Living with fewer toys

Trying to keep the playroom tidy. 

As I prepared our house to go on the market I knew our biggest challenge would be storing our many toys and encouraging our kids to dial back on the playroom mess. There is nothing I love more than listening to my kids play imaginatively in the playroom, which is still their primary source of entertainment. Building large, elaborate play cities with blocks? Yes. Recreating the Trans-Siberian Railway through the entire family room? The bigger the better, I say! But when you are on constant alert for calls from realtors who want to show your house in an hour, these wonderful messes become a thorn for both mom and kids. So we stowed many of the toys, and the kids have learned to alter their play.

Amazingly, I've heard few complaints. Drawing has been big. Online chess is a hit. Reading, writing stories and playing cards have taken the place of Littlest Pet Shops. How creative can you get with 1/4 as many Legos? Very, it turns out. It helps that we're busy with school, soccer and Kung Fu, and that the skateboard park is the new favorite destination on a dry day. Staying out of the house keeps it tidy. But living with fewer toys has been eye-opening for all of us. It really can be done.

A friend recently went through this same exercise when she and her family moved. She boxed up the toys, and when they moved she only unboxed a few. Her girls got some 'new' Craigslist toys that they'd long wanted. But lots and lots of the 'old' toys stayed boxed and ultimately went away, forgotten. I love this strategy for reducing toys by introducing a few new-to-you toys as a distraction. (I think I want to do this with my clothes and books!)

Sure, our favorite toys will make a comeback. But I'm already making lists of the ones that will likely find new homes. By the time we settle in to our new house (which could very well be smaller than our current home) we'll have leaner playroom. And that will be just fine.

I'm doing this for you, kids! More chores, less enrichment

As a back burner worry, I've been kind of kicking myself all year long over the fact that I haven't signed my kids up for piano lessons. I went and got some piano teacher recommendations from friends. And that's it. As it stands, I have one kid who very naturally will plunk out some notes on the piano, and it actually sounds pretty good. My other kid has almost no interest.

I have a love/hate relationship with enrichment activities for kids. We usually let them do one thing at a time, and it's an activity of their choosing for the most part. I like for them to be active classes. But when it all comes down to it, they often seem like more of a hassle and an upset to the routine than any actual value-add to our lives. Maybe I'm being unfair? They're just kids. Not prodigies. And did you know that Gershwin didn't play a piano until he was 12?

I finally picked up my copy of Free-Range Kids from the library and practically read it in one setting. It was eye-opening, and it's given me the the courage to try some new things. Despite the internal screaming: 'DON'T DO IT!! STOP! YOU'RE ACTING CRAZY!! PRESERVE THE STATUS QUO AT ALL COST! YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT PISSES YOU OFF WHEN YOUR DEAR HUSBAND LOADS THE DISHWASHER THE WRONG WAY!!'

The big change? More chores, less enrichment. My pediatrician had mentioned this at my older daughter's checkup last January. How we parents rarely fail to provide enrichment, but never ask for anything in return from our kids. Then we fume inwardly about what a bunch of ingrates we're raising and wonder why we even bother and just how many thousands of prompts of 'please' and 'thank you' will be necessary before it finally becomes habit?! (Or maybe that's just me…) Heather and I were recently on a walk when we bemoaned our kids seeming inability to take care of their things, despite our best efforts to teach them (blah, blah, blah). Sounding like the middle-age moms that we are, we said things like: 'When I was a kid, I took pristine care of my toys! I understood value!' and  'I had my paper-route and I earned my way!'  And we wonder why they don't understand the value of things... Ahem. Mystery solved.

So our family just dove into the deep end of the pool last night after a quick chat at dinner about what kinds of things they could help out with. There was no grumbling (surprisingly) although a mention of allowance was shot down with the reminder that we do provide clothing, meals, a good school, a warm bed, etc. on a regular basis. Then the 8-year-old and the 5-year-old washed the dishes. Granted, there will be a learning curve. And I'm sure once the honeymoon is over, some real grumbling. But it's nice to see them taking more responsibility.

Do your kids do chores? At what ages did they start, and which responsibilities do they have? Do you tie chores to allowance? What are the consequences for lack of completion or poor performance?

EnviroMom supports Let's Move! Campaign

We took advantage of a gorgeous spring-like day yesterday, loaded up our bikes and headed to a nearby bike/walk path and logged… 8 miles on our family's first bike outing of the year. It's always a bit of a letdown how little actual biking we do given the amount of work it is to load up the bikes, fill the water bottles, find all our helmets, etc. But hey, it was fun. We were together as a family. We're weren't glued to the TV watching the Olympics (a crime on such a pretty day). We were outdoors. We moved.

