Primitive Mommy

The official start of winter is on Friday at 6:12 a.m. (EST), December 21, 2012. The Earth’s North Pole will be at its maximum tilt away from the sun making it the shortest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere. Solstice actually means “sun stands still,” and is observed twice a year, in the winter and summer.

The Winter Solstice marks the second day of Yule. The Twelve Days of Yule start on December 20th and last until December 31st. The Winter Solstice represents the shortest day and the longest night. From this day forward we will begin to see more and more of the sun.

Many of our customs and traditions depend on our culture. I didn’t grow up celebrating the solstice but I’ve loved learning about how people used to celebrate the Earth’s changes and how they keep time with the cycles of the agricultural year. I’ve loved adding some of the timeless traditions to my children’s lives as well, like the solstice bonfire where we will be drinking the traditional spiced cider and eating fruit and nut cake.

Some of the age-old traditions from Northern Europe during the solstice are the same or similar to our Christmas traditions with different names. For instance: the “Tree of Life” being brought into the home and festively decorated and topped with a star representing the Light of Life. Fertility symbols were also used like holly and mistletoe.

Like I’ve mentioned on previous posts, I like to put books away and only get them out during their special time of year. It makes my children real excited to see them again and it creates tradition that way too. Books we love this time of year are The Story of the Snow Children by Sibylle Von Olfers-another one of my favorite children’s book authors. Like Elsa Beskow’s books, the art in Sibylle’s books is simple, beautiful and old-fashioned too. The Story of The Snow Children is about winter and not the solstice. Our favorite Winter Solstice book is The Shortest Day. Another winter book we enjoy is The Winter Book.

Happy Winter Solstice to you!

 

Gift shopping is tough. There is very little that I would want from a regular store since so much of it is toxic, so of course I don’t want to buy those things for my loved ones. When I shop for others I can’t help but apply my own standards to their gifts because I care about their welfare.

There are a handful of ways toxins get into our bodies:

• By eating and drinking

• By breathing them

• By absorbing them through our skin

• By radiation through electronics

Isn’t it crazy then that what we may think of as a gift for a loved one may be toxicity wrapped up nicely with a bow on top? How many gift items fall into one of these toxic categories above? From smelly (headache) lotions to toxic candles, brand new cell phones, to loads of holiday candies, store shelves can be a scary place if we aren’t careful.

Most of the items I wish for are books or some kind of kitchen item. I know many women prefer not to be gifted household items but for me it’s a delight. I don’t care for jewelry or too many shoes so why wouldn’t I drool over something that is going to make my tasks easier the rest of the year or something green that is going to help me live more sustainably? This list is a few things I think would be a great gift. Won’t you join me in gifting others a gift free of toxins this year? This is a simple list with ideas to get you started!

1. At the top of my list is my Handset that plugs into my cell phone. I have blogged about it before here, and I am still loving it. I haven’t put my cell phone to my head in over nine months. I couldn’t be happier about that fact since it eliminates 99% of radiation which is a top priority for me. I can’t believe how cheap they are now either! I’d pay the full price all over again though if I had to. It has been well worth the money for me.

2. Pans, pans, pans! So hopefully everyone reading this is aware of the problems with our food supply and are hopefully going to the trouble to avoid GMO’s and pesticides but many haven’t addressed the fact that much of the cookware available today is toxic and leaches harmful chemicals into our food. Someday I will do an entire post about cookware since it is a topic I have researched intensely and it doesn’t come with a simple answer. There are safer options that come with high price tags and they aren’t always the easiest to use or the sturdiest. What I feel safest using is: glass Pyrex, Le Creuset stoneware, and stainless steel. I use All Clad pans but there are some very affordable sets of Cuisinart on sale right now. I also use cast iron occasionally. I have read that it is not the safest options for males since they don’t menstruate and cannot rid their bodies of the excess iron. I’m still looking for reliable studies on that claim. You are still going to have a small amount of leaching from most any cookware but some are much more harmful and leach more than others. The last thing I want in my body is aluminum or Teflon. If you know somebody using either of those then a new frying pan may be the perfect gift for them! Often times we worry about our main cooking pans and continue using things like aluminum cookie sheets or cake pans, so those are things to think about as well. I love all of my Norpro pieces. Clean up is very easy and they still look nice.

