Keep the kids busy when they are home from school for the Thanksgiving holiday with these eco-friendly projects. They will enjoy getting creative with you while also gaining a deeper appreciation for Mother Earth. As an added bonus, your earth-friendly holiday gift wrapping paper, cards and gift tags will be ready in plenty of time.

Gift Wrapping Paper
Brown grocery bags make appealing gift wrapping when creatively decorated. Simply cut the bags into squares and tape together as needed to wrap the present. The kids can get imaginative with different ways to embellish the paper. Here are some ideas to get them started:

-Crayons
-Stickers
-Glitter
-Pictures from old magazines, catalogs and cards.
-Pressed Leaf or Flower Stamps
-Sponge Stamps (Cut sponges into shapes.)
-Potato Stamps (Cut a potato in half and carve a simple shape or use a metal cookie cutter and then cut away the potato surrounding the shape.)

Ornament Gift Toppers
These shiny little ornaments are the perfect finishing touch to that special present and the children will have a blast making them. Even better, they can be altered and made into pins or magnets.

Supplies
½ cup salt
1 cup flour
½ cup water
Rolling pin
Cookie sheet
Toothpick
Miniature holiday cookie cutters
Acrylic paints
Glitter glue or glitter paint
Ribbon

Instructions:
1) Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
2) Mix together, salt, flour, and water until dough is formed.
3) Knead the dough on a floured surface until the mixture is elastic and smooth. Add more flour if the dough is too
sticky. Do not add too much flour or the dough may dry out and crack before you bake it.
4) Roll out the dough to about ¼” thick with a rolling pin that has been dusted with flour.
5) Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes.
6) Use a toothpick or small straw to make 1 or 2 holes at the top of the shape, depending on size.
7) Place all shapes onto an ungreased cookie sheet and place into the preheated oven for 2 hours.
Remove from oven and allow them to cool completely before painting.
9) When the paint is dry, use glitter glue or glitter paint to put a sparkling cover coat on your ornaments.
10) When dry, thread ribbon through hole and tie in a knot in the back.

Recycled Paper for Cards & Tags
Your little ones will learn about the importance of recycling with this craft and see how easy it is to make beautiful recycled paper. They can use the paper to create holiday cards or gift tags to go along with the wrapping.

Supplies:
Used paper
Blender
Glitter
Food Coloring
Pressed leaves and/or flowers
Wire mesh screen
Rolling pin
Cornstarch

Instructions:
1) Cut paper into small shreds.
2) Soak shredded paper in warm water for about 2 hours.
3) Put soaked paper into blender.
4) Add glitter and a few drops of food coloring.
5) Blend until mush.
6) Pour into a bowl and add small quantities of pressed leaves and/or flowers.
7) Spread it out on a flat, fine-holed, wire-mesh screen and use a rolling pin to flatten it.
Smear a tablespoon of cornstarch over the paper to increase its strength.
9) Allow to dry – in the sun if possible.

Michele Dupper is Mom to her 2 year old son and the owner of Truly Organic Beauty. She lives in sunny FL and has been transitioning to a green lifestyle since starting a family. Michele enjoys educating others about living a more natural lifestyle that is beneficial for the health of our bodies as well as our planet. She can be reached via email at mdupper@trulyorganicbeauty.com  

This Recipe comes from our friend Emma at Usborne Books. This Children’s World Cookbook features lots of kid-friendly recipes with a little bit of useful info about each of the recipes. Enjoy!

Thailand is in south-east Asia and has a tropical climate with sunshine all year round. It has white beaches fringed with palm trees, lush rainforests, rivers and waterfalls. Thai food is colorful, fresh and spicy. Thai cooks use blends of spices, particularly chilies, lemon grass, coriander and a salty fish paste, called “nam pla”.

*Coconut adds a creamy taste to this typical Thai dish. You can also taste the blend of garlic, chili powder and ground ginger.

