What’s up with the obsession that kids have with sugar?  I mean, I know it tastes good and everything, but come on.

Okay, I admit it:  I could eat ice cream every day of the year, even throughout the winter — and keep in mind we live in Michigan — but I don’t.  And when I do, the kids are usually in bed already.  I do not actually live for the sole purpose of consuming sugar.  It would appear, however, that the small people in our house do.

Pretty much every night I can count on our oldest to ask, “What’s for dessert?” as he’s approaching the dinner table.  Not after he’s enjoyed my home cooked meal that’s rounded out with all of the appropriate fruits and vegetables and, of course, a glass of milk.  No, he makes his ever-so-important inquiry before his body ever even makes contact with his chair.  My new standard response to that annoying question:  “A box of rocks.”

What I don’t get is this:  I’m sure that as a child I often pondered what my mom might be serving for dessert, but I never would’ve even considered asking the question so presumptuously day after day.  So why do kids these days feel they have the right to ask (and to expect an answer they like)?  Where did I go wrong?

When we’re out in public and there are desserts, our kids can barely contain themselves.  They’ll take two or three treats, washed down with a cup of kool-aid–the bright red kind that leaves a mustache for the rest of the afternoon–at coffee hour after church, and watch out if you ever run across them at the buffet at the local Chinese restaurant.  You’ll have to duke it out with them to see who gets to the dessert bar first.

Our children know where I stand on the topic of sugar and desserts:  At home I only serve sugary cereals like Fruit Loops as a dessert.  I’d rather not offer dessert every night.  I prefer that they drink white milk or water when we’re at a restaurant (yes, I’m that kind of mom).  I serve kid-sized portions of dessert (actually of all foods).  I only sometimes allow them to take free lollipops at the doctor’s office or the bank.  I’d rather have them eat baked goods that I make instead of store-bought ones.

It’s not like I’m the mom that refuses to let them to eat sugar.  I love to bake and there are plenty of times that I make sweet treats.  If the kids didn’t already have so much candy, I would probably bake more but why make more sweets for them to eat when they’ve got enough candy to start their own store?  One of our pantry shelves has been taken over by all of the Halloween, Valentine’s Day, and Easter candy they have gotten.  Our youngest has eaten more sweets in his mere 19 months than our oldest probably ate in his first three years of life!

I’m sure all four kids just work as hard as they can to push my buttons.  I know that the more I react to them and the more I voice my opinion about the consequences of too much sugar, the more they’ll beg for it.  Will I ever learn to keep my mouth shut?

I’m curious to know what other kids are like.  Are yours as crazy about the sweet stuff as ours are?

Okay, so the last time I wrote about laundry, I insisted that it was better to do a load of laundry a day to keep up with it.  What was I thinking?!?  I did that for awhile, and it actually worked, but then somehow ever since last summer when the kids were home from school, I kept finding myself falling further and further behind in that load-a-day routine.  It’s amazing that the small people who live here can produce so many dirty clothes!  How does it happen?

Laundry Day

About a month ago I decided to devote a whole day to doing laundry.  I like to stay home on Mondays to get things done after our hectic weekends, so I decided to turn Monday into Laundry Day.  So far it’s been working, but on a day like today when I’m spending a lot of time on the computer, I seem to have 4 laundry baskets piled up, one on top of another, with clean clothes…all getting wrinkly as I type this.  I still think that, for now at least, having one laundry day works better for me.  Undoubtedly I’ll change my mind again…I always seem to do that.  What advice do you have for getting laundry done as painlessly as possible?