3. Drinking! Please don’t fall under the false security that all water filters are equal. They aren’t, and you could still be drinking all kinds of harmful things like chlorine, fluoride, heavy metals and other contaminants. Tap filters and pitcher filters DO NOT remove fluoride. Read the labels to these things to make sure they are removing everything you want them to. I use a Berkey and love mine. You can buy your own by following the link on the right of the page. If you do, make sure you use the coupon code Alex Jones for 5% off.

4. So what about the skin? This is simple. You have so much control over this one! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Don’t apply anything to your skin that you wouldn’t eat! I use coconut oil for my lotion and baking soda for my deodorant. You can get fancy and make your own lotions, potions and deodorants with safe ingredients but I’ve found these simple solutions serve me perfect. Remember that our skin also absorbs up to 25 gallons of water when we shower. When chlorine from our water interacts with organic matter in our water supply it creates dangers carcinogens called disinfection byproducts (DBPs). Not only do we absorb these through our skin, we also inhale them into our lungs. One of these DBPs are called trihalomethanes (THMs). THMs are classified as Cancer Group B carcinogens that have been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals. A shower filter won’t remove fluoride but it will remove chlorine and many other contaminants. I use mine to shower and to fill my tub for baths. I even use it for washing my vegetables sometimes since it’s much quicker than using my Berkey. Of course a whole house water filter would be ideal to remove the fluoride but this is the next best option.

5. So what’s on my wish list? A stainless steel lemon press of course. I start every day with a quart of room temperature lemon water. Many people rely on coffee to get going in the morning but adrenal stimulants result in blood sugar swings and oxidative stress. Lemon hydrates and oxygenates the body. While we are sleeping our bodies are cleansing. Hitting it with a dose of coffee first thing in the morning is not the kindest thing we can do for it to help it eliminate the toxins it has been working on. Lemon water helps the body eliminate toxins and stimulates organs like the liver and gall bladder. I am on my second lemon press that I’ve owned. I’ve been really frustrated with the painted ones. I had a yellow one for some time and then the paint chipped off so I moved on to an OXO, silver-colored one hoping that it would last but I recently noticed tiny silver pieces in my water from it, ewwww! It lasted much less time than the yellow one. So I am done with them. I don’t know why I didn’t think of looking for a stainless steel one before now but this one looks like it will be a better option for me.

6. Other ideas can be homemade things like homemade cookies and candies where you have control over the ingredients. Homemade ornaments are nice. Last year I made wool pillows for my children so that I knew exactly what they were breathing all night long. I don’t have to worry about fire-retardant treatments and other chemicals next to their faces anymore. Essential oils like lavender and peppermint are great gifts for those who haven’t dabbled in essential oils yet. I even gift things like a jar of coconut oil and raw honey. I give my neighbors plants, sometimes indoor, and sometimes outdoor. Homemade quilts also make excellent gifts, although they do take planning ahead. I love quilting. This is a quilt I made my son. Whatever you gift, gift with love this season!

Update: Due to the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy, the Healthy Mouth Summit has been postponed until after the Holidays to allow those in the NorthEast to get their lives back in order. The event is now going to launch on Sunday, January 13, 2013.

A couple of months ago I received a kit from Orawellness to try. It included some of their Organic Brushing Blend and a special brush for each member of the family. We have been extremely happy with the blend and have been using it ever since! The organic botanicals in the Brushing Blend kill the bacteria that cause gum disease, make it more difficult for the bacteria to deposit plaque on the teeth, and support the gum tissue in the healing process by promoting greater blood circulation to the gums. It is made of cinnamon, peppermint, spearmint, clove, myrrh and manuka oils and is in a base of Organic almond oil. It smells fantastic and cleans without using a paste.

What makes the Brushing Blend so great? (from their site):

•Made with Organic ingredients so you know you are getting the highest quality.

•Quickly kills the bacteria that cause gum disease while it freshens your breath.

•Supports the healing of damaged gum tissue.

•Increases saliva production which is highly beneficial to stop gum disease

•Does not contain any nasty fillers, artificial colors, flavors, or other toxins.

To try some of your very own, make sure to visit their website!

If I wasn’t excited enough to tell you about this product, I’m even more excited to tell you about the HealThy Mouth World Summit! First of all it’s completely FREE! Second of all the line up of speakers is amazing! These are people who are geniuses in the holistic dentistry world! I’m especially excited to hear from Dr Hal Huggins who is where I learned how to have my mercury amalgams removed safely. I actually traveled out of state to have it done correctly. I’m also excited to hear Rami Nagel, whose book Cure Tooth Decay, I wrote a review about. They have both had a profound effect on my life.