2 medium onions
3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon chili powder
a pinch of salt and of black pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 skinless chicken breasts
1 lemon
2 oz. creamed coconut
1 cup hot water

1. Peel and chop the onions, and peel and crush the garlic. Mix the ginger, chili powder, salt and pepper in a bowl.
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the chicken breasts and cook them gently for five minutes on each side.
3. Lift the chicken breasts onto a paper towel. Pat them with another paper towel to remove any extra oil.
4. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze it. Sprinkle the chicken with the spice mixture an some lemon juice.
5. Grate the creamed coconut finely. Put it in a bowl with the hot water and whisk it until it looks like milk.
6. Heat the oil in the frying pan again. Cook the onions and garlic over a low heat until they are soft.
7. Put the chicken back in the frying pan and pour the coconut mixture over it. Stir everything together.
8. Cook the chicken for about 20 minutes, until it is cooked all the way through.

* Serve the chicken with boiled or spiced rice. You could sprinkle freshly chopped coriander leaves on top.

After three months of roasting triple digit temperatures, we are finally in the early stages of fall here in Arizona or wherever you might live (except for those people who reside south of the equator.) Now is the time of year when we can go outdoors without wearing oven mitts to touch the interiors of our automobiles and can really utilize all that the great outdoors has to offer. HOWEVER, now is the time of year we allow ourselves to partake in the consumption of unhealthy treats while simultaneously decreasing the amount of time we usually spend exercising.

What I am going to discuss with you today is how we can make smarter food choices during a time where that task seems daunting. This will become more evident especially with Halloween coming up at the end of the month. In addition to giving you nutritional guidance, I will also be giving you tips on how to stay active throughout the remaining months of this year.

During Halloween night, in a matter of a few hours, kids can accumulate more candy for themselves than they know what to do with. In that same time span, some children can eat enough candy to fulfill their caloric intake for several days (Americans consumed nearly 8 billion pounds of sugar last year with the youth demographic being responsible for that number being so high). Whatever they can’t eat that night is then distributed in high quantities for days and weeks.

With that said, I am not going to tell you not to go out trick or treating this Halloween. However, I can tell you which types of candy are not so bad, which ones are bad and which should be avoided at all cost. So parents, this will require you to be proactive when it comes to going through all the candy your kids accumulate while trick or treating. Even though they may be unhappy with you when you confiscate half of their loot, I promise you they will get over it shortly. Also, knowing what candy to avoid will hopefully inspire you to purchase healthier items to hand out to the kids in your neighborhood.

Here are some of the candy items that make it onto the “Not So Bad” list. One small box of Wonka Nerds, Jolly Rancher candies, Sweet Tarts, Smarties, Dum Dum Suckers, Now and Laters, Tootsie Pops, Neccos, Blow Pops, Candy Canes, Peeps, Salt Water Taffy, 3 Musketeer Bars, Candy Corns and Welch’s Fruit Snacks.

I was really shocked to see which candies made it onto the “Bad List.” Here they are in no particular order; Tootsie Rolls, Dots, Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, Jawbreakers, Ferrero Rocher Hazelnut Chocolates, Milky Way Bars, Snickers, Starbursts, Skittles and Butterfingers. By no means are these the worst kinds of candy out there. If you must consume something on this list, then do so in moderation. Don’t buy the King Sized Snickers Bar anymore. Buy either a regular size Snickers or purchase a small bag of the Snickers Miniatures.

Nothing is totally off limits unless you happen to be one of the candies on the “Worst List.” Brach’s Milk Maid Caramels, Peanut Brittle, Airheads, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Hershey Bars, Cadbury Milk Chocolate Mini Eggs, Cadbury Cream Eggs, Hershey Kisses, Twizzlers, Twix and Russel Stover Chocolate Bunnies are some of the items nutritionists have deemed as the worst kids of candy we all have access to. These items were higher in sugar, calories and fat than their competitors, which is why they are on this particular list.

