, check out this post.

Our Favorite Wooden Block Sets: Open-ended Play for All Ages

2017-11-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

Wooden blocks are well-used and well-loved at my house. We use them to build towers, houses, words, villages, roads, skyscrapers, boats, dollhouses and animal villages. We use them to count, weigh, build, balance, measure, and spell. Wooden blocks are never outgrown and never go out of style. They allow adults and all ages of kids to create and play together. My children (now 10, 8, and 6) still play with ours blocks constantly. These are the sets I plan to save and pass down to the grandchildren.

Give Thanks! 10 Favorite Children's Books about Gratitude and Thanksgiving

2017-10-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

At my house, we get out Halloween picture books in October, Thanksgiving books in November, and Christmas books in December. But this year, I decided to get out the Halloween and Thanksgiving books together, to give us more time to enjoy the books that celebrate one of my very favorite holidays. I love most everything about Thanksgiving. These children's books, with their stories of gathering, gratitude, and family are some of our favorites.

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Simple Kid-friendly Fall Leaf Banner for the Non-crafty

2017-10-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Fall is here!

On a walk around the neighborhood last week, my kids and I spontaneously started collecting a few leaves here and there. I am especially fond of red fall leaves and couldn't resist gathering a couple. By the end of our walk, we had quite a collection and decided to make a leaf banner. We went for another walk a few days later on different streets to look for a few more varieties of leaves and colors.

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6 Tips for a Non-toxic Summer

2017-05-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

We've been topping 80 degrees regularly for the past few weeks and while slogging through the final month of school my thoughts are all about swimming, sunshine, and SUMMER!

Here are 6 tips for enjoying a safe, healthy, non-toxic summer.

Cover up and use safe, effective sunscreen.

My preferred method of sun protection is to cover up with long sleeves and hats. But for long days at the beach and other outdoor adventures, you will also need sunscreen. When selecting a sunscreen for my family, I look for sunscreens that use mineral/ physical sunscreens as active ingredients and that offer broad spectrum protection. I choose mineral sunscreens such as zinc oxide and titanium dioxide as active ingredients rather than chemical sunscreens because chemical sunscreens are known endocrine disruptors. I look for broad spectrum protection against both UVA and UVB rays since both types of rays have been linked to skin cancer. I avoid sunscreens with controversial nanoparticles (mineral sunscreens are often nano-sized) and harmful inactive ingredients such as Vitamin A/ retinyl palmitate (which may actually speed development of skin cancer), or fragrance. Some of my family's favorite sunscreen products include:

Fresh Creamy Delicious Hummus All the Time (while cleaning your blender just once a month)

2017-03-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Garbanzo beans, tahini, EVOO, salt, lemon juice. Everything you need to make sensational hummus.

Fresh hummus is a constant in my refrigerator. My husband (on a special low salt diet) enjoys it as a daily snack with veggies or his favorite salt-free tortilla chips. My 5yo eats it plain with a spoon (and it works fabulously to keep her naturally sluggish digestive system humming along). My 7yo eats it with pita chips for a delicious and filling after-school snack. I love it with apple slices and carrot sticks. Made from scratch, hummus is fabulously cheap, nutritious, and delicious!

But having fresh homemade hummus on hand all the time used to require me using my blender at least once a week. And I do not enjoy cleaning the blender. For years I cooked large batches of garbanzo beans (a.k.a. chickpeas) from scratch and froze the cooked beans in 2-cup servings to avoid using canned beans. But this required me to remember to defrost the beans and bust out the blender almost weekly in order to have fresh hummus. Now I use my blender about once a month and have fresh, delicious hummus made from dried garbanzo beans available at all times for my family to enjoy.

Here's how I do it.

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Falling in Love with Nature: Resources to Help Parents Connect Kids with the Natural World

2017-02-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

This post is constantly updated.

