Rocket Fuel in Drinking Water...Biocides in the Soil!

Well, unless you are from a different planet (I sometimes feel that I am, but back to the topic at hand) you most likely are aware of a Global Movement to help the environment. For years we have trashed it...thrown it out like a bad prom dress, but guess what? That taffeta number is showing up again all over the place! And worse than leg warmers or stretch pants! Okay, so I'm speaking figuratively, but the truth is that there are so many toxins out there today...toxins that are affecting your health, your children's health, and the heath of future generations. It's time to stop polluting our world and to stop others from doing it too! (I find that it is harder to stop the folks who are knowingly trashing our planet, because greed and money seem to always go hand in hand, don't they?). I will step down off of my soap box to expand a bit...

You are probably pretty well versed on the issue with plastics (#s 1, 2, 4, & 5 are the safest; avoid purchasing products with any other label), hormones in dairy and meat/poultry, and global warming, but what about rocket fuel in your water and biocides in your soil?

Perchlorate is an oxidizer in rocket fuel. It occurs naturally in the environment, but is also manufactured for things like rocket fuel, fireworks, and the airbags in your car. And while "they" often tell us there is a quantity of any chemical/toxin that "poses no threat" to humans, I rarely believe it. Perchlorate has been found in water sources near areas that manufacture it, but also in other areas.

Why get on the band wagon of keeping water sources clean? Because perchlorate is absorbed by your thyroid. A proper functioning thyroid gland is necessary for healthy development in children. If you still have a baby on infant formula, you may want to think twice about ignoring the toxins your baby is ingesting. Perchlorate has been found in infant formula, and then when you mix it with water that also contains perchlorate...now you've got "unsafe" levels of it in your baby's body. Read more about it at the Environmental Working Group and judge for yourself.

Biocides are a funny thing. I recently learned about them when my son's doctor and I were exploring what antibiotic might work for him. Nothing touches my child's body or is ingested by him unless I know what is in it. For a boy with two auto-immune disorders, we don't take foreign substances lightly...and by foreign, I don't mean from another country! (Although, that is an issue too for medicines....generic medicines are often made in China. Did you know that? Does that make you wonder what's in them?)

Anyhow, biocides are chemicals designed to kill a living organism, usually in a selective way. For example, ever use RoundUp for your weeds? That is a biocide. Chlorine? Another biocide...think about where you might find that...your local swimming pool or even your drinking water. Good stuff, yum! In all seriousness, I do not take these chemicals lightly.

So why are biocides on my mind? First, because of the pesticides and herbicides we use to sterilize our lawns and gardens. (We shouldn't be using them, by the way. Mother Nature has a wonderful process of selecting the fittest for survival...she doesn't need us destroying all the important microbes, insects, and such that are necessary for a healthy food web). Second, because biocides are used in antibiotics, which you might need to take one day. And third, because as I have found with most all chemicals created by man, there always seems to be A DARK SIDE - a side that negatively affects all of us, whether we are aware of it or not.

Now, I am not a scientist nor an expert on biocides, but it seems to me that we can reduce our use of them in many areas of our life so that the ones that are absolutely necessary will actually work and that scientists don't have to keep inventing new ones because pathogens are outsmarting the old biocides and no longer working. Like antibiotics and hand cleaners, we can go overboard and use something too much. Clearly.

This is a new topic for me, so I will continue to explore it, because as a parent and an educator, I am very, very concerned about the health and well-being of my child and the children with whom I work. They deserve better than what we have been giving them...they deserve a healthy, clean planet...and a future.

Life Is a Journey...And Sometimes a Long, Windy Road

Well, I learned long ago that Life Is a Journey, not a destination. And for me, it is also A Long, Windy Road. (Yes, you could read that both ways: windy, as in curvy, or windy, as in blowing me to heck! Both are true!). And I type Life Is a Journey as if it is a book, because it is a story...my story...and one that seems to have a lot of moves involved!

