May 17, 2008 at 5:07AM
By Lexy Zissu
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Like most moms in this day and age, I belong to a local parenting message board. I had some misgivings before I got involved, as I am not much of a joiner, truth be told. I never, for example, belonged to a sorority or anything along those lines in college. But when my daughter started showing signs of really wanting to hang with people her own age at around 8 months, I did it for her. Factor it in along with the other surprises of motherhood; I’m really glad I joined. Reading the daily posts is like my own version of parenting reality television, and my daughter – and I – have made some good friends, too.
I’ve also found it to be a very interesting barometer of just how green the average parent is. Since I got on the message board over a year and a half ago, organic parenting issues have been slowly but steadily popping up. At first, a green topic would come up every few months – a query about water testing here, about safer paints for nurseries there. Then it sped up – did anyone know anything about organic crib mattresses? What else could breastmilk be stored in besides plastic bags? Obviously the lead paint in toy scares and BPA in baby bottles media blitz helped propel environmental health issues into most parents’ minds, whether they self identify as green or not. And I’ve seen on the board that these two things (lead and hormone disrupters), while nothing new, are new to these families and have really opened up their minds. Parents who formerly dismissed the idea of organic parenting are now emailing me on and off the board, coming up to me in the playground and at playgroups, asking all manner of really good, thoughtful questions. When I realized I was spending an hour or more a day responding to my neighbors’ questions, I knew it was time to offer to host a local “eco night.”
I do these – sometimes with Deirdre – fairly often. A group will come and ask me or us to talk about the top ten things pregnant moms or families can do to green their surroundings. But I haven’t done one for a group of people I know. So this will be a unique experience for me, one I’m really looking forward to. And it will have a New York focus, as we’re all New Yorkers – also something I haven’t yet done. I’m modifying my top ten list (ok I’m now at eleven) to make it city and even neighborhood-centric. The owner of a local kid’s hair cutting store/boutique called Doodle Doo’s (she just so happens to be my across the hall neighbor) has agreed to let us use her space after hours. Shortly after I posted the eco night offer, over 50 people signed up!
I prefer to talk to no more than 15 people at a time because everyone has so many questions and I like to be able to at least try to answer all of them. So I’m now doing three eco nights, all with local parents, some of them the mothers of my daughter’s friends. The first one will be this week. Depending on how it goes, I may open this up to the public and offer eco nights once a month to anyone who wants to come. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. The Internet is wonderful and enables me to interact with parents far and wide, but I’m really excited for the opportunity to talk with people in person about their concerns. I’m hoping to be asked questions that will challenge me and force me to do more research. And to motivate people to go greener.
Here’s what I’ll be touching on (in no order, though I do tend to begin with cleaning products as switching over is such a quick and easy way to drastically reduce indoor air pollution) ...
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