Did you know this generation of children is the first ever that will spend more time playing inside than outside? I read that in an article several years ago and it has stuck with me. For years folks have been sounding the alarm about children spending too much time indoors. Although I didn't spend my entire childhood wandering through forests or wild meadows, I did spend a whole lot of time outside playing tag, climbing trees, wandering through empty lots, and looking under rocks for bugs. Helping kids to fall in love with nature is one of my passions. Since I started my blog, I've been documenting my own efforts to connect my kids with nature as well as collecting others' suggestions. It's a topic I have written about many times over the years, and one I plan to write about often in the future.

I created this page as a resource for parents and educators looking for ideas and inspiration about how to connect kids with the natural world. Below you will find links to most of the posts I have written about kids and nature, including:

30 ways to enjoy 30 minutes in nature with children
How to use technology to connect your tech-loving teen or tween with nature
14 ways your family can participate in data collection for scientists in your own backyard
Gifts to encourage a child's sense of wonder about nature
10 foolproof ways to entice your kids to play outside

Scroll to the end of the page for links to additional resources from various organizations.

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What Is Wild? And Where Can You Find It?

2016-12-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

"What is wild? And where can you find it?" These are the first lines of the wonderfully illustrated picture book Finding Wild, a multi-sensory adventure into the idea of wild. I love this book for how it entices kids to find wild in every place, in the woods as well as on city streets. Luckily for Eco-novice readers, the author Megan Wagner Lloyd is an old friend of mine (and long-time fellow greenie), who has actually written a post and many a comment on this very blog! So of course I asked her to do a Q & A with me about her fantastic debut picture book.

Games that Teach Kids about the Natural World

2016-12-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

I'm always on the lookout for books, games, toys, and tools that help my kids learn about and interact with nature. Here are some of our family's favorite games that teach kids (and grown-ups!) about the natural world. Whether your kids are fans of memory, Pokemon, or Monopoly, you'll find something on this list for them!

Too Much Time Indoors Is Hazardous to Your Health

2016-11-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

Snuggling inside a comfy blanket on the sofa with a warm drink on a blustery chilly day sounds wonderful. But as temperatures drop and daylight hours diminish, resist the urge to enter a state of hibernation. Remember that it's still important to get outside!

That's because humans aren't designed to spend the entire day inside. We need to spend time outside to stay healthy and happy. Sunlight (especially in the morning) improves mood and regulates circadian rhythms. Being outside promotes good vision by protecting against myopia. Plus, the air is cleaner! According to the EPA, "a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities."

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Prevent and Treat Cold & Flu Naturally

2016-10-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

The aisles are full of over-the-counter medications promising to alleviate the symptoms and even shorten the duration of colds and the flu. But what if those medications don’t work for you? What if your kids are too young to take them? What if you are pregnant or just prefer to avoid the possible side effects of conventional medicines?

Here are some tried-and-true ways that my family treats colds and flu naturally. Bonus: many of these are so benign that they can be done regularly as a way of preventing cold and flu as well.

Minimize the Risks of Swimming in Chlorinated Pools

2016-06-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last summer one of my kids' favorite activities was swimming with friends at a local pool. So this summer I decided to fork over the money for a pool membership. Which means I am committing to taking my kids swimming frequently in order to get my money's worth. But the pool is chlorinated, as most are, and swimming in chlorinated pools has certain risks. Nonetheless, I believe for my family the pros of physical activity and fun with friends outweigh the risks. Still, I'd like to mitigate those risks as much as possible. First a bit about the risks.

The Dangers of Swimming in Chlorinated Pools

Feel free to skip over this section and go straight to the strategies for minimizing the risks below. We don't all need to know the depressing details! But for those interested, here goes. When contaminants such as sweat, hair, sunscreen, or urine mix with the chlorine in the pool, they form disinfectant by-products, or DBPs. One type of DBP, chloramines, is responsible for the strong chlorine smell we associate with pools. DBPs are known respiratory irritants. Many DBPs are toxic or suspected carcinogens.

Indoor chlorinated pools create an additional danger compared to outdoor pools because of the enclosed atmosphere. I have long disliked indoor pools because of the mugginess and extra strong chlorine smell (which is actually chloramines) of the indoor air. Volatile chemicals can be transferred from water to air and then inhaled by swimmers and spectators. Outdoor pools offer greater ventilation.

