March 8th, 2010
A relationship is point to point – a three-dimensional line that grows or shrinks according to moods and swings. Add a baby and you add another line. You have a triangle: a love triangle.
There is no greater or more complex love triangle than the one created by having a baby.
Someone is always left out and there is a massive amount of attention grabbing … usually from dad who can’t bear the sight of ‘his’ boobs being used as a dairy, and often from junior who, like the dog, pushes in during an embrace.
No matter how strong the lines are – the individuals who make up the triangle – the points of the triangle are likely to wear over time … and very often they just snap.
But sometimes you have to break the points to notice how the individual lines can be stronger than the shape they make up.
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February 27th, 2010
There are some great innovations going on in the nappy arena:
Nature Babycare, designed by a Swedish mum who can’t even sell them in Sweden; Nature Boy and Girl, based on same; Seventh Generation and gDiaper, to name a few.
These new innovations are all fabulous, trendy and partly nature friendly … Most claim to be compostable although there is a claim by some that the tabs and elastic edges take as long as a regular disposable to biodegrade (500 years!)
But, until you actually try the straight terrycloth variety, you just can’t knock it in terms of cost, fit, comfort, ease of washing and the most important part: recycling. The most green disposable nappy is Nature Babycare and even that is only 60% biodegradable – the best there is but still not perfect and when our landfills are filling up at an alarming rate, we need way closer to perfection than that. And then there is still the issue of wood pulp – all disposables, eco or not, use wood pulp and here lies the obvious issue of sustainability.
The shaped cloth nappies are great for parents who believe folding a terry square is beyond them … but what do you use them for when baby is all grown up? The simple terry squares win the day when baby grows up – they become kitchen rags, DIY clean-up cloths and even gym towels. Now that’s eco savvy, totally waste free and sustainable.
Links for your info:
http://www.naty.com/uk/Products/tabid/55/Main/Nature-Babycare/Sub/Nappies/MainId/3/SubId/21/Default.aspx
http://www.gdiapers.com/gdiapers101/flush-compost-or-toss
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/Diapers
See my link to a previous article for ready-folded terrycloth nappies:
http://www.bhalababy.com/2007/10/14/dispose-or-reuse/
And if you have any questions about how to go about starting down the route of sustainable eco-friendly terrycloth, I am always available to help – the environment means the world to me and my boy.
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February 24th, 2010
I sometimes disagree with my mother-in-law because … well, just because she is my mother-in-law and weren’t they put on this earth to create a bit of conflict in an otherwise happy home environment? But sometimes I disagree with her because – despite her claiming to have been around the block often enough to know better than someone of inferior years – I’m right. Even if sometimes I battle when it comes to giving the reasons.
I got so tired of her using the words silly and stupid in reference to my child’s behaviour but, because I couldn’t give her my argument why I felt so strongly about it, I taught my child to fight back with his words until she began to find more creative ways to describe how he was behaving.
It was only after her most recent visit that the voice from deep within was allowed a hearing and I realised that not only do I resent the negative terms that were used in my own childhood but that I have an exceptionally good reason to try and wean my own child off references of this nature.
It’s simple really – it’s simply about benchmarks. Use the benchmark of stupid when speaking to your child and your child will never feel he is anything better than that i.e. when he acts intelligently, he will believe he is just a stupid child with moments of intelligence. But tell a child he is not being clever rather than he is being stupid and he will realise that he is defined by his intelligence … with moments that do not match up to his capabilities.
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February 22nd, 2010
The mother of a friend of my child’s told me that her daughter sat down to dinner one evening, held hands around the table and asked everyone if they would like to say gross. A few weeks later my child came home and wanted to discuss God. He is learning about religion at the local Montessori. I am not sure what form it takes and honestly I don’t care, as long as it covers all religions rather than the most popular indoctrination of the time. At dinner this evening he announced that he knows so much now about religion and he even knows the names of God’s two children: Jesus and Picasso.
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February 21st, 2010
I realise I have spoken plenty about that desperate need to procreate but then there is that cautious desire to provide your child with a sibling. Should I, shouldn’t I? What if I do, what if I don’t? … and all the other what ifs.
It’s a tough decision that never gets any easier. The only difference between having two and deciding to stick to one is that you can wish you had had another one but, if you do have that other one, you can never say you wish you’d only had one … as that would be diminishing the value of a human life … an extremely important human life since you would have made it from scratch.
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