1. Our Eco-Friendly School Gear list includes lunch bags, food containers, and some other good tips to remember for a child’s school cubby.

2. This year’s addition to the Eco-Friendly School Gear are stainless steel food containers. We’re using the Kids Konserve Nesting Trio with soft tops and LunchBots Containers, which fit larger items and have stainless lids.

3. The Kids Konserve lunch kits offer one stop shopping and a great school fundraiser idea for September. They also raise parents’ awareness about packing lunches with reusable containers.

4. After trying a variety of water bottles, we find the 10 ounce Ecousable water bottle the perfect size and easy for kids to open and drink.

5. For delicious and nutritious foods to put inside all these containers, check out our School Lunch Ideas.

California wants manufacturers to change to lead-free vinyl and party rental stores to include warnings about lead in bounce houses. Until the new lead-free editions, we can wash kids’ hands and faces after they play in a bounce house. We also are pulling out new party ideas–cookie decorating, fishing in a kiddie pool, painting and planting flower pots, decorating magic boxes and treasure hunts.

The new guidelines are in response to ACOG’s former guidelines which led many hospitals and doctors to limit VBACs, or refuse to allow them, for fear of liability if they did not follow ACOG’s more stringent recommendations. The former guidelines were interpreted by some health care providers as requiring a surgeon and anesthesiologist to be at the hospital at all hours, and even the presence of two doctors during a VBAC. Cesarean rates have increased to reach 31% in 2007, an alarming number that obstetricians are working to reduce for the health of mothers and their babies. ACOG now recommends that early in their pregnancies women discuss the risks and benefits of VBAC and potential complications from repeat cesareans. They do not want hospital restrictions to dictate that a woman have another cesarean if she prefers a vaginal delivery.

The guidelines are a positive step. They give women, their doctors and midwives an opportunity to talk in more detail about labor and delivery, and empower women to participate in making decisions about their health.

In less than 10 minutes, we have ice pops ready to eat. The Zoku is durable and requires only a few parts. For best results, we’ve learned to stay within the fill lines and wait until the Zoku thaws to wash, otherwise water freezes in the mold bottoms and makes removing the pops more difficult. The Zoku also makes a great gift for families.

Highlights:

Lowlights: None. The stories are deep and moving for mothers too. We smiled and cried.

Why We Like It: What I Would Tell Her offers a moment to reflect upon and value our lives as parents. These father-writers share their specific experiences, which make the essays so personal, and capture the intimate emotions of parenting. A great Father’s Day gift, even for dads who rarely pick up parenting books.

Age: All parents, and specifically fathers, with children of any age.

We begin with vegetables and a protein and fill in around them to build a creative meal. Leftovers in the fridge with rice wrapped in a spelt tortilla or sheet of Nori seaweed, carrots with hummus and guacamole dips, fried egg on brown rice spaghetti–most anything goes. We started with one night a week and now may be up to two spontaneous dinners. The kids like the change, and it’s also made dinner more fun. Four year old Oliver envisions a new way of eating–turkey burgers for breakfast, pancakes for lunch and oatmeal at 6 pm. Though in the end, we realized that breakfast goes better as dinner than the other way around.

And, when we do have energy to do more than heat and roll, Weelicious is great for new food ideas.

Highlights:

Lowlights: Hartzell shares a few basics, for more detailed discussion and advice read the excellent Parenting from the Inside Out. Some of the material overlaps with the book.

Why we like it: Short and sweet–we can listen in the car on the way to pick up the kids from school. Hearing Hartzell’s language and tone aloud helps us absorb the concepts in a deeper way than just reading her book. Also, it’s easy to listen to the CD again as a refresher.

Child’s age: Infant through preschooler.

We recycle (Ok, hopefully everyone recycles now, but it counts), plant vegetables, take five minute showers, bring our own grocery bags, let the kids play with a bucket of water instead of a running hose, filter our water and use aluminum water bottles (current favorite for the lightweight kid size: Ecousable), clean with green household products, buy recycled toilet paper and paper towels, set the table with cloth napkins (colored washcloths for the kids) and compost fruits and vegetables in the clippings bin as our garbage collector allows. Whew!

Reminding ourselves of these positive changes makes it easier to continue on our greener path. Instead of feeling inconvenienced, we can consider trading in our paper towels for reusable rags as an experiment. And bringing our own bags to the store leads to toting along cotton sacks for produce too. The best part is our natural progression towards this simpler lifestyle–each step evolves into the next.

We are converts. Not to mention for our kids. Before we know it, they have permanent molars and questions begin about fluoride treatments, sealants (avoid those with BPA) and X-rays.

The Eco-Dentistry Association has created certification standards for eco-dentists and includes a helpful search to find a local EDA member.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends once a year dentist visits begin by the time children are three, while the American Dental Association recommends a visit at age one. Often, pediatricians suggest seeing the dentist when kids are two years old, so we recommend checking with them. They also may have a referral. On our first dentist visit, a dental hygienist gives our kids a tour of the office, including a ride in the dental chair. If the child feels comfortable, the dentist looks in their mouth and brushes their teeth.