For anyone who knows me, moving is, well, normal for us. This will be the 13th move in 13 years. If you are interested in numbers, as I am, that makes 7 moves for the 5-year old child, 9 moves for the 9.5-year old dog, and 2 moves for the kitten that turns 1 in a few weeks. No, we are not a military family, but I would bet that our moving statistics would rival most of them! And for those of you who know us really well, just roll your eyes again and say "whatever...there go the Dodges again." For my newest friends and colleagues...don't ask...the moving story is LONG and each move scenario has a novel attached to it. Really.

Anyhow, new adventures always await us when we stay open-minded to the universe, as a dear friend tells me. And a new adventure has revealed itself to my family in the last month....a move westward! That means, of course, that the The Well-Rounded Child is moving, too.

The winds (or windy, curvy roads) are blowing us westward to the East Bay. Not too far from our current perch, but far enough that many things are going to change in our world. And the biggest question is what to do about the playroom? My strong supporters have encouraged me to open up a playroom in our new town. And certainly, the new town would be a great place to have an educational playroom...there are lots of aware and hip families in our new town who greatly value learning, and are forward-thinking, out-of-the-box folks who I'm sure would support the alternative approach that WRC offers.

But....truth be told, starting up a new network of colleagues & families, and finding a new location is well, daunting. And very expensive. (Small businesses are small for a reason...the fees associated with running it are astronomical! Payroll taxes, sales taxes, estimated yearly taxes, quarterly taxes and then there is the cost of products [for retail], merchant service fees, bookkeeping fees, gateway fees for online boutiques like mine, marketing & advertising....the list goes on and on and on.) In this economy, I am weighing the pros and cons of staring up a new playroom and keeping the boutique around, given the expense. Sigh.....

Also, three little letters keep crossing my mind...p....h...d. I'm certainly not getting any younger, and completing a doctoral program will most definitely put me about half-way into the next decade, which is reason enough to just get going on it! My course of study would be education of course, but the focus? Well, I've been contemplating that for about 5 years now and am edging closer to these ideas:

• Learning Sciences & Technology Design


• Cognition and Development

Now, the out-of-the box thinker in me wonders if perhaps I could craft my OWN PhD program at a university...like a "green" education PhD. Hmmm...still pondering what that would look like. Ultimately, it will be something that allows me to conduct research in how children learn, and also to teach at the university level. Perhaps at my old alma matter, St. Mary's College?

So, WRC will probably go on sabbatical for at least the summer until I thoroughly explore the windy (blowing me to bits), windy (making me dizzy as I go) path before me.

Nirvana, Nevada....It's All the Same

How does being green change a person? I have pondered this question for awhile now and it is truly a BIG idea to consider. I know that being green has changed me in many ways and it has affected all aspects of my life. Interestingly, being green does not only mean that I buy and use earth-friendly products and clothing, eat organic foods, and not spray my yard with harmful pesticides (or herbicides for that matter!); rather, it is also a mindset.

My yoga friends understand this, probably much better than I do, but the basic line of thinking for me now in my life is to be mindful....always present and always aware of how my every action and reaction affects the earth and its inhabitants-from my interactions with my son and husband to how I look the checker in the eye at the grocery store-my focus remains the same...mindfulness. I expect that it may take a lifetime to truly understand how to be mindful in a peaceful, non-thinking way, but at least I am headed down that path!

And that brings me to a lovely story my son recently told me. The premise for this story is that my son often asks about life and death...things I didn't consider much when I was his age, but then again, I was busy putting shiny skin-tight pants on my Barbie and teasing up her hair to high heaven while my son is busy pondering LIFE'S GREATEST QUESTIONS.

Anyhow, we have been chatting a lot recently about God, heaven, and spirits. We somehow got into a discussion about how there are many words for God, depending on a person's culture and religious beliefs. So, of course, he wanted to know all about these other names and I thusly proceeded to rack my brain for all of the things I could remember from my World Religion course in college. He was most intrigued with Buddha. He has visited the Buddha exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum here in Sacramento, and has seen a few figurines of them in our home. He asked about Buddha and we started a conversation about Nirvana. (No, not the band, although he may have been equally intrigued!)