Now that you have a basic idea of what is acceptable in moderation and should be avoided almost completely, you can make healthier choices for the kids in your area without them knowing the difference. That’s the good news. The bad news is, the majority of Halloween candy has one or more of the “Bad” or “Worst” items in variety packs sold almost everywhere. For example, Tootsie Pops aren’t too bad for you, but Tootsie Rolls are. Chances are they will be sold in the same bag together making it nearly impossible to get one without the other. I recommend going to your neighborhood .99 cent or discount store and looking for the bags of candy that aren’t variety packs. If you just want to hand out Blow Pops, you can buy bags and bags that contain only Blow Pops. Variety packs are often times more convenient and more affordable than buying individual bags of each kind of candy. If that is the case, still avoid buying the variety packs and instead buy fewer bags of the individual items. This will help you be more mindful of the amount of candy you are giving to each child. If you have a good relationship with your neighbors, let them know what you are trying to accomplish. They may want to do the same thing.

Another way to reduce the amount of candy your child gets trick or treating is to reduce the size of the bag they are carrying. The bigger the bag, the more candy is needed to make it look full. Get your child smaller trick or treating pails, and don’t allow your kid to use a pillowcase as a goody bag. Grab novelty gift bags in the party planning section of your local party supply store or discount retailers. The bags will seem more full giving your child the impression they made out like bandits when in actuality they have less candy than previous years. The excitement of getting to trick or treat will deflect attention away from the smaller bag and put it back on enjoying being outside with friends and family.

That brings me to my next tip. Make trick or treating and Halloween festivities about the experience and not about the candy. Get the entire family involved in the trick or treating process. Not only does it give you all quality time to bond, it gets you moving and will help keep your kids safer having you around. Don’t underestimate your child’s ability to look past the candy benefit that Halloween provides them once a year. Kids are more excited about strutting around in costumes that show off how much they admire their favorite childhood icons. If you look at it that way and help emphasize that with your child, you will find their attention to the candy has waned allowing them to focus on how cool they look all dressed up and how much fun they are having with you.

People underestimate how much walking you do in one night of trick or treating. If you want to know approximately how far you will walk, plan out the route you intend to take when trick or treating. Drive the route in your vehicle and you can get a better estimate of how much ground you will actually cover. Try to make the route a least a mile long and a minimum of 30 minutes. Feel free to go farther or longer if you feel up to it. Sometimes it helps to go to a new part of your neighborhood so you have to walk a bit farther. It helps you become more familiar with the area your child is growing up in and increases the number of calories you burn throughout the night.

I hope you find these tips both informative and easy to follow. In reality, I am not asking you to make monumental changes to your Halloween plans. The small, seemingly insignificant changes are the ones that add up over time and help create healthier, more lasting habits. Next month we will talk more in depth about how to have a healthier Thanksgiving so you avoid gaining those unwanted holiday pounds. As always I would love to hear your feedback or answer any of your questions.

Christopher Hillery has been a Certified Personal Trainer for 9 years and is the owner of Transformer Fitness in Phoenix, Arizona. He was once an overweight child and knows first- hand how the effects of being overweight can be damaging. It is his goal to help overweight children and adults develop lasting healthy habits and a positive body image. Chris can design a full workout program for parents and children which can include a nutrition program, along with equipment to use at home. He can be reached via email at: christopher_hillery@yahoo.com

Are you wondering how to make your Halloween greener this year? You might also be cringing at the thought of your kids eating all of those sugar filled treats and wondering what you can offer as a healthier option. A mom in Seattle also thought about these things a couple of years ago and that was the start of a grassroots initiative to create healthier and more Earth-friendly holidays, beginning with Halloween. Now known as Green Halloween, the movement officially began in 2007 and is backed by companies like Whole Foods Market. It was a huge success in Seattle last year so the group is working to make this a nation-wide initiative for 2008. Visit them online and get all the info you need to make your holiday greener.