The Experts include:

Dr Hal Huggins, literally ‘Yoda’ of biological dentistry

Dr David Kennedy, author of How to Save Your Teeth and creator of the famous movie, Smoking Teeth

Dr Mark Breiner, author or Whole Body Dentistry

Rami Nagel, author of Cure Tooth Decay

and many, many more!

Here are just a few of the many gems of wisdom they will cover:

• How to raise cavity free kids

• What to do about old dental issues like mercury fillings, crowns, root canals, etc.

• What materials are the safest for dental fillings

• The safest protocol to have mercury fillings removed

• How to determine if a filling material is biocompatible with your immune system

• The foods to eat (and not eat) to create optimal oral health

• The TRUTH about mercury and fluoride

• How to keep your teeth AND your health for life!

• What to do about common issues like tooth decay, bleeding gums, bad breath

• How to safely detox mercury from the body

• The questions to ask a dentist to discern if they are really suited to help your family

You really don’t want to miss this. It’s a FREE, 7 day online event, where attendees can come learn from the leading experts from around the world on solutions to help each of us navigate to greater oral health.  They have interviewed 20 experts in the fields of biological dentistry, nutrition, medicine, and acclaimed authors on oral  health as well as real life stories from ‘in the trenches’ moms who have applied some of these protocols in their homes.  Each of the experts has been asked to focus on real-time solutions which each of us can use today to improve our oral health. It begins on Nov 11th, and goes through the 18th, but you can click here to sign up now so that you won’t forget.

Want to know what my biggest pet peeve on the Facebook page is? When someone recommends putting Vick’s Vaporub on the feet of someone with a cold or congestion. As you know, there are a lot of questions that get posted and a lot of answers but this is one I just can’t let go unaddressed each time. I have to get on each thread and say something. Vick’s is NOT a natural treatment. It’s not pure like essential oils.

Here is a list of the ingredients:
Petrolatum
Thymol
Turpentine
Camphor
Eucalyptus
Menthol
Cedarleaf oil
Nutmeg

At first glance maybe you’re unsure what could be so bad. I’m sure if I analyzed each ingredient I would find things like isolated chemical components. I know that just by knowing that menthol is the main chemical component in Peppermint essential oil and the fact that they are not claiming that the product is made with natural essential oils is also a good sign. My strongest concern is for the base of the product. The petrolatum. Petrolatum has varied and unregulated manufacturing procedures that make it vulnerable to contamination by foreign elements. I’d say you’re pretty safe to avoid putting any product containing the word petrol on your skin. Take it a step further and don’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t eat. The magazine In-Cosmetics once reported that the average woman absorbs 4lb 6oz of chemicals from toiletries and make-up EVERY year!

From EWG.org regarding petroleum products:

“WHAT? Mineral oil (petrolatum, petroleum, liquidum paraffinum - also known as posh mineral oil). WHY? A by-product of the petroleum industry, it comes from crude oil and is used in products as an emollient, giving “slip and slide” to a product. Popular because it is incredibly cheap. Also used by industry as metal-cutting fluid. WHY AVOID? Sits on the skin surface and may “suffocate” the skin by forming an oil film. May aggravate acne and slow down skin function, resulting in premature ageing. May be contaminated with cancer-causing PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).”

Everything put on the skin gets absorbed into the body. It then gets stored in our brains, liver, tissues, lymphatic system, fat cells, other organs and more. Even chemicals in the air can be absorbed through the skin like those from candles, clothing and perfumes. The skin is the body’s largest organ and accounts for 16% of body weight. It is not a complete barrier from toxins. Scientists are learning more and more how easily molecules can enter the bloodstream through the skin. Just look at how successful nicotine patches, birth control patches, B12 patches, and hormone replacement therapy patches are.

From Daily Mail:

Biochemist Richard Bence has warned that the chemicals found in everyday beauty  products could be doing untold damage. Richard Bence has said that absorbing such chemicals is more dangerous than swallowing  them. Quotes form Bence:

“If your lipstick gets into your mouth, it is broken down by the enzymes in  saliva and in the stomach. “But if the chemicals get straight into your bloodstream, there is no  protection.”

“There is a growing amount of research questioning the ingredients found in  conventional beauty products.”

“We really need to start questioning the products we are putting on our skin  and not just assume that the chemicals in them are safe.”