I think it's awesome that Michelle Obama is heading up the national Let's Move campaign. I'll join the army of moms (and dads) it will take to make this program count in our country's fight to end childhood obesity. I appreciate that the stress is on movement, vs. 'eat your veggies.' As a mom who struggles to get her kids to eat their recommended daily allowances of fruits and vegetables every day, there's no question as to which of the following statements will be greeted with cheers:

• Hey kids! Fresh beets for dinner!
• Hey kids! Let's go on a family bike ride!

Of course, we all know that optimal health is finding the balance between eating a variety of good foods (and not too much) and fun, playful exercise. The Let's Move program presents a balanced approach of four key components:

1. Tools for parents to make healthy choices. I love Obama's quote on this: 'It's time we all had a wake-up call. Our kids didn't do this to themselves...Our kids don't choose to make food products with tons of sugar and sodium in super-sized portions, and then have those products marketed to them everywhere they turn.'
2. Improving the quality of food in school lunches (yay!)
3. Making sure all Americans have access to affordable and healthy food (the quickie marts containing all the corn-sugar food-like products don't count)
4. Increasing and improving physical education and activity

Heather had written about the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution show starting up this month, and I caught a teaser video from it:

Given the (lack of) knowledge of fresh veggies from this first grade class, our nation is in grave trouble. We have our work cut out for us. Let's Move, indeed!

The necessity of learning to cook

Our Sunday paper ran a guest column from Jamie O'Neill about the dumbing down of cookbooks titled 'Knowledge shrinks as our waists expand'. I'm always into learning anything I can to keep my waist from expanding. The gist of the piece is that most Americans don't know how to cook due to our reliance on prepared foods. So that editors of cookbooks can assume very little comprehension of culinary terms by its users. Here's a telling excerpt:

Bonnie Slotnick, a woman who owns a rare cookbook shop in Greenwich Village, was quoted in an article about the uptick in culinary cluelessness, saying: "Thirty years ago, a recipe would say, 'Add two eggs.' In the '80s, that was changed to 'beat two eggs until lightly mixed.' By the '90s, you had to write 'in a small bowl, using a fork, beat two eggs.' We joke that the next step will be: 'Using your right hand, pick up a fork and…."

Sad to say. I think I am that reader. I never learned to cook. I think there was a short course in home ec in middle school in which we made muffins and sewed a pot-holder. Neither my muffins nor pot-holder turned out very good. My mom was a great cook in my younger years, then moved to convenience foods when she went back to work. I didn't learned to cook with her (or anyone else in my family), nor did I take initiative to learn it on my own -- until I had my own kids and became freaked out enough by the ingredients in processed foods. As much as I sigh and groan when my kids ask if they can 'help' when I cook, I usually agree even though it slows down the process immensely and threatens the end results. I hope that they will learn that cooking is fun, necessary and rewarding, and won't suffer from all the cooking insecurities that I have now.

How did you learn to cook? How are you teaching your kids the culinary arts?

Paper and mylar snowflake cuttings

Sometimes the simplest things bring the most pleasure. We've been whittling away at our time off this week, enjoying the 'slow mom' speed that is so rare in our lives most of the time. But here's a shocker... I could not believe that my kids have made it to the ages of 7 11/12 (she turns 8 in January, and tends to be hyper-precise), and 5 -- and had NEVER made paper snowflakes: Scratch paper. Scissors. Imagination. And a wee bit of tape to hang them in the window. Each one prettier than the last:


We also experimented with mylar. Since we can no longer recycle mylar bags, and I just haven't been able to throw away the bags I'd collected, we found they too make lovely silver snowflakes using the same paper cutting method. It was hard to get a picture to do them justice. But fun and festive all the same. Any old mylar bag will do: old helium balloon, potato chip bag, cracker box liner, etc.


Heather and I wish you and your families the happiest of holidays. We will be taking the next few days off to spend some 'slow mom' time with our own families. We'll put our EnviroMom hats back on next Monday! Peace, everyone!

Children helping with a green Thanksgiving

My kids tell me they want to help with Thanksgiving. Do you know that that means? Mashed potatoes accidentally spewed all over the kitchen. (Me: counting to 10). A whole tin of cinnamon dumped into the pumpkin pie. (Me: counting to 10 again, and breathing very deeply). The turkey slipping off its serving platter, landing on someone's toe, followed by a monster bout of crying during which the pumpkin pie gets knocked off the cooling rack and someone getting cranberries in her hair. (Um, counting to infinity and beyond...).

