Last week, I shared some of my ideas for what makes a good kid toy. This week, I would like to share with you some sources and suggestions for toys that are durable, fun, useful and green! Next week is Thanksgiving and as we know the day after T-day the Christmas spending season begins. However, some folks (like me) observe a…
Category Archives: Green Parenting
Timeless Toys
When I go out looking for toys for my son, I want to find things that will become treasures. For his first birthday he received from family a handmade wooden slide, a rocking boat that can serve as stairs and a small wheel barrow. His second birthday he received a wooden train table with storage drawers for his cars and…
Greener Cleaning
It was just five months ago when my husband and I moved our family into an 1852 single-family farm home. There was so much we loved about our new home: the increase in living space, the playroom, two large bathrooms, the character that comes with an old home. We saw past the much-needed improvements, looking…
Be Green for Halloween
When I was little my parents didn’t buy Halloween costumes, we created them; it was so fun. Believe it or not, it wasn’t until I became a mother that I realized the overwhelming choices in commercialized costumes and decorations. Driving through semi-rural, semi-suburban southern Rhode Island, I have noticed the abundance of gorgeously colored fallen…
First Weekly ‘Green Family Friday’
Big or small, traditional or uniquely unconventional, all human or composed of those that stand on more than 2 legs as much as those that do; families are beautiful things. At 5 Minutes for Going Green, we value families and the things — both big and small — that they do together to be a…
One Less
You can gradually reduce the carbon footprint of your baby with Baby Pottying or Elimination Communication. (Did you see the word “gradually” in that sentence?) Gradually is there because you can ease into EC slowly, taking baby steps to gain your confidence and discover some EC tools with your baby to reduce your use of…
Green Birth
As a birth and postpartum doula, and a natural parenting company owner who is expecting a baby in the next few weeks, I can’t help but write a post that mentions the “greenness” of homebirth. I think that most of the time we focus on a lot of the other possible advantages to homebirth (such…
Protect Your Skin the Green Way
Much to my surprise, last week when I took my son to the park for a play-date I got a sunburn! I couldn’t believe that we are already in that season when I need to be thinking about protecting my skin from the sun. So, I thought that this week would be a good time…
Green Recipe Of The Month: Savory Black Bean Soup
Are you still cold, too? Someone told me that it is spring, but I get all confused when I read stories of snow in April like the mid-west recently experienced. That used to not matter to me much, but now that I have traded my west coast roots for a more four season environment, everything…
Bringing It Home: Swami Baby Giveaway
A giveaway courtesy of Swami Baby is a great way to end our week-long giveaway carnival, if you will, in celebration of Earth Day. What exactly is Swami Baby? Katie Holley, the founder and owner of this creative kiddo-centric business, is probably the best person to answer that question. In her own words: Swami Baby is…