“We have no idea what these chemicals do when they are mixed together. The  effect could be much greater than the sum of the individual parts.”

Why does it bother me so much when people recommend Vick’s? I think it is because I used it on the feet of my middle son at just over a year of age. Shortly after using it he developed eczema. He had normal skin up until that point and I have spent the last six years analyzing all of the things I changed during that time. Do I think Vick’s may have had something to do with it? Yes, I think it’s possible that having a toxic petrochemical product put on his feet a few nights in a row may have weakened his immune system. Do I know for sure? No, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to warn others of its ingredients. Am I angry with myself for using it? Heck yes! What was I thinking?! Why did I take that advice? I was buying organic food and using cloth diapers to protect him but at the same time putting toxins on him! I tell you all of this because I want you to understand that I am not coming from a place of judgement when I complain about it. Instead I come from a place of wanting to prevent others from making the same mistake I did. My sons eczema is now gone after a lot of work but I’ll save that story for another day.

So what in the world can you use instead? I use coconut oil as a base with organic eucalyptus essential oil and sometimes a little organic peppermint essential oil in it. Peppermint oil can be irritating to some people’s skin but I haven’t had a problem in small amounts. Peppermint oil in the special reservoir of a vaporizer also works amazing for congestion. It works every time for us. The irony is that my vaporizer is made by Vick’s. I just don’t put their products in it!

When I became eco-conscious years ago, Birthdays were puzzling. I didn’t want to use balloons, streamers, plastic table cloths, junky party horns, disposable plates, napkins or cutlery. The plates and cutlery were the easy part, I just switched to the real stuff. Sure I end up with more to clean up but my trash cans aren’t stuffed full of waste either. The hard part was everyone’s attachment to the decorations-especially my husband’s! He likes to go all out with the streamers and balloons. My children were quite young and were fine with the changes. I still wanted to add in more special traditions to make things extra special for them. Some of the traditions I added are:

1. The Birthday Plate: I went to a local pottery place and painted a special Birthday Plate that only the Birthday person gets to use. They get to eat every meal on the plate. They also get to choose what I make them for breakfast, what they want to have to eat for the party and what kind of cake they want me to make. I have made all kinds of healthy cakes over the years. Lately I just make sure it’s all organic and I always make them from scratch.

2. The Birthday Journal. The black book in the picture is one of my children’s Birthday Journals. They treasure these books. I pasted a photo of them as a baby at the front with stats about their birth like their weight, time of birth and our first moments together. Then I interview them. I ask questions about their favorites like food, color, animal and book. I document their height and weight. Then I ask all kinds of other questions like: Who are you named after, My favorite thing to do with mom is, What would you do with a thousand dollars, I’m afraid of ____, I wish for ____, My house is ____, My dad doesn’t like to ____, Why do you like being a kid… and lots more fun questions that get some real funny answers. Then I have everybody at the party sign it like they would a card. That way nobody wastes money on a card and nothing gets thrown away. After the party I write down all of the details about the celebration like what we ate and what presents they received. They really love these books and like having me read them the special messages their loved ones wrote to them.

3. I use Beeswax candles. Beeswax is the purest of all candle waxes and is a nontoxic product of the sustainable industry of beekeeping. It is naturally aromatic and infused with the sweet scent of honey. Beeswax candles burn clean and soot free.

4. I use reusable gift bags. The one I’ve linked to is far too expensive, but Amazon doesn’t seem to carry many of them. I use these for baby shower gifts, birthday and wedding gifts. What’s great about them is that they come with a code to track their travels online as they are gifted from person to person. It may encourage someone to use them instead of wrapping paper next time. I also have some homemade ones. They are real simple to make.

5. I made my own decorations. I have a homemade tablecloth (background in the picture) and Happy Birthday pennants. I also made a pennant with each person in the family’s name on it. Here’s my how to video for the pennants:

 

Fall Equinox is on Saturday September 22, 2012.

I’m so excited that fall is almost here and the temperatures are going to start to drop. Fall is such a fun time of year with the added bonus of the Harvest Moon on the night of September 29. That’s because in traditional skylore, the Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the Autumnal (fall) Equinox.

On the equinox, night and day are close to the same length (equinoxes don’t have exactly 12 hours of daylight). The tilt of the Earth’s axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun and can be observed to be directly above the equator. Day and night are about 12 hours each all over the world. This is the reason it’s called an “equinox”, derived from Latin, meaning “equal night.” The Equinox occurs twice a year: once in the Spring and once in the Fall.

