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Reduce Reuse Recycle For Kids

I have the good fortune to have parents who were “environmentally aware” long before it was popular.

Words like eco-friendly, environmentally friendly and eco-tourism weren’t in our vocabulary when I was small. The choices that were made were simply the way my family did things.
Always avid readers and DIY types, our kitchen table held Harrowsmith magazines, Foxfire books, and newsletters from various back-to-the-land type groups.

Looking back, I realize there were many things  my parents did consciously or otherwise that encouraged us to be environmentally friendly – most of which involved some aspect of reduce, reuse, recycle.  Here are some suggestions to encourage your kids to be more aware of their environment.

Reduce Reuse Recycle For Kids

In our recent quest to enjoy the health benefits of drinking more water, the world has been using and throwing away millions of plastic water bottles. Our landfill sites are full of them.  Bottled water is a great example of a place to start teaching your kids about reduce, reuse and recycle.

  • Reduce the amount of bottled water you buy.
  • Rinse out and reuse the bottles.
  • Be sure to recycle them or repurpose them (here are some water bottle crafts to try at home) when you are  finished with them.
  • Don’t buy them at all!  Instead, choose a water bottle for each child (bright coloured stainless steel ones work well) and fill them up before school and sports practices or outings.
  • Remind your kids that each time they use their refillable water bottle they are saving a plastic water bottle from cluttering up the environment.

Recycling Games For Kids

As soon as children are old enough to learn to sort their toys and put them away in their proper place, they are old enough to start learning how to sort household waste. The whole idea of reduce reuse recycle for kids is a lot more fun when presented as a game.

A Weekly Garbage Goal Challenge

Try using a black or brown garbage bin for garbage, a green bin for compostable items, and a blue bin for recycling. The colour coding makes it even easier and fun to learn….for pre-schoolers, anyways.  Try to set a goal to minimize the amount of refuse that is garbage – when my older children were small we began by trying to produce just one full garbage bag a week. Once that was accomplished, we tried for just one grocery bag full.  We then tried for just one ice-cream container full….sadly we never could quite make it, but I felt the lesson was learned as the exercise made them a lot more aware of the excessive packaging of so many grocery items.
January 2014 update: Today our family has grown (again) and we now live off the grid near Yellowknife, NWT in northern Canada. I’m happy to say our garbage production has been drastically reduced – it’s a real pain to cart garbage out of here to the dump. Watch for my upcoming post on the tricks we use to minimize our household garbage production.

Reward Your Children’s Recycling Initiative

A quick and easy recycling game for older children is simply a competition to see who can identify the most ways to reduce a household item. Some examples are ice cream cartons, pop containers, and milk jugs.  Set a time limit and allow the winner to choose the after school snack, family movie or dessert.

Recycling Facts for Kids

Every day there is at least one story in the news regarding the state of the environment.  Discuss these stories with your children. Depending on the school system your children attend, they may be covering various green and environmental topics at school, and if you homeschool, make it a unit study.

There are some fabulous websites full of recycling facts for kids that are a wonderful resource for green family activities and school projects. Two of our kids had assignments on reducing their carbon footprints while still in elementary school.  Number Four was a member of the Environmental Club at his high school, and took part in various community projects with a “green” focus.  Have teenagers? Grab their attention with a movie based on potential environmental fiascos. This is a great way to encourage your teenager to become more environmentally aware….and ultimately more environmentally friendly.

We’d love to hear from you. What’s your best tip to encourage kids to reduce, reuse, and recycle? Let us know in the comments below.

Becoming a Midwife: Do You Have the Required Skills?

Are you interested in becoming a midwife?

Midwifery is a growing career across the world. As more women choose a midwife to assist them throughout their pregnancies, childbirth, and post-partum days, the demand for certified midwives and nurse-midwives  is growing.

Some women are drawn to a career in midwifery as an extension of their nursing degrees or jobs. Others come to the profession without prior medical education. If you are interested in becoming a midwife, there are many courses leading to degrees and designations in midwifery. However the most important skills may not be taught in a textbook or through online courses. Communication, empathy with patients, quick decision-making skills, and organization are essential skills for a successful midwifery practice.

Communication Skills

Women who are pregnant often experience hormonal shifts that lead to enormous mood swings. The combination of hormones, morning sickness, and pregnancy brain (the term often used to describe forgetfulness during pregnancy) can make it difficult to focus on new information.

 

First time mothers and fathers have many questions regarding the medical aspects of what they are experiencing. The ability to answer sometimes difficult questions and explain complicated medical procedures in a clear manner is important.

One of the things midwives are commended for repeatedly by their patients is their willingness to ensure pregnant mothers understand what their bodies are going through.

A midwife must be skilled in assessing the best terminology and manner in which to share information with her patients.

Women of various backgrounds, education levels, and nationalities seek out midwives to birth their babies. Being able to communicate quickly and clearly with patients is an important skill to work on when becoming a midwife.