If you are thinking about handing out treats that are healthier for our children and our planet this year, the Green Halloween website has a long list of items that sound delicious. They include treats like certified organic fruit leather by a company called Fruitabu that contain only natural sugars and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. There is even an all natural chewing gum called Glee Gum. It is made with sustainably harvested rainforest chicle and is available in six flavors. They also list some simple solutions that you may not have thought about like organic applesauce snack packs, organic juice boxes and organic granola bars. Additionally they offer some wonderfully creative suggestions for non-food treat items that you can give instead of sweet treats that will still delight the little ones. They will love getting treasures like spinning tops, soy or beeswax crayons, stickers and whistles.

Maybe you prefer to stick with tradition and still want to hand out candy. If you look for organic, all-natural, dye-free ingredients you can offer a healthier sweet treat. The Green Halloween site also includes a number of companies that provide all natural candy, such as, Endangered Species Chocolate. Their chocolate is certified organic and ethically traded with 52% cocoa content. The company also donates 10% of their net profits to help support species, habitat and humanity. Another company topping the list is Pure Fun. They make a variety of individually wrapped organic, fair trade, vegan and dye-free hard candies. They only use organic sugar cane and never use pesticides, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s), synthetic flavors or artificial FD&C colorants.

Of course it is going to be almost impossible to keep your children from all of the sugary sweets that are handed out on this holiday, but if you think outside of the box, there are some ways to limit the amount that they actually eat. The folks at Green Halloween have come up with some great ideas like the Halloween fairy. Tell your child a story about the Halloween fairy that turns candy into magic fairy dust. Explain that she needs as much candy as she can get her hands on so if a child leaves candy outside on the porch, the fairy will come to take the candy and leave a special gift of thanks. Another of their suggestions is to have a candy trade. Kids receive a “pumpkin point” for each piece of candy they collect and then trade the points for a toy or special activity. Use these ideas to start some new holiday traditions for your family. Instead of throwing the un-eaten candy in the garbage, save it for special treats or check with your city to see if they will use it for compost.

In addition to offering healthier treat options, Green Halloween also suggests many other ways that you can make this holiday more eco-friendly. Consider the bag your children are using to collect their treats. Are you purchasing something that will just be thrown away when the candy is all gone? As an alternative, let your children make their own bag from things around the house. You can use pillow cases, shopping bags, purses, or sew them out of fabric. They will love getting creative with their bags and making them their own. If you or your children are not the crafty type, there are some cute reusable bags on the market such as the Chico Halloween bag that was designed by kids.

The Green Halloween site also includes some great tips for greening your costumes. Instead of buying a new one, borrow from a friend, rent one or make one from reusable materials. They give some very original green-themed costume ideas that you can create from things around the house. For example, make a Mother Earth costume by painting yourself blue, brown and green (with non-toxic body paint of course) and wearing wispy clothing in the same colors. Attach paper or stuffed animals to your body and weave flowers and plants throughout your clothing and hair. Give your children a chance to use their imaginations, ask them what they would like to be and their answers will probably surprise you. They will enjoy coming up with ways to create their costume and you will both have Halloween memories to last a lifetime.

Volunteers across the country are helping to spread the word about Green Halloween in their communities this year. If you want to get involved you can become a volunteer simply by sending them an email. You can help by doing things such as talking to your local schools and community business about celebrating a Green Halloween, handing out informational post cards or even by hosting a Green Halloween party or neighborhood bash. Every participating community also has the opportunity to raise funds for a chosen local beneficiary. There are events planned across the country this year so be sure to check out the online map to see if there is one near you.