I love that fall was traditionally a time of harvest when families came together to prepare for the long cold winter. Natures palette changes from greens to beautiful oranges, reds and yellows amongst crisp air. It brings thoughts warm mugs, glowing fires, and cuddles in cozy quilts. It’s such a great time of year!

I put a large emphasis on learning about nature with my children. Celebrating the Earth’s changing seasons has been a great way to nurture their natural interest in nature and celebrate it. I have collected seasonal books over the years, in order to create a sense of tradition while we follow natures transitions. I like to put these seasonal books away and only get them out during their special time of year. It makes my children real excited to see them again and it creates tradition that way too. I also plan crafts to coincide with what we are learning and of course plan time in nature to observe the things we are learning about.

My children have been watching the waxing moon since the New Moon on the 15th of this month. They know as they are able to see more and more of it each night, that soon it will be a special full Moon: the Harvest Moon. There are 12 specially named Moons during the year. The other eleven specially named Moons are: the Wolf Moon, the Snow Moon, the Worm Moon, the Pink Moon, the Flower Moon, the Strawberry Moon, the Buck Moon, the Sturgeon Moon, the Hunter’s Moon, the Beaver Moon, and the Cold Moon.

Throughout the year the Moon rises, on average, about 50 minutes later each day. Near the Autumnal (fall) Equinox, the day-to-day difference in the local time of moonrise is only 30 minutes. During the Harvest Moon, the Moon will rise around sunset, and not long after sunset for the following few evenings. Farmers used to use the light of the Harvest Moon to continue working on their crops.

Two of my favorite books for children about the Fall Equinox are By The Light of The Harvest Moon and We Gather Together, Celebrating The Harvest Season. I love the artwork in both books, so full of fall beauty.

How do you celebrate Fall Equinox, or just Fall in general with your family?

Do you have relatives you’d like to see eat healthier but they just laugh at your ways and mock you? Do they even go as far as to suggest that you might be lacking something in you or your children’s diet? Trust me, I know what it’s like.

We have been off the packaged foods for years now. We do buy occasional packaged foods like dried fruits and so forth but not often and they have natural ingredients in them, no chemicals. Aside from my long-term food storage, I only have two small cupboards for food in the kitchen. These are home to all of my seeds, chia, herbs, spices, teas and powders like lucuma and maca so you see we are not heavy on the packaged foods. I could use a bigger fridge for all of the produce though!

When I try to tell some of my family how bad some of the packaged foods I see them consuming are, I get so frustrated when they don’t seem to get it. Why would they want to drink soda or Gatorade with bromine in it (an endocrine disruptor used as a fire-retardant and found in many foods other than soda) or eat foods loaded with genetically modified grains and nitrates? It took me a long time to realize that it wasn’t that they didn’t love me or trust what I was telling them but it was that THEY DIDN’T ACQUIRE THE INFORMATION ON THEIR OWN.

I know from my personal Facebook, where I have my bubble of like-minded friends, that I’m not the only one who repeatedly tries to help my family get off these deadly foods. I’m also not the only one who fails over and over and has to watch them suffer through illnesses caused by poor nutrition and exposure to toxins.

We’ve established part of the problem. So they didn’t acquire the information themselves, but why then don’t they want to? Something has to happen in their lives to break their trust in what is “normal.” The “everybody else is doing it reasoning” finally doesn’t work for them. Either their doctors fail them or they figure out that the path they are on is only making them sicker. We cannot force this to happen for them. They have to come to it on their own just like we did. That may never happen if they don’t get off the fluoride though, eeek! You may need to get them a Berkey Water Filter! Half joking there, but fluoride seriously has been proven to make people docile and indifferent.

One of the first books I bought to help myself (about 5-6 years ago) before I saw any of the movies like Food Inc. was Food Additives: A Shoppers Guide to What’s Safe and What’s Not. Something changes when you personally go through the products that you would normally put into your cart. Then you see those crazy ingredients that you can barely pronounce and you find that they are full of dangerous carcinogens that cause asthma, nausea, headaches, mammary tumors in mice, kidney problems, cancer in rats and many other crazy side effects. One by one you start eliminating things. It’s because you are the one learning it and someone isn’t telling you what to do.

