Yesterday, I did an interview with a reporter about this blog, and she wanted to know if green was my new-found obsession since becoming a parent and moving into my new home. Hardly.
As I’ve written about in the past, living green was part of my mother’s parenting lessons. As a single, twenty-something living in New York City, I recycled regularly, took my bottles and cans back to the supermarket, and used my two feet or mass transit to get around. I never laid a foot on a car’s gas pedal until I bought my first vehicle when I was practically 30!
When I became a parent, I tried to be as green as I could on a graduate student’s budget. (Not easy back in the 90s.)
I nursed both of my babies exclusively for six months, which meant I used no resources to feed them. (Could one say that this is carbon-neutral baby food?)
Once my babies moved on to solids, I pureed fruits and vegetables, and froze them in ice-cube trays for safe keeping. You could always count on finding at least one ice cube tray, with an unidentified, colorful substance defrosting in it, out on the kitchen counter.
With regards to diapers, my husband and I went back and forth about cloth versus disposable for months on end before our first child was born. Would we use more resources having cloth diapers delivered, picked up and washed? Or would we do more damage buying and disposing of store-bought diapers? In the end, we called a truce. Our daughters spent half of their diapered life in cloth, and the rest in disposable.
Once I had two children, I saved resources by bathing them together, having them share a room, and dressing the younger one in hand-me-downs. (Sorry, kiddo.)
I’m sure that many other folks have used clever (and cheap) ways for green parenting of babies and toddlers, and I’d love to hear them.
In the meantime and speaking of parenting, go check out my friend Kathy Sena’s blog Parent Talk Today. Kathy is a smart writer for magazine’s like Woman’s Day and a smart parent, too. Also, I’m her guest blogger today, so you might see some familiar text and pictures over there.
READ LEAH ON HOME GOES STRONG
My children’s babyhood was much like you describe. I nursed them and made baby food; cheaper, easier, and in all probability, healthier. Second hand clothes? For them and for me. Much of it was from necessity; I was part of the Working Poor then.