Michele Dupper is Mom to her 1 ½ year old son and the owner of Truly Organic Beauty. She lives in sunny FL and has been transitioning to a green lifestyle since starting a family. Michele enjoys educating others about living a more natural lifestyle that is beneficial for the health of our bodies as well as our planet. She can be reached via email at mdupper@trulyorganicbeauty.com

When purchasing personal care products specifically made for babies most people do not even consider the fact that there may be potentially harmful ingredients in them. Especially when they are buying brands that have been around for more 100 years. Many believe that all baby products are created to be milder and gentler and that the government protects us as consumers from dangerous ingredients. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has no power to require that personal care products be tested for safety before they are sold. There is a panel responsible for ensuring the safety of personal care product ingredients in the US called the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR). However, it is an industry-funded panel, not a government health agency and they do not seem to be too concerned with the issue. Based on a national survey conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), they have only reviewed 23% of ingredients in the 1,700 children’s products that were included in the study. Their survey also found that children are exposed to an average of 27 personal care product ingredients every day that have not been found safe for kids.

What we put on our children is equally as important as what we put in them. They are considerably more vulnerable than adults; their chemical exposures are greater pound-for-pound. Their developing organs are more susceptible to damage from chemical exposures and they are less able to detoxify and excrete chemicals. For example, an infants skin is much thinner than adult skin and it actually thickens as they age. It is believed that the thin skin of a newborn is more permeable to specific chemicals than the skin of an adult. Add to this that the surface area of a babies skin relative to body weight is greater than adults and the potential dose of a chemical from dermal exposure may be about 3 times greater in infants than in adults. We also need to consider the fact that they have more years of future life to develop diseases brought on by early exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.

Be diligent and read the ingredient list on the products that you are using on your children to be sure that they are safe. Below is a list of the most potentially dangerous ingredients in diaper cream, shampoo, conditioner, body wash/liquid soap, lotion and baby powder that you should avoid, according to EWG.

BHA: Commonly found in diaper cream. The European Union considers BHA unsafe for use in fragrance because it can cause skin depigmentation. It is a known human immune system toxicant and a possible human carcinogen. BHA also produces liver damage in lab animals at very low doses, and is a suspected hormone disruptor.

BORIC ACID and SODIUM BORATE: Commonly found in diaper cream. The cosmetic industry’s own safety panel states these chemicals are unsafe for infant or damaged skin because they are easily absorbed into the body. It accumulates in the brain and liver, and is eliminated very slowly.

CETEARETH and PEG Compounds: Commonly found in shampoo, conditioner and lotion. These may contain impurities including 1,4-dioxane, a possible human carcinogen, as well as ethylene oxide, a known human carcinogens. The cosmetic industry’s own safety panel ruled that many of these compounds are not safe for use on injured or damaged skin because they are easily absorbed into skin and make it easier for other chemicals to penetrate.

DMDM HYDANTOIN: Commonly found in shampoo, conditioner, body wash/liquid soap, lotion and baby powder. This preservative provokes allergic responses, and can be irritating and toxic to human skin. Degradation can lead to the formation of formaldehyde, a cancer-causing agent.

FRAGRANCE: Commonly found in shampoo, conditioner, body wash/liquid soap, lotion, diaper cream and baby powder. Fragrances are among the top 5 allergens in the world and are known to trigger asthma attacks. Fragrances can contain ingredients suspected of neurotoxicity, as well as known or suspected hormone disruptors.

PARABENS: Commonly found in body wash/liquid soap and lotion. The European Union banned use of sodium methylparaben in fragrance because it can depigment skin. Lab studies link parabens to cancer and reproductive or hormone-disrupting effects. Some are skin sensitizers or irritants.

TRICLOSAN: Commonly found in body wash/liquid soap. An animal study indicates triclosan may be a potent disruptor of the thyroid hormone system. Triclosan can be irritating to the eyes and skin, and breaks down into toxic chemicals in surface waters and chlorinated tap water.

