The Great Recession has taught us there’s more to life than granite countertops.

Someone said this to me recently, and I thought of it again when my co-worker Jessica Birk told me that she and her two sons, Craig, 4, and Brandon, 2, have started baking together every weekend.  Often they give their goodies away.

I don’t know whether their cookie racks sit on granite countertops or not, but it struck me how much Jessica is teaching her sons with such ordinary playtime.  On a Saturday afternoon she’s rolling out lessons about cooperation, science, and charity, along with her cookie dough.

Vacation travel also offers an opportunity for parents to build values and develop a common history with their children.  But do we think about family trips in that way or, justifiably exhausted, just default to what’s easiest? …read more of Seeing the World through Baking and Traveling here

The mad rush for holiday toy shopping is on. This can be tricky territory for the health and eco-conscious parent. And now a new law designed to improve toy safety may end up reducing eco-friendly toy choices.

The Scoop

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) sets mandatory safety standards for toys, clothes, and other items used by kids 12 years and younger. Toy manufacturers will have to test their toys to prove they are safe.

There clearly are issues with toy safety …read more of Green Toy Safety Backfire? here

As a native New Yorker, before I moved to California I thought drinking tea was New Age-y and I didn’t know a chakra from a hole in the wall. After five years in California I go to acupuncture, own a pair of Birkenstocks and my boyfriend’s mother is a healer. Fancy that.

The older I get the more my sensibilities change and things that used to seem to be squarely in the hippy corner I now find very appealing. Take, for example, the Awakening Consciousness for Girls and Awakening Consciousness for Boys by Robin Marvel, two workbooks designed to encourage spiritual growth in children and to guide them on a path of self-awareness. These are books you’ll want under your tree this Christmas.

The books arrived at my doorstep as part of the Green Books Campaign, in which 100 bloggers help support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by …read more of Give Your Kids Consciousness for Christmas here

There has been an unprecedented increase in recent years in the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).  A variety of elements are suspected of playing a role (see our recent post linking environmental toxins to autism). 

Researchers have known that a higher incidence of autism exists among twins¹, and this new study confirms a substantially higher risk of autism in identical twins as compared to fraternal twins.²  The report, published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, studied 277 twin pairs in which at least one had an autistic disorder.

Researchers found that when one identical twin developed an autistic disorder, the other twin did 88 percent of the time. That compared with 31 percent among fraternal twins. Fraternal twins share only 50 percent of their genes and are no more genetically similar than non-twin siblings, unlike identical twins, who share 100 percent of their genes.  …read more of New Research on Twins Confirms Genetic Role in Autism here

With all of the delicious eco-friendly baby products on the market I often find myself coveting items made especially for infants. Recently I found myself fervently wishing that the Ruffle Blanket from Organica Deluxe would morph into an adult-sized wrap.

Alas, it did not.

One consolation is that if you wrap your baby in this delicious blanket you’ll get to hold it close. Made of 100 percent certified organic cotton fleece by Robbie Adrian, the blanket is somehow precious and elegant at the same time. Measuring 17″ x 20″ inches, choose between a white, pink or blue silk ruffle on a white blanket.

The blanket, which is available on the Organica Deluxe website, retails for $36 and arrives in a box, making it the perfect gift.

Click here to learn more about your Carbon Footprint.

Click here for the top 5 reasons to buy Organic Cotton.

Click here to learn more about the Fair Trade system and products.

Heather O’Neill is the founder of Eco to the People, a green living blog.
Email her at: heather@ecotothepeople.com.