Coast 2 Coast Mom

Would My Grandmothers Mind Being Called This Color?

This post is inspired by the latest SVMoms book club choice, Green Guide Families: The Complete Reference for Eco-friendly Parents. I received a copy of the book as part of my participation in the book club.

I learned of a concept for the first time last week, in the run up to Earth Day on April 22nd, that within the eco-friendly green movement, there are actually "shades" of green. I heard that 65% of people fall under the shade "light green." These people have made some earth-friendly changes to their lifestyle, perhaps commuting or taking publictransportation and recycling some of their paper, glass, plastic and aluminum products, but haven't changed eveything in their life to live completely "dark green" by living their entire lives in the most earth-friendly ways they can possibly imagine. 

It made me think about how so much of the green movement is really a throwback to the lifestyle from a half century ago, and how my grandmothers' generation must be getting such a kick out of it - as a return to the life they knew in their younger years, and for the most part, never really left behind. When I visit my grandmothers, they've always done more with less, and by comparison of consuming less, seemingly accomplished more. They've continued their gardens and sewing on buttons and cooking from scratch. They're today's hipsters without trying to be.

Learning Values That Define A Lifetime From the Olympics

Watching the 2010 Winter Olympic closing ceremonies last night amid all of the pomp and circumstance, it seemed to me that the crowd and the athletes were walking a little lighter and smiling a bit wider. It was as though the entire stadium took a collective deep breath and began to relax, celebrate being there, and truly soak up the history, spirit and honor that is the Olympic games.

As we watched in awe of the young men and women athletes making their marks on the world stages of their sports, I couldn't help but notice how many teachable moments occured while watching the Olympics and I wondered what the future holds for Li'l Boo. Where will his athletic interests and strengths lie? Will he take to hockey? Or skiing?

Let's Move: Parents Take Action Against Childhood Obesity

Recently the Silicon Valley Moms Group contributors were invited to participate on a call with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to discuss some of the new initiatives being put forth to improve the school lunch programs from a federal level.  This call took place in support of Michelle Obama's Let's Move initiative launch today. I was bummed to have missed the call (don't worry - I wasn't TOO bummed, being at Disney World afterall! ;-) )

I had access to the notes of some of the other SVMoms participants and have been reading their posts from the call this morning, and wanted to chime in myself as my perspective hasn't been reflected. The purpose of the call was to educate moms on the current state of school lunches and discuss reauthorizing the Childhood Nutrition Act and increasing school funding for more fresh fruits and vegetables in school lunches. (Which is a TOTAL no-brainer for most moms.) I learned that the U.S. provides lunches to 30 million children a year, and serves breakfast to around 10 million, making school lunches a critical component in the Let's Move initiative to combat childhood obesity. 

Check Out Headphonies for Haiti: A Donation with Each Purchase

Now that holiday gift-giving is behind us, many of us are looking for ways to customize their techno gifts (such as iPhones, Droids, gaming devices and the like) with personalized cases, coverings or other accessories. One speaker accessory that I saw and liked the looks of at CES was the Mobi headphonie.

I haven't tried them out myself yet (soon), so this isn't a review or endorsement, but I just learned about the headphonies for Haiti fundraising campaign and this DOES endear them to me. If I'm going to purchase something, I like that the company is supporting a cause that I care about.  Announced earlier today, Mobi will donate $1 from the purchase of each headphonie sold on www.headphonies.com from January 18th - February 28th, 2010 to the American Red Cross International Response Fund.

These Headphonies won an Innovations Award from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) at CES last week and drew quite a crowd at their booth. (Yeah, these small speakers were a BIG deal.)

Why I'm Speaking for Kids Now

I haven't paused to add up all of the healthcare costs that we've incurred on behalf of Li'l Boo, but I guess that had we paid out-of-pocket, we'd be broke or deep in debt. Li'l Boo was born with a soft cleft palate and required special bottles for feeding, major surgery to repair it, multiple doctor appointments and various specialist evaluations  - and he only had a mild case! (If I didn't tell you about his cleft, you would never have guessed - he's normal weight and has been talking since five months old!) No one could tell he had a physical deformity from just looking at him or listening to him. We've been fortunate in that we've had health insurance coverage for Li'l Boo, though we've still paid out a lot of $$ in fees insurance didn't cover, co-pays, etc.

Why we aren't all born with healthcare as an inalienable right is beyond me. I shudder to think of how things would have turned out for Li'l Boo and for us had we not been fortunate enough to be employed with insurance. Having lived in three states (CA, IL and NJ) with a child, what I find equally disturbing is how each state has different requirements for pre-natal care, babies and children. One state may begin immunizations before leaving the hospital, or at two weeks old; while others may wait until a baby is two months old! When we moved from CA to IL when my son was nine months old, he was ahead of schedule for his one-year vaccination requirements in IL so he only needed one shot at his 12-month check-up. Also in IL - post repair-surgery - we were required to have a multi-faceted team of specialists evaluate Li'l Boo (developmental pediatrician, speech therapist, plastic surgeon, ENT, etc.) on an annual basis to stay ahead of any issues that may develop as he grew. In NJ, our pediatrician informed us that no such requirement was in place, unless we sought it out ourselves. (WHAT?! So no staying on top of developmental growth changes to get ahead of any issues that could arise? Only after the fact, "piece-meal" if I noticed something was wrong?)

The funny thing is that from coast to coast I have only rarely encountered another parent whose children have not had SOME issue that required health insurance - allergies to formula/milk, "late" developers, preemies, ear tubes, swallowed objects,  accidents/injuries, the list goes on . . . So almost all of us can appreciate the value of health insurance and the travesty that not being insured could lead to . . . and why should children in certain states receive better healthcare than those in other states? They can't choose where they're born or grow up. This is why I'm adding my voice to support healthcare reform for children. For those of you interested in supporting the healthcare for children cause, please visit Speak Now for Kids, follow @speaknowforkidson Twitter or attend the Sitewarming Twitter party tonight at 9 p.m. EST #speaknowforkids.