If a product states to be pure, natural or organic, do not automatically assume they are free of these ingredients. Unfortunately, sometimes these statements are nothing more than a sales tactic since marketing claims on personal care products are not defined under the law. Of the children’s products studied by the EWG survey, 35% marked as “natural” on the label were not fully natural at all, but contained one or more ingredients linked to allergic reactions, hormone disruption, or nervous system problems. To be absolutely sure that the products you are purchasing are free of harmful ingredients, you must read the ingredient label.

There are some really great products on the market that you can feel confident in using on your little ones. The new Miessence range of baby care products by One Group is certified organic to food standards. All of the products are completely free of synthetic chemicals, allergens, perfumes and essential oils. All of the ingredients for each product are available for review on the website.

If you would like to learn more about this issue and the work that EWG is doing to make products safer for kids, please visit their website at www.ewg.org/kidsafe.

Michele Dupper is Mom to her 1 ½ year old son and the owner of Truly Organic Beauty. She lives in sunny FL and has been transitioning to a green lifestyle since starting a family. Michele enjoys educating others about living a more natural lifestyle that is beneficial for the health of our bodies as well as our planet. She can be reached via email at mdupper@trulyorganicbeauty.com .

This Recipe comes from our friend Emma at Usborne Books. This Children’s World Cookbook features lots of kid-friendly recipes with a little bit of useful info about each of the recipes. Enjoy!

Peanuts are known as groundnuts in Africa and are one of the main crops grown. This recipe uses chopped peanuts to make a type of heavy bread.

2oz. Unsalted, shelled peanuts
1 ½ cups flour
a pinch of salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar

A cake pan 7 x 11in. and 1 ½ in. deep

Oven temperature: 350 F

1. Put a little butter or oil onto some paper towels and rub it lightly over the bottom and sides of the cake pan.
2. Put the peanuts into a clean plastic bag and roll a rolling pin over them, or put them into a blender to chop them.
3. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Break the egg into a cup and beat it with a fork.
4. Add the milk, sugar, beaten egg and chopped peanuts to the flour. Mix everything together well.
5. Spoon the mixture into the cake pan. Smooth the top and then leave it for 20 minutes to settle.
6. Bake the bread for 45-50 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Let it cool a little, then cut it into squares.
7. Use a spatula to lift the squares onto a wire rack. Leave them to cool completely before eating them.

This is a fantastic project that started a few years ago in Peru using Arpillera Storybooks (storybooks made of tiny bits of fabric hand stitched together). That can be replicated anywhere, fostering awareness of different cultural traditions, allowing for creativity during storytelling time and supporting motor skills for the little ones.

Rosana Reategui, a professional storyteller works with 22 women that migrated to Lima (capital of Peru) from the countryside escaping from the poverty and violence terrorism brought to Peru in the 80’s. They started a workshop creating these storybooks and now are an integral part of the project. Their hands, tell the stories and the children add details or re-create the story drawing ideas from their daily lives.

Even though there are no “Arpilleras” in the US or other countries, we can certainly, with some patience and time, create a little storybook for our kids, including little characters or using finger puppets. Let them create a story for you and share a bit of what’s going on in their minds!

Hope you enjoy the video, it is in Spanish but you can certainly see the storybooks and the interest the kids show when browsing through the colorful pages!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnjnZNCTjng

Gigi Pedraza

http://www.incakids.org/

Ok, So I know that most people aren’t too excited about ANCHOVIES but you can use other meat for this yummy recipe! For this and other great recipes from around the world, visit our friends at Usborne Books:

http://www.ubah.com/R2633

This is a traditional Swedish dish of potatoes and anchovies. There are many stories about how it got its name. Some people think it was named after an opera singer, called Pelle Janzon, while others think it got its name from a film. “The temptation of Jansson”.

(Serves 4)

450g/1lb. potatoes
2 large onions
85g/3oz. butter
2 cans anchovies
a pinch of salt and of black pepper
300ml/half a pint of double cream or milk

Oven temperature: 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into thin strips about 4cm (2in.) long. Put them in a bowl of cold water.