One of the rooms in our basement flooded last week after something like eight straight hours of hard rain.  I have no idea how to be friendly to our Earth while trying to dry out the basement.  I mean, how environmentally friendly can four fans and two dehumidifiers running simultaneously possibly be?  We have quite a set-up down there.  Who would’ve known that one of the most important uses of the kids’ furniture would be as props jammed under the soaking wet carpet to improve air circulation in the event of a flooded basement?  Short of ripping out all the carpet and padding I’m not sure what else to do; and I’m pretty sure that would be more environmentally unfriendly.  I bet carpet would sit in a landfill for quite a few years.  It’s taking awhile, but at least everything is getting drier little by little.  The main problem now is the gross smell in the basement.  The best way I can think of to describe it is a mix between a room full of wet dogs and a teenager’s stinky feet…only smellier.  If anyone has any advice about what I can use as an eco-friendly air freshener that is also super-duper powerful, I’d love to hear it!

Trying to Dry the Carpet

Forrest Gump told us that his Momma always said life was like a box of chocolates. That doesn’t mean you have to give them for a gift!

If you are tired of seeing the special children in your life get too much candy on Valentine’s Day, be sure to check out Kid Planet’s list of Five Great Valentine’s Day gifts.

Five Great Valentine’s Day Gifts

• Name Train  by Maple Landmark — These trains are made from New England rock maple.  Name Trains consists of an engine, NameTrain letter cars of your choice, and a caboose.

• Name Puzzle by Tag Toys — The large brightly colored letters can be removed for puzzle play, or they can be glued in to make a name plaque to personalize a child’s room.

• Tea Cups by Kata Golda  — These are stoneware tea cup in a soft white glaze, decorated with an illustration; holds 5 ounces.

• Stuffed Companions by Kata Golda (can be personalized) — These adorable hand-stitched companions made of wool felt; hair on girl and boy companions is wool. 12″ tall. Available plain or personalized.  This product ships free!

• Pocket (Tooth Fairy) Pillow – Heart by Kata Golda (can be personalized)  This is a wool felt pillow with a hand-stitched felt pocket. Available plain or personalized.

Stop by our store, kidplantetshop.com, where you can buy gifts that will last long after all of the cavities have been filled!  At checkout, enter the following coupon code, KPTENPERCENT, and receive 10 percent off everything in our store until February 29, 2012!

Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

My father was born in Hungary and immigrated to the US in 1947.  Growing up in New York during the 1960′s and ’70s my mother would prepared Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage every Christmas Eve.  It became a family tradition that both my family and my sister’s family continue today.

My recipe varies slightly from my mothers.  I used all beef instead of half beef and half pork and I also add tomatoes to give it more color and taste.  Hope you like it.
This recipe is for only 1# of ground beef (4 servings) Adjust to accommodate the number of guests.  I love having leftovers, so I rarely make less than a double portion.

1# lean ground beef
1 onion
1/2 cup raw long-grain rice
1/2 cup sour cream
Garlic- Salt- Pepper to taste
1 Large head of Cabbage (1 should be enough for double portion)
16oz can of sauerkraut (not drained)
16oz can of tomatoes pureed or sieved
1 bay leaf
Sour Cream
Rántás: Crisco, Flour, Garlic, Paprika

Part #1 Prep. (Recruit help to dice onions, mix meat or deal with the cabbage)

1: Combine beef, chopped onion, rice and 1/2 cup of sour cream, minced garlic, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl- Set aside

2: Tricky part: Core the cabbages under running water. It helps to plop them in boiling water and cook them slightly so they are easier to work with. The goal is to not cut yourself while coring and then remove about 12-15 leaves per cabbage. As large as possible.

3: Steam the cabbage leaves until limp (10mins?). Drain well.

4: Place about 3 or more tablespoons of filling in each leaf. Fold sides of leaf to center; roll- secure with wooden tooth picks if desired.

6: Shred some of the remaining cabbage

Part #2 Cook

1: Make the rántás: Use equal portions of Crisco and Flour. Melt crisco in a dutch oven. Add minced garlic and saute of a couple of minutes. Mix in flour over moderate heat. Don’t burn. Add paprika.

2: Add sauerkraut to bottom of dutch oven and shred cabbage: Add the prepared rolls.

3: Combine tomatoes with salt and pepper. Pour over the rolls. Add a bay leaf.

4: You can weigh the rolls down with a heavy plate if you like. Cover and bring to boil.