I tried to explain it is like Heaven in that it is a place of peace in your mind, but I dare say that I did a poor job of explaining what Nirvana really is. However, my son seemed content with my lackluster explanation and went on his merry way to school. On the way home that afternoon he gets in the car and says to me, "Mom, guess what?"

"What?" I say enthusiastically....I'm thinking he's going to actually tell me what he did at school today instead of give me the usual response of 'I don't know.’

"Brandon* knows all about Nevada! He told me all about it today!" [My son pronounced it 'Nevahda'.] "You mean Nevada, the state, right?" I ask.

"No!!" He says emphatically. "Nevada....you know, like with Buddha?"

"Ohhhh, you mean NirVANa." I enunciate for him.

"Oh, yes, Mom! Brandon said it’s about peace. And when you find the peace you die."

"Well, you two certainly have very deep conversations, don't you?"

"Yeah. So if I find peace then will I die?" Oh my gosh, how does a person respond to such a question from a kindergartener?

"Well, I think you can have a level of peace in your heart and mind and still be alive." I respond, but not really sure if what I've said is true or not.....these are matters we must all discover for ourselves, I think.

"Okay good, cuz I'm not ready for Nirvana. [Brief pause.] What's for snack?"

And in an instant, we're back to the really important question of the day. What IS for snack?



*Name changed to respect privacy of other child.

Trying to Travel Green & Healthy

I spent the last week out of town with my family and it was the second "long" trip we've taken since my son's diagnosis of having two auto-immune disorders (intolerance to gluten and casein) about 1.5 years ago. And let me tell you....it was a challenge! If you are any shade of green, or if you have food issues like we do, then you can relate!

• 2 Days Before the Trip: buy gluten free/casein free snacks
• 1 Day Before the Trip: pack our own shampoo, soap, lotion, and home-made toothpaste
• Day of the Trip: get on the trip and realize 2 hours into it that I've forgotten sun block! Ugg.

So sun block may not be a big deal to most folks, but for us, anything that touches my son's body is a MAJOR deal. I couldn't find an "organic" or earth-friendly sun block between Oakdale and LA. Okay, so I didn't really expect to find a safe sun block in Oakdale, but the Raley's there has recently put in a "natural" section so one can hope, right?

Onward to LA....the sun is shining and we're poolside....without sun block. Gasp! I scour the hotel's junk store, you know, those shops with the tchatchkies that people always buy but then have no idea what to do with when they get home? They had some random brand of sun block made overseas. Heck no! We'll take our chances with skin cancer today.

The next day we head to Disneyland. We've been waiting for this day for months! Disney's happy music is playing as we stroll down Main Street and I peek into a few stores. More of the same tourist junk and no sun block in sight! Finally, after hours of going on rides and hitting up every vendor from the Disney side to the California Adventure side, I finally find some sun block...Coppertone Waterbabies, SPF 50. There are two choices - lotion or spray. My son looks at it in disgust and says, "Mom, you can't buy THAT! There are SO many chemicals in it that are bad!" How can you argue with the truth? What's a mom to do-tempt the skin cancer-causing rays of the sun or the neurotoxins in the lotion? We choose a light slathering of the "bad" sun block. And guess what? I still got a bit sunburned and my son broke out in a rash. Sigh...

What was I thinking! We would have been better off taking our chances with sunburn, as I later reviewed the ingredients on the cosmetic database website, created by the Environmental Working Group. The effects of the ingredients are scary, and a reminder why we use Badger or California Baby sunscreen in the first place.

Our other major issue while traveling was food options. My son cannot tolerate foods that contain gluten AND casein, so wheat, barley, rye, and all dairy are out the door. You can imagine how difficult it might be to travel when you can't have any of those things. And to boot, contamination is a huge problem, so even when we choose a food that does not contain the evil gluten or casein, we have to worry about what it has touched or how it has been prepared.