Empathy Skills

While communication skills are essential to sharing and teaching patients, a midwife must also be empathetic. One of the common complaints made about obstetricians, gynecologists, and other medical professionals are that they lack a good “bedside manner.” This refers to the soft skill of empathy, a crucial skill for anyone interested in becoming a midwife.

You may have mastered the formal training for midwifery, but if you lack empathy for your patient they will know it.

Empathy is “the identification with and understanding of another’s situation, feelings, and motives,” according to The Freeweb Dictionary. People who display empathy are often described as warm, loving, friendly, and/or maternal.

Pregnancy can be a time of anxiety, fragility, and nervousness for new parents, and a midwife’s empathy can go a long way to calming a nervous mother-to-be, especially one who is in labor.

Decision Making Skills

A midwife may be the primary caregiver in a woman’s pregnancy. While everyone hopes for a low-risk, uncomplicated pregnancy and labor requiring little or no intervention, that is not always the case.

Midwives are fully accountable for the well-being of their patients (big and little!), and must be prepared to make important, and sometimes, quick decisions on behalf of others.  Typical decisions may include:

    • referring to a specialist during pregnancy for a pre-existing or new condition affecting the health of the mother and baby
    • a fast decision during labor to move from home to hospital
    • when to call an ambulance

A midwife must be confident in her ability to exercise quick decision-making skills based on her medical training and the situation at hand.

Organizational Skills

A midwife’s day can be long and unpredictable. Many midwives in North America operate in private practices, so in addition to seeing their patients and maintaining detailed records of visits, patient histories, and birth plans, midwives are responsible for the business aspect of their practices.

Some midwives work in collectives or with other types of birth attendants such as doulas or registered nurses. In Canada and the United States midwives’ salaries as employees are comparable to nurse-practitioners, while private practice midwives have a wide range of incomes.

Being able to juggle daily appointments,  record-keeping, staying up-to-date with continuing education requirements, running a business, and above all, being on-call 24 hours a day for patients means midwives require great time-management skills.

Babies arrive all hours of the day or night, so always being prepared to attend a birth, and re-organize a day’s schedule is an essential skill of a midwife. Some of the continuing education and professional training for midwives include workshops on time management, record-keeping, and business organization skills.

Resources: Becoming a Midwife?

Canadian Association of Midwives

Midwifery Education Programs in Canada

International Conference of Midwives

Midwives Alliance of North America

American College of Nurse-Midwives

Other articles you may like:

What is a Doula?

50 Herbal and Home Remedies: Morning Sickness

Natural and Herbal Remedies for Diaper Rash

Natural and Herbal Teething Remedies
Weekend Bloggy Reading

Raising Green Kids

As you may have learned the hard way, kids watch everything we do and want to be just like us….. at least until they are teenagers. Keep that in mind as you make environmentally-friendly choices. Here is a short list of some things you can do to help raise environmentally-aware kids.

  • walk or ride your bike instead of using the car for errands
  • choose a fuel efficient or hybrid vehicle
  • pack reusable lunch bags/boxes, containers, and water/juice bottles
  • don’t let the water run when you brush your teeth
  • use cloth grocery bags
  • use cloth towels and dishtowels instead of paper towels when possible
  • buy in bulk and bring your own containers – (less packaging)
  • if you have a baby, use cloth diapers

Winter hiking is a great family activity.

Head to the Dump!

That’s right, the local landfill site. Or, as it used to be called, the dump. Nothing will drive home the point of reduce, re-use, recycle to your older kids as much as a day trip to a nice smelly dump. Keep the trip between just half an hour to one hour, and try to choose a hot, humid, day, to get the full effect. If possible, head straight to a hiking trail, creek, or other lovely natural wooded spot for a picnic or a hike afterwards. Teens and tweens may grumble and complain, but they will remember the sights and smells of both…..

Outdoor Activities for Kids

In my youth television (and MTV specifically) was to blame for keeping kids indoors. Today it is xBox, Playstation, computers, etc. One of the best ways to engage your children in the pursuit of environmentally friendly behaviors is to show them the beauty in nature. Try the following:

  • Go for a walk along a walking trail, hiking trail, beach, or in a wooded area (remember to keep safety in mind). Whether they are in a stroller or a backpack, on a bike or on a skateboard, get your kids outside. While you may not see many outward signs of their appreciation for clean air, trees, birds, and squirrels, it is all making an impression. Being aware of what we are trying to preserve and protect is the first step to promoting environmentally-friendly choices in kids.
  • Hiking with kids: Nature walks were a family requirement for my dad when he was growing up, and he carried on the tradition with me. I do the same with my children. These are more structured than the walks mentioned above, as there is a specific goal stated. The easiest way to get started is on a marked hiking trail. Check your local conservation areas, provincial parks, or state parks for maps with short trails. They will have signs along the way to point you in the right direction and to point out interesting flora, fauna, wildlife, and sometimes even local history.
  • Community sponsored cleanups are becoming more and more common, and a great way for the entire family to contribute to the care of the local environment. Check your city or town website or local papers. Often held in the spring, volunteers are always needed to clean up public greenspaces, creeks (remember the safety issue), and parks. If you have teens who require community service hours for high school, they may be able to get them here.