5: Reduce heat to low and cook for at least an hour until rice is cooked.

6: Serve with sour cream

No, the Grinch isn’t in town. He’s still hangin’ in Whoville.  Christmas is a little greener because Kid Planet has just opened a new online store just in time for the holidays!  Our shop has over 300 products for kids and we will be expanding throughout 2012.

In our shop, you’ll find a variety of children’s products that are educational, eco-friendly or just exceptional. You’ll also find that a majority of our products are made right here in the USA. As an American family, we believe it’s important to help keep our economy strong.

We’re also proud to say that none of the products on our site run on electricity or batteries.  We invite you to visit us and check out some of the great wooden toys, handcrafted stuffed companions, developmental toys, personalized items, baby & toddler shoes, luxury kids sleeping bags and some rare finds.

Our store is new, so please share the news with your friends!

www.kidplanetshop.com

Please let us know what you think.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

- Kid Planet- John, Susan, Jadon, Lila, Lucas, & Jesse

Our mission is to promote good health, quality education and environmental stewardship. Our online store offers smart product choices that will provide a brighter future for children and our planet.

I wrote the following essay 10 years ago, just one week after the 9/11 attacks.  I wanted to share it with you today on the 10th anniversary of this tragic event.

Heart of the American People

A Free World in Shock

One week has past since the attack on American soil.  The images of September 11th, 2001 are branded in our minds. No words do justice in describing the horror as it unfolded in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.  The deepest scars will belong to those who watched firsthand as the skies exploded over their heads and saw victims jump from the fires, hundreds of feet to their deaths.  And only minutes later, they witnessed the mammoth skyscrapers crumble into dust, blinding and choking those who ran for cover.  The victims’ loved ones whose lives have been destroyed will endure the most difficult road, yet all of us will bear marks from this day.

Manhattan Skyline: 1980s Twin Towers and the Empire State Building

As America and the world looked on in shock, myriad emotions took hold of our very souls.  Shock, confusion, despair, fear, sorrow, and anger engulfed us as we watched our buildings collapse and thousands of lives extinguished before our eyes.  Hope, pride and resolve, came in the aftermath as the country pulled together as never as never before in my lifetime.

I was only one of millions of Americans that shed tears this past week.  Tears from our country’s leaders, reporters, doctors, and rescuers were common images.  New York fire fighters lost more men in those horrifying minutes of September 11th than in the last 135 years combined.  The images and tears from our bravest men are almost too much to bear.  All Americans feel the pain of the “hooded men” as they continued to work to save lives.

The Great Towers

The World Trade Center in New York was more than tall buildings.  People from 22 countries had offices in them.  Situated within walking distance from Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange, the towers represented international commerce for the entire free world.  The two structures accounted for 20% of the office space in lower Manhattan.  More importantly, they represented our economic system.

Tens of thousands worked or visited the World Trade Center each day.  Built in the early 70′s, the twin towers were a marvel to embrace.  When erected, they were the tallest buildings in the world.  People from around the globe would come and crane their necks to look up upon the towers in awe.  I did on several occasions.

Susan poses on top of the South Tower of the World Trade Center in NY- John Urogdy 1999

My last visit was on December 30th, 1999.  The elevator ride alone was an experience, as my wife and I rose to the top at an incredible speed.  I stood on the observation deck of  Tower II and looked upon the city of New York.  The experience was incredible.  I looked toward uptown Manhattan and photographed the Empire State Building, lit up in the distance.  It looked so small that evening, yet today the Empire State Building is once again the tallest building in New York.  To the South, the Statue of Liberty stood as proud as ever.  And she still stands proudly today, overlooking the “hot coals” that burn in the streets of New York.

The towers were a marvel from the bottom looking up and from the top looking down.  They were also inspiring from the air.  Here is a photo I shot from a plane in the 1980′s while traveling to my home on Long Island.