Numerous studies have connected swimming in chlorinated pools to health problems, particularly for the very young and the highly exposed (for example, elite swimmers and pool workers). Health problems associated with exposure to chlorinated pools include increased risk of respiratory problems, childhood asthma and allergies, DNA damage and bladder cancer (see this discussion of the effects of DBPs). Several studies have highlighted the risks of swimming in indoor chlorinated pools in particular. For example, studies have linked swimming in indoor pools to testicular damage, as well as asthma and recurrent bronchitis in children. But the research on DNA damage and cancer is in the early stages, and the research reviews on chlorinated pool exposure and childhood respiratory problems that I read stated that the connection is inconclusive (since some studies find no connection, or even associate swimming with a decrease in respiratory symptoms).

For me, the bottom line is that toxic chemicals are present in and around chlorinated pools, and while researchers are busy studying the health effects of those compounds, my family will enjoy the benefits of recreational swimming while doing our best to mitigate our exposure to harmful chemicals.

How to Limit Exposure to Harmful Substances in Chlorinated Pools

Gluten-free German Pancakes (just as good as the wheat version!)

2016-02-02T12:39:00.004-08:00

The deliciousness has landed!

Since my diagnosis with Celiac Disease a year ago, I have slowly been expanding my repertoire of gluten-free breakfasts. This has been one of the very easiest. I love to whip this up, put it in the oven, and let it bake while I make the kids' lunches and help them get ready for school. Even my not-a-morning-person daughter, who often tries to skip breakfast, will eat several helpings. In fact, she's the one who said, "These are just as good as the gluten version!"

I first got the idea for making German Pancakes gluten-free while staying with my sister-in-law. She made them with sorghum flour. They were a little heavy (similar to German pancakes made with whole wheat flour), but still quite tasty, and I realized that this recipe had potential. She recommended I try oat flour (lighter and less strong taste), which I did, and that's how I've been making them ever since. If you cannot tolerate oats, I recommend trying sorghum flour (for a heartier version) or experiment with brown/white rice flours, millet flour, and so on.

[For those without gluten issues, here is my delectable gluten version. I still miss them just a little.]

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Top Ten Tricks for Early Potty Training Success

2016-01-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

Are you interested in saving money? Conserving resources? Preventing diaper rash, UTIs, and constipation? Side-stepping years of changing diapers containing "man-poops"? Do you want a greater range of choices for preschools? Would you like to avoid potty training an uncooperative 3-year-old? Then early potty training just might be for you.

If you want to try early potty training, it's as easy as taking off your child's diaper, and plopping them on the potty every once in a while. Here are my best tips for successful early potty training, based on my experiences potty training my second and third children.

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9 Ways to Limit Your Family's Exposure to Toxic Chemicals: Top Tips for Parents and Parents-to-be

2015-12-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

Recently I was asked what advice I had for parents or soon-to-be parents who want to limit their family's exposure to toxic chemicals.

In putting together this post, I've thought long and hard about my response. I've been in those shoes and when you first try to learn more about toxic chemicals in everyday products it can be extremely time-consuming and overwhelming. And at a time in your life where you are already probably quite overwhelmed and short of time! This post is my advice for busy overwhelmed parents who want doable, affordable steps that will significantly limit their family's exposure to toxic chemicals.

Toxic Teflon: 10 Ways to Minimize Your Family's Exposure

2015-09-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

To learn more about the story of toxic Teflon, read last week's post:
Toxic Teflon: How a Deadly Chemical Evaded Regulation and Ended Up inside 99.7% of Us

PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic Acid) or C8 is an essential ingredient in Teflon and for decades was used in a huge range of different products (nonstick cookware and bakeware, pizza boxes, coatings for eye glasses, waterproof clothing, and stain-proof coatings for carpets, to name a few). Because of exposure through consumer products and due to exposure as a result of the disposal of millions of pounds of chemical waste into the air, water, and landfills, 99.7% of Americans have PFOA in their blood. (source 1)

Studies have tied PFOA to an incredible range of health effects throughout the body, often even at very low exposure levels. These health effects include:

ovarian cancer
prostate cancer
lymphoma
reduced fertility
arthritis
hyperactivity
altered immune responses in children
hypotonia, or 'floppiness,' in infants"
ulcerative colitis
high cholesterol
pregnancy-induced hypertension
thyroid disease
testicular cancer
kidney cancer

(sources 1, 2)

The story of toxic Teflon is a horrifying illustration of our broken regulatory system, and proof that consumers cannot rely on the reasonable assumption that if something were truly dangerous, companies wouldn’t be allowed to sell it.