I’ll admit the “badger them with information,” approach has worked on a couple of my family members. Oddly enough it was the top two who are the closest to me. I think that may have something to do with it but not entirely. Yes, they respect my opinion and realize I am concerned about them from a place of love but of course it’s not going to happen this way for everyone. Everyone’s relationships are different. I also bought the book above for both of them too. Maybe that was part of it.

The best way to help a family member is to gently provide them with information like movies articles and books if they’ll read them, feed them healthy foods when they visit your home and be patient with them. Don’t ever give up though. They are listening in their own ways. Make sure you find a supportive community like we have here at Primitive Mommy. It helps so much to surround yourself with like-minded people, even if your only option is online.

Have you thought about switching to organic clothing and don’t quite know where to start? When I started looking into buying organic clothing I didn’t know where to start either. I decided that my undergarments were the closest to my skin all day and would be the easiest thing to replace my entire collection of. Since your socks and underwear are constantly in contact with your skin, and are under your clothing most of the time unable to air out, chemicals that have been used in production can potentially cause skin irritation. The various chemicals and dyes can be absorbed as well. They can be epecially irritating if you have sensitive skin. Selecting organic socks and underwear help to support an industry that produces products without using all kinds of toxic pesticides that pollute the Earth and our bodies.

It was over four years ago when I was pregnant that I made the decision to start switching to organic clothing. My search was on to find a good company. What I found was Maggie’s Organics. This company overdelivers on quality, sustainability and ethics. They make a high quality product I can trust is truly organic and I know they are concerned about the Earth, their employees and their community. All of that and they create beautiful products at a great value. I bought Maggie’s Organic socks and onsies for my baby and was super impressed with the quality so when Maggie’s generously gave us a few pairs of socks to try, I knew we were going to love them and we sure do! Everything is so soft and comfortable. I have a pair of wool socks from R.E.I. that wore out within weeks of buying them. Even though it’s summer, I wear socks in the house because we have tile floors, and my husband keeps the house colder than I like. The wool socks from Maggie’s are super high quality and they still look brand new after all of my use and abuse. My youngest loves his tie dyed crews so much I have to beg him to let me wash them.

From their site:

“Maggie’s Organics has been making high-quality durable and affordable socks and apparel out of organic fibers since 1992. We began quite by accident, when an organic corn farmer in Texas taught us the truth behind conventional cotton.

Founder Bená Burda was working with the farmer to improve the quality of his blue corn crop for the tortilla chips she was marketing at the time. The farmer decided that adding cotton into his three year organic crop rotation would improve his corn yields. His experiment worked, and also provided him with 200 acres of certified organic cotton, which he expected Bená to sell! After researching cotton, and learning that this one crop is grown on 3-5% of the world’s cultivated land, and yet uses nearly 10% of the world’s pesticides and 25% of the world’s insecticides, we committed ourselves to utilizing these 200 acres of organic cotton to tell the real story behind conventional cotton clothing…Maggie’s Organics was born.

All of our products are made with Certified Organic Cotton or Certified Organic Wool. Our full line of socks for the whole family have been knit, dyed, and packaged in the USA for over twenty years.”

Maggies doesn’t just sell socks. They sell scarves, tights and leggings, baby clothes, and the cutest stuffed tie dyed chickens you’ve ever seen!

For more about the company and how they make their products make sure you check out this link. I found it fun to read. If I’m ever in Michigan I’m going to bug them to give my family a tour. I know we’d all love it!

Maggie’s Organics is offering a special coupon code for 15% off orders over $25 for Primitive Mommy readers. It expires on 8/31/12 The code is: 15OFFMOMMY

 

 

I know I am known and loved for my lists, so as to not to disappoint, here I’ll share how I make going to the beach easy for us. A bit of planning with packing food and items into easy to carry bags (it’s all about the bags!) can make all of the difference. Make sure to check my post on snacks for healthy snack ideas. I believe children need plenty of outdoor play and I find that the beach is a great place for it. I hear many people saying that going to the beach is too stressful. We lived in California for a while and during that time I really streamlined the process. I noticed today that some of the items I use are on sale so this is perfect timing to share with you some of the items that make things easier, more Earth friendly and stress free for us.

Sand toys are a must for us. They keep our children entertained and learning for hours. We have a variety of different types of sand toys. Spielstabil makes the most awesome sand toys! We love ours. They are sturdy and are nothing like the cheap ones you find in the stores that break constantly. Love these!