2. Peel the onions and chop them finely. Fry them gently in 30g (1oz.) of the butter until they are soft.

3. Drain the potatoes in a colander. Put a layer of potatoes into a small, heatproof dish. Then, drain the anchovies.

4. Cover the potatoes with a layer of anchovies. Then, cover the anchovies with a layer of the softened onions.

5. Repeat the layers of potato, anchovies and onion to the top of the dish, finishing with a layer of potato.

6. Add the salt and pepper. Then, carefully pour the cream all over the top. It will sink to the bottom of the dish.

7. Cut the rest of the butter into small pieces and dot them around the dish. Bake it for about 45 minutes.

This wonderful resource article was written for us by our friend Michele at Truly Organic Beauty.  She will be a monthly contributor to our blog and newsletter and we are happy to have her articles and posts each month!

“Treat the Earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.” This is an ancient Kenyan proverb that really hits home these days as we are becoming more aware of how our past and current actions are affecting our world. As parents, we all want the very best for our children now and in the future. And we certainly want to ensure that our beautiful planet is still flourishing well beyond our children’s lifetime.

Most of us now realize that the future of our planet as well as the health of our children depends greatly on changes we need to make in our everyday lives. However, it can be quite overwhelming and even scary when you begin learning about all of the environmental toxins in the world today. From food, to bath products, to toys, etc. Where do you begin?

There is an exceptional non-profit organization called Healthy Child Healthy World that is one of the best resources out there for parents. It was founded by James & Nancy Chuda in 1991 when they decided to turn their sad story into something positive. The effects of harmful environmental exposures, unfortunately, became very real to them when their 5 year old daughter, Collette, died of a rare form of cancer. Years later they learned that her tumor may have been caused by maternal exposure to pesticides before pregnancy. In honor of their daughter’s bravery, they began the Colette Chuda Environmental Fund, now Healthy Child Healthy World (HCHW), to educate families about the relationship between children’s health and the environment.

HCHW purpose and goals as outlined on their website are to:
• Expand awareness and understanding of environmental hazards to children’s health
• Help the public learn about healthier practices, solutions, and products in the marketplace
• Encourage daily action and informed lifestyle choices
• Create standards and policies for safer products, foods, materials, and chemicals used in the home – promoting safer options and new alternatives
• Advocate for and support corporate policies and governmental legislation that protect children from environmental risks
• Engage communities to make wise choices and responsible decisions so families can flourish

The HCHW website contains a wealth of information to help you in creating an environmentally friendly home for your family. There are numerous programs outlined for you to follow such as 5 Easy Steps and Healthy Home Parties . They actually provide you with all the tools necessary to host a Healthy Home Party for your family and friends to educate them about protecting children’s health and development from common contaminants we are exposed to every day. You can also sign up for a monthly email newsletter that provides age-specific environmental health lessons throughout pregnancy and the first 2 years of your child’s life.

In addition to the programs the site also includes a vast array of environmental resources for you to use. For example, there are numerous 1-page checklists for almost anything you can imagine, such as, cloth diapering, keeping your child lead-free and feeding children safe food. There is also a very informative ingredients profile that describes chemicals encountered in our daily lives. Instead of simply describing the health effects of these chemicals, they also empower you with solutions to exposure.

Another really great area of the site is the marketplace. It is filled with information on companies that offer products and services for your home and children that are non-toxic and environmentally friendly. There is a wide variety of green products included such as baby bottles, crib mattresses, organic foods, children’s furniture and paints and stains. No need for you to spend time researching all the eco-friendly product options out there because HCHW only recommends products from companies that have passed their screening. You can also check out their quality standards.

HCHW is definitely an organization that is leading the environmental movement and has children as their top priority. The amount of information that they have compiled in an easy to navigate website is really impressive. Visit them today and instead of feeling overwhelmed by the green trend, you may just feel inspired to get involved and begin making changes in your life for the future of your children.