Plan a Family Camping Trip

Best introduced once everyone is out of diapers and prior to potential teenage attitude issues (but where will I plug in my flat-iron?) tent camping is a truly wonderful way to introduce children to our beautiful natural environment.  As long as the weather is cooperating, and sometimes even when it isn’t, camping can be a crash-course in getting to know the outdoors. I have been tenting for over thirty-five years as both a child and a parent, and have camped all over Ontario. Some of the activities we have enjoyed while camping include canoeing, hiking and nature walks, fishing, swimming, visiting interpretive and nature information centres, and learning to live without so many of the conveniences that we take for granted.

 

Maple Syrup Festivals

Late winter and early spring is maple time in Canada and the northern United States, and this means it is time for maple sugar, maple butter, and maple syrup festivals. From mid-February through April, the sap is running, trees are tapped, and maple syrup festivals abound. Canada produces 85% of the world’s maple syrup, much of it in Quebec. The Northern States, particularly Vermont, also export premium grade maple syrup to the rest of the world. The syrup that is produced from varieties of maple trees has been used for hundreds of years as a sweetener and for flavouring in cooking and baking. Most of us know maple syrup best as a topping for pancakes, waffles, and ice cream. Maple sugar candy, maple butter, maple toffee, maple fudge and maple butter are also beloved treats. As the cost of producing cane sugar has dropped during the past two hundred years, the labour-intensive maple syrup and maple-sugar industry has kept the costs higher. For many people, organic pure maple syrup is too expensive to have on a daily basis and is enjoyed as an occasional special treat.

Dress Warmly When Spending the Day Outdoors at a Maple Festival!

Maple syrup festivals have evolved from the “sugaring-off parties” of pioneer days.  For families who want to escape the winter blahs and enjoy a day trip, there are many maple festivals held within a short drive of major cities and urban areas.  A maple syrup festival  is a great way to enjoy the outdoors as a family, teach children about an important resource, and remind us of the history of maple syrup in our country.

Laura Ingalls Wilder’s first book in the Little House on the Prairie series, Little House in the Big Woods, describes in detail the procedures surrounding Sugaring Off time at her grandparents’ home in the woods of Wisconsin. For several weeks at the end of winter, families and communities would pool their tools, labour, and other resources to tap maple trees and obtain the sap that would be boiled down to maple syrup. This social event was  time for women to admire new babies, share new recipes, knitting, sewing and quilting pattern, and exchange news as well as make maple syrup, maple fudge, and maple sugar. The end of maple syrup season culminated in a Sugaring Off Party, which meant lots of food, music, dancing, games, and of course, maple syrup!

Maple Syrup Festivals Near You

Here are a few resources listing maple festivities and sugaring-off events across North America.  Please feel free to add a link in the comments section if you know of a great maple festival near you.

Maple Syrup Festivals In Canada

Maple Syrup Festivals In the United States

Ontario Maple Syrup Festivals

 

Common Activities at Maple Festivals

Maple festivals are not just about maple syrup, but also a celebration of the end of winter and beginning of spring.  Plan to spend the entire day and enjoy the activities offered. They often include:

  • horse drawn hay rides or tractor and wagon rides
  • face painting for kids
  • historic exhibits of the tools used to tap the maple trees, collect the sap, boil it down, process and bottle it
  • pioneer life experiences such as spinning, churning butter, dipping candles, making maple syrup as the Native Americans and pioneers did, and making maple sugar and maple candy.
  • all day pancake breakfast with lots of maple syrup
  • maple sugar treats

Don’t Forget the Following:

  • Dress in layers and wear sturdy walking boots or shoes. February, March and April can have weather that swings wildly from sunny and warm to blizzard-like and frigid temperatures.
  • If you are bringing babies or toddlers, use a carrier or a jogging stroller for rough terrain. Many maple festivals are held in the woods in conservation areas or public parks, and do not have paved walking trails.
  • Bring Wet Ones or diaper wipes to clean up after tasting that sticky maple syrup or maple sugar.
  • Bring some cash to buy fresh pure organic maple syrup  and maple sugar gifts on site!
  • Remember a digital camera or smartphone to capture pictures of your little ones (and big ones) pouring maple syrup on the snow to make sticky treats, or digging into a big plate of flapjacks with syrup.

If you have school-aged children or are homeschooling your kids,  do a little preparation prior to your outing with these free printable activity sheets on Maple Syrup.

Maple Crossword Puzzle & Solution

Maple Leaves Activity Sheet

Maple Tree Food Chain Activity Sheet

 

And remember – you are not just taking your kids out on a fun daytrip, you are making family memories.