 

 

 

I bought my large Planet Wise Diaper Wet Bag specifically for the beach. We were always toting wet, sandy swimsuits when we left the beach and I needed something that wasn’t going to destroy the ocean (plastic bags) to stick them in. This bag has worked perfect! It’s well made and pretty to boot!

We use Badger Sunscreen for arms and noses. We rely on boonie hats and rash guards to protect the rest. Badger is rated a 1 by EWG.org which is a good rating. In previous years we used California Baby but I’ve been extremely happy with this choice.

I love my Roxy beach bag . It’s perfect for holding towels, cell phones, cameras, keys, water and snacks.

This article is going to address two issues:

Indoor activities for too rainy/snowy/hot days for playing outside, and

How can I find time to read all of the books I want to read?

A common question I get from friends and family is: How do you find time to read all of those books and articles and still have time to care for your family and home?

The answer is simple: I include them!

Since my children are Life Learners I am not new to trying to find activities for them during the summer when it’s too hot to play outside or on rainy days. I am doing the same thing all year round while other children are in school. Where we live, in the desert, there are many days where the temps are just too high to spend much time outside unless it is early or late in the day. This leaves us inside hiding in the protection of our home and the air conditioning. The problem with this is that, with growing boys you are either going to help them stay busy, or you are going to be in the middle of a knight, a ninja and Spiderman jumping from couch to couch slinging their swords and shooting their Nerf guns. That can be fun for a while but soon you might start to lose your mind. Setting them in front of a TV is not an option I employ.

I don’t own a TV so my entertainment and information comes from other outlets like books and the internet! Just as I include my children in my household duties like cooking and cleaning, I also include them in my learning. Luckily most children love being read to and usually they are interested in what we are interested in. This is at least true for me. My children love anything homesteading, health, animal, unschooling, and even self-improvement related. So in addition to the children’s books that I read to them, I also read my books to them. There are so many situations I’ve found that I can read to them: at bedtime, while they are playing a game, while camping, while waiting for daddy to run in a store, in hotel rooms, while they are digging in the dirt in the back yard, while they are jumping on the trampoline, at the beach and simply cuddled on the couch together. The opportunities are endless.

Children who are read to frequently early on in life become exposed to the sounds of their native language. This introduction is interesting and exciting to them.  They are also introduced to the concept of rhyming, and many other word and language play activities. These skills will serve as a foundation for the development of phoneme and phonics awareness. Children who receive stimulating literacy experiences from birth onward are given an edge with vocabulary development. Their listening skills become polished and acute. They are also given an understanding of the goals of reading. Other skills that may be obtained from being read to are reasoning and cognitive development. Reasoning or logical thinking can be utilized to draw conclusions, especially if you take time to discuss the material you are reading. Cognitive development is furnished when the child processes the information they have acquired. My children  don’t understand everything I am reading to them but they are polishing many skills that I may not even realize they are using. It doesn’t matter that the content is not geared for a child. It matters that they are being exposed to a broad vocabulary and given the opportunity to consider ideas, have an opinion, employ their instincts, and try to understand, comprehend and imagine the scene the author is portraying. Reading to your children is one of the simplest activities you can do with and for them.

Something you may have never considered is that there are many audio books that may be on your “to read” list. These are GREAT for road trips or just playing at home while working together to complete chores. I always have something playing while folding laundry or doing the dishes. I may not hear all of it since there are interruptions but I get the gist or essence of it. Right now we are listening to the first one on the list below: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Barbara Kingsolver is so poetic, romantic and graceful in her descriptions. My children are loving listening to her go on and on about apsaragus.

To give you a good idea, some audio books I’ve listened to and plan to listen to that I’ve found at the local library are below. Many of these you can’t even find on Amazon as an audio but the library has them.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From
Nature-Deficit Disorder

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About
Money – That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will
Talk

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto

Other authors to search for are Anthony Robbins, Andrew Weil, Dale Carnegie, Wayne Dyer and more from Robert Kyosaki.

On occasion there is content in my books that I choose to skip over. For example, I believe there were a couple of parts in Dumbing Us Down (best homeschooling book out there IMO) I left out, but I can’t remember what they were since it’s been a while.  I only read them a few parts of Anastasia, but they loved the magical parts about nature and the ringing cedars that they got to hear. I don’t read much fiction but I loved that book. If reading your books to your children doesn’t appeal to you, at least you now know how many audio books are awaiting you to listen to them!