Michele Dupper is Mom to her 1 ½ year old son and the owner of Truly Organic Beauty. She lives in sunny FL and has been transitioning to a green lifestyle since starting a family. Michele enjoys educating others about living a more natural lifestyle that is beneficial for the health of our bodies as well as our planet. She can be reached via email at mdupper@trulyorganicbeauty.com.

This post is from our guest blogger, Christopher Hillery, a certified youth fitness trainer and the owner of Transformer Fitness. He will be posting monthly articles about healthy kids and activities for parents and children to do together. For more information on Christopher’s personal training programs, check out his website at: http://www.transformerfitness.com

Is Using Food as a Reward for Good Behavior a Good Idea?

The other day at a department store I accidentally overheard a conversation between a mother and her son who looked about two years old. Ok fine, I was eavesdropping when I heard the mother say, “That’s not how a nice boy acts when he wants candy bar.” I admit that the child’s actions required some form of discipline since he was throwing books off the nearby bookshelf with little regard for the other store patrons, but holding a food-based reward over his head can potentially start a chain reaction that can effect the rest of her son’s life.

Using food as a part of a reward or disciplinary system can have damaging effects on your child’s psyche. By rewarding or disciplining your child with food, they form an emotional attachment it. Think about all the times you have said, “I accomplished (insert goal here) this week so I’m going to consume a whole pint of Ben and Jerry’s as a reward for a job well done.” I won’t lie I do the same thing on occasion. Once I became aware of my actions, I thought about how I could help my clients (most of whom are mothers and fathers) change the emotional relationship they had with food so they could educate their children on how to reward themselves without the use of food.

Start a reward system that promotes more active benefits like taking them to the park to play, miniature golfing or to a water park. All of these activities will form emotional bonds between your child, an active lifestyle and most of all you. If activities or “movement experiences” become the basis for rewarding good behavior, your child will form emotional bonds with exercise and activity rather than with food. Both food and activity rewards create motivation for good behavior but the food based reward only lasts as long as it takes the child to eat it. Once the food is gone, so is the motivation to be well behaved. Whatever activity you or your child chooses as reward will be more of a positive impact, meaning the positive feelings the child gets from the prolonged activity will make a much more effective and lasting impression. That positive impression will lead to more positive behaviors in your child since they are now motivated by an experience that lasts longer than a few bites of a Butterfinger.

Here are some additional tips that will help you create a healthier reward system:

1) Remember that the purpose of food is to give our bodies the necessary fuel to get through each day. I am NOT discounting the importance of food tasting good and being enjoyable. I am saying that food should be looked at as a physical necessity rather than an emotional one. Your child doesn’t deserve food because they behaved at the grocery store. They need food to grow up healthy and that fact should be instilled in them at all times.

2) Schedule meals and snack times at the same time everyday. By doing this, you are getting your child on a guess-free eating schedule. They know each day that lunch is at noon regardless of how they behave. This helps your child view food as a daily requirement rather than benefit that accompanies good or bad behavior/feelings.

3) Talk to you child about the importance of eating healthy and being active. This may seem like a no-brainer but most parents avoid talking to their children about living healthy lifestyles. Make the discussion fun and easy to understand so your child retains the information more effectively. For more information on how to talk to your child about health and nutrition, check out http://www.fitnessforyouth.umich.edu/.

4) Recognize and address your own emotional ties to food and make changes to your behavior. Children often adhere to the “monkey see, monkey do” philosophy and may adopt behaviors of yours. If they see or hear that you are rewarding yourself with chocolate cake for a job well done, then they may start expecting similar rewards for their accomplishments.

I hope this article has provided you with some helpful tips on how to create your own activity based reward system for your child. My gut told me I should have shared this pearl of wisdom with the mother of the book hurling child, but I kept my mouth shut as I tried to avoid a hardback copy of the latest Elmo book