1 Mother 2 Another

My articles on sunscreen from last week
have prompted some posts and emails with further questions, asking
about other chemicals or “what if . . .” or “what
about . . .” and I see that the sunscreen thing is just the
tip of the ice berg.


Now I know I’m way more hippie or crunchy or whatever-y than
a lot of you, and I’m not going to preach at you to get rid
of your air conditioners and dryers and go back to wood-burning
stoves (they emit too many pollutants to be a viable main cook
source anyway). But I am getting questions from girlfriends and
readers, and thought I’d direct you to a couple different
articles to get you started.

First, a shameless plug for href="http://healthychild.org" target="_blank">Healthy Child,
Healthy World – one of my favorite websites as a
conscientious parent trying to do the right thing for her kids and
the planet. I’ve periodically published blogs that started
with a HCHW article, such as the one over the new concerns about
food colorings. You can always hit that site to find out more about
making your home a healthier place for your kids –
you’ll get recommendations on easy ways to overhaul kitchen,
refrigerator, living spaces, and more. It’s a great
educational site that’s easy to navigate, and I think the
href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHealthy-Child-World-Creating-Cleaner%2Fdp%2F0452290198%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1277688042%26sr%3D8-1&tag=1mother2anoth-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325"
target="_blank">book should be at the fingertips of any
parent concerned about raising healthy children in today's world.


Second, put the target="_blank">Environmental Working Group on your
bookmarks. Their database is exhaustive, and their research is
thorough. You can search for paraben-free shampoos, safer
deodorants, and more.


Feeling overwhelmed? Here are two easy-to-read articles – one
from Healthy Child – href="http://healthychild.org/blog/comments/the_top_10_toxic_products_you_dont_need/"
target="_blank">The Top Ten Toxic Products You Don’t
Need - and one from EWG – href="http://www.ewg.org/node/27197" target="_blank">Nine Ways To
Avoid Household Toxins.


You can do this, I promise. Baby steps. And listen, just changing
one thing is a great start.