Twin Towers photographed from an airplane in the 1980s- John Urogdy

America on its Knees

Building can be replaced.  Symbols of freedom and the American spirit will reemerge stronger than ever.  But it’s the human tragedy that overshadows the loss of man-made structures that breaks our hearts.  The families posting photographs of loved ones lost in the disaster, each hoping for a miracle, brings tears to our eyes.  For most of us, we knew that few, if any, of the missing people would ever be found alive.  And for some families, bodies were never recovered.

The terrorists have brought our nation to its knees.  But we have not been on our knees in submission to our attackers. Nor do we kneel in fear.  We have been on our knees in prayer for the victims and their families and for all of the goodness in our world.

As we rise back up, we stand straight and tall with our heads held high and look at our enemies in the face as they cower in their hiding places.  These cowards have sorely underestimated the heart and soul of America.  What they have hoped to destroy, they have made more powerful.  The American ideals, which they wish to shatter, have never been stronger or more alive.  The American people have never been more passionate about our colors.  Flags across the nation sold out in every store, but you only have to look outside your window to find every one of them proudly displayed.

The Heart of the American People

The rescue workers risking their lives to search for friends and strangers fill us with pride.  The outpouring of support from across the country and around the globe gives us hope, uniting and inspiring us.  Our leaders bring us confidence.

We take the time now to mourn our dead, console the grieving, and rebuild our cities.  But soon our focus will be on eradicating evil this earth.  Our heroes–the stock brokers, office workers, firefighters, policemen, government employees, pilots, and countless other innocent victims–have not lost their lives in vain.  They have given their lives for their country in an act of war.  Terrorism has awoken the Giant.  And the Giant is “The Heart of the American People”.

-John Urogdy  9-18-01

For those of you who are interested, I’ve copied pieces from the writings of Nostradamus.  I personally found them chilling.

Century 8, Quatrain 81

The sly King will understand his ambushes,
From three fronts the enemies assail,
A strange number, tears from the hooded men,
The brilliance of the translator will come to fail

Century 5, Quatrain 59

Suddenly arrived, the terror will be great,
The principal players in the affair are hidden away:
And the lady in the hot coals will no longer be in sight,
Thus little by little will the great ones be angered

Century 8, Quatrain 59

Two times put high, two times put low,
The east also the West will weaken
Its adversary after several battles,
Driven out by sea will fail at the time of need

Century 1, Quatrain 87

Earth-shaking fire from the center of earth.
Will cause the towers of the New City to shake,
Two great rocks for a long time will make war,
And then Arethusa will color a new river red.

I grew up on Long Island.  For 18 years, I devoured a lot of New York Deli Potato Salad.  When I left for college and ventured across the country to  San Francisco, I had no idea that the only chance to taste NY Potato Salad again was to travel back to Long Island and visit my parents. That wasn’t going to be often enough to get my NY Potato Salad fix.

I set out upon a course to prepare this delicacy myself.  It took quite a bit of time, but between reviewing many recipes and testing and tasting, I’ve perfected my recipe.

Trust me, this potato salad is nothing like that nasty store bought potato salad laced with eggs, mustard and low-end ingredients.  This is New York Deli-Style Potato Salad created by a Long Islander for food lovers everywhere.

The Spuds:   5 pounds of boiled  red potatoes

Place the potatoes in a big pot of water.  Turn up the heat to high!

Cook them to perfection in boiling water.  Don’t over cook (they will be too mushy).  Don’t Under Cook. (Raw potatoes just don’t taste great).   Haha !  I can’t give you an exact time but start checking  after 20 minutes.  You just need to use your fork and your cooking instincts.  (It’s okay to pull one out and slice it in half to check.

Peeling:  You can peel them before boiling but it’s easier to pull off the skins after cooking.  Tip : Let them cool, first!

After cooking, drain well and let them cool down.  After a spell,  chill in the fridge until they are cold.

During the cooling off period  grate ½ cup of carrots and  ¼ cup of minced curly parsley (fresh!!!)

