The Green Among Us

Today was a disheartening day. In attempt to enjoy "nature" with my family, I found that others have a different view of what "enjoy nature" means. With the intention of enjoying a little peace and quiet on the river's edge, we encountered trash, drunks, and well, people who only know "green" as a color, or perhaps associate it with "green with envy" and do not have any inclination towards environmentalism. I wondered as we walked by the trash if some folks really have no idea that throwing plastic bags, bottles, and cans negatively impact the environment or if they just don't care. Either way, it always sends me in a tailspin - what to do - do I spend the next hour picking up the trash that others left behind??? And honestly, sometimes I am afraid to pick up what's on the ground without one of those pincher sticks and a pair of gloves!

Then I came home and found a great tribute in an email to a company that is trying to do something good for the world. TOMS Shoes, based out of Los Angeles, aims to put a pair of shoes on as many needy children as possible in their "one to one" program, which basically means that the consumer, in effect, purchases two pairs of shoes - one for himself, and one for a needy child. The shoe styles are simple, as is the message, but the impact is profound. Also, they have a line of vegan shoes. Although I would hope that all their shoes would be vegan, at least it is a start. Perhaps you'll find yourself in a pair of TOMS this summer?

Another company with a similar great message is Sustainable Kids, which aims at teaching "responsible consumerism." They have their work cut out for them, for sure! I recently purchased a few items from them - my favorite being the "Eco Warrior" shirt for boys. Perhaps The Well-Rounded Child Green Things Boutique will carry their line in the future! Anyhow, they send you a small box to put things in for needy kids - toothbrushes and the like. The box already has postage on it, so there is no excuse NOT to help out!

Another company I root for is Kids Konserve, which sells waste-free lunch sacks and storage containers. We used ours for my son's entire kindergarten school year with much success! I love that I can send my son "left overs" from dinner the night before, as well as things like salad, pasta, soup - even sushi, and it all remains neatly packed in his little bag. When he comes home, I know exactly how much he has eaten because ALL of the containers come home - they are not thrown in the trash! He loves the stainless steel water bottle that comes with it, too, and the idea that each container has a little surprise in it at lunch time!

One of my most favorite companies is a local one - Green Toys, which is based out of San Francisco, CA. They produce ALL of their toys in the USA! I love them! In 2008 they one the Dr. Toy award, and I'm sure, are winning the hearts of many an eco-family with their 100% recycled plastic toys.

Recently, we attended a birthday party of a little girl, and of course, we shopped in The Well-Rounded Child's Green Things Boutique to find the perfect gift - Green Toys' 27 piece Cookware and Dining Set! The response from the 4-year old little girl was priceless: "Oh, I LOVE it! Now I have dishes for my kitchen." And the grandmother's response: "Will I be invited to tea?" It is an age-old gift, but with a new twist - NO BPAs, no phthalates, and no lead paint! How fabulous is that?!


Eco-consciousness is growing, fortunately, but still there is much work to be done to ensure our chidren - and their children - have a bright, clean future, and a river's edge to enjoy.

I'm SO Bored!

"I'm SO bored!" is something we often hear in our home during the summer months. I know some parents would be quick to sign up their child for a camp or class to curb the summer doldrums, but we have not. Why? Because from boredom, creativity often can be found. And in our house, indeed my son has found some creative outlets!

Recently, he has taken to creating his own "music appreciation" class. In the mornings after breakfast, he pushes the furniture back, turns on the CD player, and begins to dance. This is after he has created a costume to wear from his dress-up box that reflects the storyline of the music. All kinds of animals and characters have graced our family room floor--from a lion and a pirate, to a cowboy and a bunny. He is in his own world when he's dancing and singing; so much so that when I tried to sneak a peak at his performance, he closed the kitchen door and said he wanted to do it alone.

Another creative outlet he has had is designing contraptions with his father's tools. I found him in the garage the other day, deeply engaged with balancing a body board on a stool and a box, and intricately weaving together wrenches, pliers, and screwdrivers on the backside of the body board. If he removed one piece, the entire contraption would fall apart, so he figured out how to move pieces around without them all tumbling onto the ground.

I smile to myself each time I see him engaged in an activity of his own creation, as I know he is developing extremely important skills when he is in this creative mode - the ability to organize information and things, the ability to execute against a plan, and most importantly, the ability to take an abstract idea and make it into a concrete experience or object. These are skills he will need as a learner in all levels of school, as well as in the work-world.

Sometimes, I do offer a suggestion to spur an idea. For example, he asked me how to build a house of cards, so I showed him a couple of ways to make the cards balance together. After that, he created a large "city" of card houses underneath the dining room table, and what was not immediately apparent to me was that he had planned his city so that each "house" was close enough to the next one that it would fall over in a domino-like fashion when he pushed one of the houses over. It was fascinating watching him build and knock down his city over and over, each time making adjustments to the distance between each house.

As a parent who is concerned about the proverbial "summer slip," I do supplement his creative, ill-structured activities with focused practice and conceptual development in reading, writing, and mathematics. I also integrate history and science concepts into our activities, to be sure he is getting those core areas, too.

He writes in a journal at least 3 times a week, reads 3-5 books daily on his own (we're talking books that are at his independent reading level), and then we read 1-2 more books aloud to him, or a few chapters from a book. For mathematics, he mostly does conceptual activities with manipulatives, such as building his understanding of counting on, adding or subtracting 1 to a number, and comparing quantities to determine greater than/less than/equal to.

I let his interests guide our work, as I know this will ensure his eagerness to learn, but I also gently nudge him in areas he is reluctant. And when he protests, I find myself saying "anything worth doing is often difficult" and remind him that the point of learning new things often is exploration and practice, and understanding does not always come right away.

This is a constructivist approach to learning and teaching, which means that the child constructs his understanding of a concept or skill to make the meaning his own. And while I pepper some direct instruction where needed, overall, I am providing a foundation for my son where inquiry, problem-solving, and creative thinking are at the heart of his learning.

I know summer will pass quickly, as it always does, but I will be able to look back and reflect on the variety of learning experiences he has had and the paths he has taken to create his own understanding of the world, and know positively that he is well prepared to embark on a new year of learning and growing in elementary school.