In some ways, C8 [or PFOA] already is the tobacco of the chemical industry — a substance whose health effects were the subject of a decades-long corporate cover-up...And, like tobacco, C8 is a symbol of how difficult it is to hold companies responsible, even when mounting scientific evidence links their products to cancer and other diseases. (source 1)

While U.S. companies have participated in a "voluntary" (read "unenforceable") phase-out of PFOA, the not-so-different replacement chemicals industry is now using instead appear to be just as problematic. (source 3)

Does What I Do Matter?

In the face of this kind of information, it is easy to feel outraged but also helpless. However, I take the same stance with PFOA that I do with all other toxic chemicals I learn about. While I cannot eliminate my family's exposure, I can refuse to support these companies financially and minimize my family's exposure to PFOA (as well as the novel “fluorochemicals” that have replaced PFOAs in consumer products) whenever possible. Here are some ways to do that.

Toxic Teflon: How a Deadly Chemical Evaded Regulation and Ended Up inside 99.7% of Us

2015-09-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

There is a prevailing sentiment among well-meaning people who don’t want to be unduly influenced by alarmists and worrywarts: if something were truly dangerous, they wouldn’t be allowed to sell it. Unfortunately, this logical line of thinking has been disproven time and again as a result of our broken regulatory system. The story of Toxic Teflon, as recently laid out in The Intercept’s three-part series, is a horrifying illustration of this fact.

DuPont Suspected Teflon Harmful for Decades

PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic Acid), also known as C8, is an essential ingredient in Teflon (first introduced in 1946). DuPont is by far the leader in PFOA use and emissions in the U.S. Due to recent court battles many internal documents from DuPont have been uncovered, including “write-ups of experiments on rats, dogs, and rabbits showing that C8 was associated with a wide range of health problems that sometimes killed the lab animals…[and] hundreds of internal communications revealing that DuPont employees for many years suspected that C8 was harmful and yet continued to use it, putting the company’s workers and the people who lived near its plants at risk” (source 1).

Kids Need to Hear Good News about Environment

2015-08-06T10:06:00.001-07:00

Recently I've been reading and writing about How to Raise a Wild Child by Scott P. Sampson. The chapter on "The Rewilding Revolution" included a passage that grabbed my attention:

"One of the greatest gifts we can give to children is an optimistic outlook on the future. Particularly for kids in early childhood, avoid negative stories about the natural world and the declining environment. This can lead to emotional detachment rather than caring. Recognize, however, that kids in middle childhood will likely be getting a doom-and-gloom message about the state of the world, even if it doesn't come from you. It's important to listen to kids' fears for the future, to respond honestly, and even to share your own fears. Equally important, however, is balancing any fears with positive, hopeful stories of change, stories that demonstrate how people are working to solve the problems, and how youths can be part of this critical work." (emphasis mine)

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. Your purchase via these links helps support my blog. Thank you for your support. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Eco-novice's Top Picks for Reusable Lunch Gear (based on 3 years of rigorous testing)

2015-07-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

I have children entering the first and third grades and after packing four-years' worth of school lunches (plus innumerable snacks and lunches for summer and weekend family outings), I'm ready to tell you my very favorite reusable lunch products.

When it comes to reusable lunch gear my top priorities are: toxin-free (or in other words, mostly plastic-free); durable; and dishwasher-friendly. There is no way I am going to hand wash my two kids' lunch gear everyday, so I put a very high premium on dishwasher-friendly containers. I also want some products that are truly leak-proof, and able to maintain temperature (so that I could send hot and cold foods).

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