Take the cool potatoes and slice them thin.  (About a quarter of an inch or so)

Place sliced potatoes in a giant mixing bowl and add the following ingredients.

1 Cup of Hellman’s Mayo  (I use Hellman’s Light)
¼ cup white vinegar
¼ cup sugar
1 tbsp kosher salt  (Salt is tricky… add to taste starting with half )

Add the carrots and parley too.     Gently mix it up with a big ‘ole spoon.  Adjust to taste.

Chill… eat it within 3 days.

You’ve brought your precious bundle home from the hospital, but now what do you do?  How do you get her to go to sleep at a reasonable hour?  When do you give naps?  To swaddle or not to swaddle:  that is the question.  Below are the 10 essential tips every parent needs to know so that the entire family is well rested.

1.  Bigger is better!

At bedtime, put him in a diaper that’s one size bigger than he normally wears.  This way, he shouldn’t soak through his diaper or pajamas.  The last thing you want is to have your baby wake you up at 3:00 a.m. because he needs a diaper change.  It’s also no fun to have to change wet sheets every morning because your little one has peed through everything!

2.  More is less!

At bedtime, slather on some type of ointment on his bottom, like Desitin.  If he is in a wet or messy diaper all night, the more ointment he has on the better protected against wetness and the less likely he will be to get a rash.  I think you should only change a baby’s diaper at night for the first month or so and then expect him to keep the same one on all night.  If you are breastfeeding, you need to check for output the first few weeks of your baby’s life.  The only reason I continued to change my little one’s diapers for a few weeks longer was to wake him up because he’d fall asleep while nursing.

3.  Swaddle, don’t coddle!

Two weeks of age seems to be about the time when newborns decide they don’t want to sleep so much.  When you first bring them home from the hospital, they sleep so much it’s crazy.  But by two weeks of age, if they’re like my kids, it’s like a light switch is flipped on and all of a sudden babies tend to cry when you try to lay them down or they’ll fall asleep while you’re feeding them but five minutes after you lay them down they wake up crying.  At this point, instead of trying to coddle your newborn and do everything possible to lull him to sleep, try swaddling him if you haven’t started already!  I started swaddling my youngest baby at probably about a week.  He’s now almost six months and I’m just now weaning him from being swaddled. With three other kids to give attention to, getting him to sleep for long periods of time has been a key part of my sanity!  And it’s all due to swaddling.

On a side note, when you’re ready to wean your little one from being swaddled, try taking only one hand out first and see how she does with that.  If she fusses and doesn’t sleep, re-swaddle and try taking an arm out again a week or two later.  If she responds well, after a few days with one arm out, take out the other arm.  This is a perfect time to transition her to a sleep sack which will keep her warm and snuggly while she’s sleeping.

Halo Swaddle Sleep Sack

4.  Two is the magic number!

Do your best to lay your little one down for a nap within two hours of the time he woke up.  My baby is usually ready for a nap after about an hour and a half of being awake.  You may be hesitant about getting your baby ready for a nap so soon after waking up, but it truly is for the best.  The one time I don’t follow this guideline is after the afternoon nap.  There’s so much going on with getting kids from the bus stop, getting dinner ready, homework, and all the other craziness of family life at that time of day that it would be too loud and chaotic for the baby to be able to sleep.  So he’s awake for more like three or four hours before he finally goes to bed at night. 

5.  Don’t sweat the noise!

Whatever you do, don’t tiptoe around the house when Baby is sleeping, especially during the day.  I’m a little more careful about noise at night, but during the day, when the 3 older kids are awake and playing (sometimes) or arguing (often), there’s really nothing I can do to keep them quiet, so from the day I brought our youngest child home from the hospital, I  have more often than not laid the baby down for a nap in the midst of our everyday chaos.