So, every meal at a restaurant is like a treasure hunt to find a "jewel" of a food that my son can eat. Just for fun, I'll recount a conversation I had with a waiter at a restaurant on our last night of vacay:

Waiter: So, have you decided what you'd like to order.

Me: Okay, so I'm going to order for my son, but I have a few questions.

Waiter: Okay....

Me: I see here on the menu that you have these 'Delicious Dippers' for kids. Can he have half of the veggie dippers and half of the fruit dippers but without any of the sauces?

Waiter: Hmmmm.....so you don't want the yogurt or the ranch dip?

Me: No......my son can't have any dairy, so that's why I was wondering if maybe we could just modify the fruit and veggies, you know, make just the 'Delicious' part of the 'Dippers' [my sorry attempt at humor].

Waiter: Ohhhhh, okay. Yeah, we can do that.

Me: Great! Okay, and with the Mini Kobe Burgers, can he have that without the bun?

Waiter: A hamburger without the bun?

Me: Yes, exactly. He can't have any gluten, er, wheat either. [I usually say 'wheat' to people because they have NO idea what gluten is!]

Waiter: Oh! He's gluten intolerant. Okay! We had a lady in here the other day and she has that too!

Me: Oh......anyways, so that comes with fries, right?

Waiter: Yes.

Me: Okay, and are those fries cooked with anything else?

Waiter: What do you mean?

Me: Well, you know, like are the fries cooked in the same oil as other things?

Waiter: I don't know. Let me go check. [A couple of minutes pass.] Oh, the fries are out....they're cooked with the chicken strips.

Me: Okay, can we just do a side of rice then?

Waiter: Oh no, we don't have any rice dishes right now.

Me: So, you have no rice in house at all?

Waiter: Hmmmm, no, don't think so. But I'll go check! [Waiter leaves again and returns.] We can do wild rice!

Me: Great! Let's do it.

Waiter: So, does he want any ranch dressing or anything to put on his burger.

Me: Uh, no thanks.

So the conversation continued in this back-and-forth manner, with the waiter returning to the kitchen at least 4 more times to inquire about how the salmon dish was cooked, and could I have it without the breaded eggplant (although that is one of my favorites), because alas, I too am gluten intolerant.

The waiter comes out one last time to confirm our order and I, with a crazy idea in mind, think it might be a good idea to share with him how the cooks should prepare the working and cooking surfaces to avoid contamination. Well, that took another 10 minutes before we were all on the same page. And finally, our order was placed and I graciously thanked the waiter for being so accommodating! He truly was trying to help, but some stubborn cooks and a lack of knowledge about gluten and casein intolerances were just getting in our way!

So the meals come and they are perfectly delicious except that mine seems to be missing something. I ask my husband if he remembers what else my dish was supposed to come with and he noted that it was the "peasant potato" that was missing. After checking with the waiter he said, "Oh, I told them not to do that because of your dairy intolerance."

"Well, actually, only my son has the dairy intolerance." I replied.

"That's right, he's both dairy and wheat, and you're just wheat. Okay, I've got it now!" he offered, still looking a bit confused.

"Yes, so how long will that potato take?" I ask.

"Oh, just a few minutes," the waiter replied. And less than five minutes later an undercooked, sad looking potato arrived with the middle cored out and a sad piece of bacon hanging out both sides.

Oh well....I guess no meal in our gluten free/casein free world will ever be perfect.

And oh, did I tell you about the day when my son ate half of his basket of French fries before the waiter came by to tell us that the fries had been cooked in oil with the chicken fingers? I'll save that story for another day.

But truly, the long and the short of my ranting is to note that even though California is very forward-thinking, people still have a lot of changes to make! And while I found a greener path as a result of a health issue, I hope that for others, the choice to be greener and healthier (and to help others do the same!) comes from a desire to have a better life and a better relationship with the environment.