That's the horror story I fear, so I'm enlisting their help outside the kitchen. We started with making a centerpiece: corn husk dolls. Oh, round about last August, back when corn was in season, we saved some husks for this purpose. In the meantime, they've asked me about every day if we could make the corn husk dolls yet, and I delayed and stalled, finally to come to the conclusion that it was the perfect Thanksgiving craft project and centerpiece.

The only thing we needed other than the dried corn husks was two pipe cleaners, some string, scissors and a tub of warm water for soaking the husks. Here's how we did it:

1. Soak dried corn husks in warm water for about 10 minutes. I used a big casserole dish.
2. Take 6-8 husks, and tie them in the middle with string.
3. Fold over where you first tied, and tie over the folded husks, about 1 inch from the end, forming a head.
4. Roll one husk around a pipe cleaner. Tie in the center and at the ends. Stick these arms through the body of the doll, dividing the husks in half front to back.
5. Take two husks and cross over the body of the doll making X's in the front and back to define the shoulders. Tie over the X's and middle to make a waist.
6. I kept looking at how tiny these dolls seemed, yet this last step (pictured) fixed all that. Gather up about 8 more husks, pointed ends down, and tie around the waist, covering up the head. Then fold all these down, making a nice skirt. You could also gather some up and tie into legs, if desired.

I did not take near enough pictures during the process, so here's a link to a site that explains making corn husk dolls similarly. All in all, it was fun. Not too messy (just a tad wet). My kids needed a bit of help getting their ties snug enough, but otherwise good for elementary school aged kids. Now it's time to make some of those little must-have turkey hands for place-cards!

How do you involve your kids in greening your Thanksgiving?

Before I sign off for today, Heather and I would like to thank you all for your participation in this little ol' website. We are so very grateful for the positive community you are part of -- the sharing of ideas and challenges -- that helps us all to be better green parents. Happy Thanksgiving to all! We'll be taking a few days off to celebrate with our families, and will resume posting next Monday.

KidTip: watching & tracking birds

It all started when my son hollered from the kitchen, "Mom! You have to see this bird!"

I was pretty sure it was a dove, which is not a common sight in our backyard, so I understood his excitement. Luckily, several years ago I placed a copy of the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds (Western Region) in our kitchen for quick reference. I can probably count the number of times we've actually used it. No that's not true -- there was a six-month period when we used it daily to whack the top of our television set in order to get a clear picture. Let me tell you, this book is PERFECT for that job. It fits nicely in your hand and has a solid heft, perfect for smacking household electronics. Ever since we replaced the TV, the book has languished on the sideboard collecting dust. Until the appearance of the dove -- the Mourning Dove I should specify. Zenaida macroura.

KidTip: BYO durables for hot lunch

Last week my 1st grader came home wearing a crown full of 'protect the Earth' slogans: "Save electricide! Don't through trash on the ground! Reyuse!" High off of an active Earth Week, she was feeling the eco-love. She ran through the house flexing her non-muscles and shouting, "Earth Protector to the rescue!" while executing karate kicks (which really looked more like Michael Flatley in Lord of the Dance). I figured the time was right for an experiment! At her otherwise-exceptional public school there is no kitchen, so hot lunch is served on styrofoam trays (ugh) accompanied by plasticware and paper napkins (double ugh). Installing a kitchen with a dishwasher, or even a big sink, for cleaning reusable trays and silverware isn't in the budget, particularly these days when the district is looking at slicing off school days and teachers. So into the trash it all goes.

KidTip: Spotting popcorn trees and junior tree-huggers

Heather and I have been carpooling our kids for years now, and it's always amusing to listen to the things they talk about, argue about or amuse themselves with while we EnviroMoms drive. With our older kids, it was stop signs and bus stops. The first time Heather's daughter shouted "stop sign!" while I was driving, I nearly killed us all by slamming on the brakes -- thinking I'd missed one. But no... they were just spotting signs, and the goal was to be first to shout it out when you saw one. Eventually, I got used to that game without having a heart attack.

KidTip: Little hands cut up old holiday cards for tags and decor

We are having a snow day, which don't bode well in our household. My kids and I thrive on routine. My first grader loves to be busy. Thus, with a snow day, it doesn't take long for us to start feeling cabin fever. A black cloud of doom hovers over my head, and my inner thought bubble escalates quickly from tentative pragmatism to potential catastrophe:

"I think I can handle one snow day. But what if it doesn't melt? What if they declare another snow day tomorrow? What if they declare a week's worth of snow days?!? What if we don't go back to school until after the winter break??!!"

This train of thought drives me to near panic then wonder: is it beer-o-clock, yet? Sadly, It's 10am. I'm still in my PJs and have yet to brush my teeth. Beer-o-clock looms far in the distance.