6.  Here’s the buzz!

While I do not sweat over the normal din of an active household, I have played both a radio and a white noise machine for all of our kids when they were babies.  These appliances are valuable for two important reasons.  First of all, if you play a some background music or white noise, it can serve as a cue that it’s time to sleep.  I only turn the white noise on at nap or bed time, so the kids have always known that it signals the beginning of quiet sleeping time.  Secondly, any noise you have in the room where your baby is sleeping can help drown out any noise in the house that you don’t want to startle your baby with.  If you are anything like me, you know theoretically that your family doesn’t have to whisper while your baby is sleeping.  Believe me, though, when you have three squabbling siblings who choose to rev up the noise level at nap time, knowing there’s some white noise in the baby’s room to muffle some of that undesirable noise can lower your blood pressure level quite a bit!

Sound Sleeper by Dex Baby Products

7.  Routine!

Everyone knows that babies and children thrive on routine.  I firmly believe that it’s more important to have a routine established so that everyone in the house knows the order of events and the way the day will unfold than to have a schedule that is based on the clock.  Working around a clock can be hard to do with just one baby, but it’s impossible with 4 young children!

If you follow this order of events, your baby should be able to go to sleep on his own when you lay him down awake in his crib:  feed/wake/sleep.  When you build your day around this cycle, and remember that the magic number is 2, you’ll be good to go!  I got trapped into a bad habit of nursing my youngest baby to sleep for naps for the first 3 or 4 months.  With the craziness of the activities and schedules of my other three kids, the baby just got pushed the the side, so to speak.  I didn’t really try to make any kind of routine or schedule for him.

So I tried feeding him as soon as he woke up and then getting him ready for a nap within 2 hours of when he woke up.  (Yep, that 2-hour time frame is definitely KEY!) And when I laid him down in his crib, sure enough, more often than not, he goes to sleep even though I put him in his crib awake!  It’s totally cool!  Now that I use the order of feed/wake/sleep, my 6-month-old has a great daily routine.  He takes two naps a day, typically anywhere from two to three hours long, and sometimes snoozes in his swing in the early evening when I am busy getting the other kids ready for bed first.

8.  Baby’s Great Expectations!

We already know that establishing a reliable order of events to create a comfortable daily routine is key.  But what about bedtime?  It’s a great idea to have a set list of activities you do with your baby before he goes to sleep so that he has a clear signal that it’s bedtime and knows what to expect each night.  I put the baby to bed after his older siblings are in bed.  That way it’s a little quieter and calmer when I’m getting him ready to go to sleep.  When he was just about a month old, I created a bedtime routine that I have only altered slightly 5 months later.  My youngest has a bath, gets in his pjs and sleep sack, with the lights dimmed he snuggles up with lovey while I read a book (“Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown is one of my very favorites!), and then I turn on some white noise and I nurse him before putting him in his crib.  I actually use a modified version of this routine at both nap times also.  There are no dim lights, bath, or pjs, but he’s still in his sleep sack, we read a book, and then I turn on the white noise before I leave the room.

9.  Nap time is your time!

Be firm about requiring your children to have nap time every day (with exceptions for special occasions, of course).  As they get older and don’t actually need to sleep, require them to have quiet time in their rooms so that they still have some much-needed downtime and so that you get some of that downtime also!  Our older kids have quiet time for the two-or-so hours that the younger ones sleep in the afternoon.  My philosophy about this block of time is that as long as no one is getting hurt and nothing is being destroyed, it doesn’t really matter to me what the kids are doing in their rooms during quiet time.  They can read, sing, play, or sleep.

10.  Bend but don’t break!

Perhaps the best advice I can pass on to you is “be flexible”!  The great thing about routine is that if one is firmly established, when you have to stray from it a bit or your timing is way off and you just can’t work with the magic number, your baby will be able to adapt to variations better than you think.  Don’t underestimate his ability to go with the flow!

If you follow these suggestions, you will have a baby that actually sleeps, well…like a baby!  Don’t be fooled, however, into thinking that she’ll sleep perfectly for you every time.  At any time, a variety of factors could get in the way of her sleeping peacefully:  a growth spurt, illness, and teething are just a few.  Put on a happy face and do your best to stay positive; know that even though you may have a rough day here and there, things will get better because you have your routine to fall back on!  And be sure to plan to do some fun things for you at the times you know she’ll be sleeping!  Even after four kids, I still haven’t quite figured out how to do that, but at least the kids sleep!

Please share any tried-and-true tips you have for getting your baby to sleep!

Happy Earth Day!  Today there will be all kinds of activities and events going on in communities everywhere to honor our planet.  Here on Kid Planet, every day is Earth Day, as our family strives to minimize the impact we have on our Earth.  Below are some simple ways that you can alter your lifestyle, and none of them cost any (extra) money!

1.  As soon as your children are tall enough to reach the light switches, teach them to turn off the light when they leave a room.  You might even want to assign one child to be the lights monitor, as a household chore, and have him/her go around the house to make sure unused lights are off.

Turn off the lights!

2.  Buy a set of small re-usable containers with lids and buy food in “bulk” to put in your kids’ school lunches instead buying of prepackaged individual servings.  Now, when I say “bulk” here, I don’t mean that you have to join a food co-op or buy your food at Sam’s Club, although it’s fine if you do.  Just go to your regular grocery store and buy the big jar of applesauce and the big 32 oz container of yogurt.  Scoop out enough to fill one of those small re-usable containers, and presto!  You’ve got an individual serving for perfect for a school lunch!  P.S. I know you’re wondering how this can be considered “free” since I suggested you buy some containers.  The few dollars you spend on them will quickly be canceled out by buying the bigger quantities of food to put in those containers instead of the more expensive individually packaged servings.

3.  If you still find yourself buying the little containers of yogurt sometimes, teach your child to bring them home instead of throwing them out in the lunch room if you can recycle that type of plastic.

4.  Stop using those plastic baggies in your kids’ school lunches.  Instead, use the small re-usable containers I mentioned earlier.

5.  If you do get plastic shopping bags, be sure to recycle them.  Many stores, such as Kohl’s and Walmart, have big bins set up in their stores where you can recycle those bags.

6.  Have your kids help with the recycling on a daily basis in your house.  Our 6-year-old loves to play “Recycling Man” and willingly helps with garbage and recycling!

Teach your kids to recycle

7.  Check periodically with your community’s recycling program to find out what items you can recycle.  A few years ago, our township started accepting plastic containers #1-#7, not just the standard #1 and #2.  Then a few months ago, they started accepting Styrofoam!  This was not publicized, however, so I called the recycling company when I heard about it to make sure I had the correct information.  Make sure you stay in touch with your local recycling company.

8.  Recycle your basics.  In this day and age, just about every community is set up to recycle paper, glass and metal.  Even if you can’t recycle other stuff like Styrofoam or various plastics, you should be able to recycle the basics.

9.  Take your own bags to ANY store when you go shopping, not just to the grocery store.  Get into the habit of keeping them in the car so that you always have them when you are out running errands.

10.  Turn off the water when you aren’t actually using it!  One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone lets water run constantly while washing dishes.  It seems to be a thing of the past to  plug up the kitchen sink, fill it with water and a squirt of dish soap, and wash the dishes.  These days people seem much more likely to use one of those scrubbers that you fill with dishwashing liquid to wash dishes under running water!  Not only are they wasting dozens of gallons of water, they are using much more soap than is necessary.  If you absolutely refuse to fill up the sink to wash your dishes, here are two suggestions:  1) Wash a big bowl/pot that you’ve gotten dirty first.  As you’re washing it, fill it with water and use that water to wash your other dishes or 2) After getting the dish you’re washing wet, turn off the water while you scrub it and then turn it back on to rinse off the soap.  And, for Pete’s sake, turn off the water when you brush your teeth and wash your hands, and teach your kids to do the same thing!

Save water, save the planet!

If, upon reading these tips, you discover that you have already made these alterations in your life, good for you!  Let this post serve as a reminder that you are on the right track.  You are making a conscious effort to live a greener life.  Please share with our readers what steps you and your family have taken to go green!