Healthy Child Healthy World Book Review

I have finished reading the book, Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home by Christopher Gavigan and it was an honor to be asked to review this book. If you don’t know about this non-profit organization that has been around for nearly TWO decades, founded by parents, Jim and Nancy Chuda, after losing their daughter, Colette, from a rare non-hereditary cancer, do yourself a favor and visit the website and continue to visit the site. Okay so on to the book review, most book reviews are boring and they tell you how the book is written and that the format is easy to read, blah, blah, blah. I just want to tell you that this book has me shouting these words to you as I type them: GO BUY THIS BOOK! Seriously! I don’t have an official Green and Clean Mom book award but if I did this book would win it. This book is just what every Green and Clean Mom needs because it doesn’t make you feel like you have to be perfect or do everything but it lays it all out there. The facts scared the "you know what" out of me but when you read about there being boogy men lurking in the corner you get chills…shouldn’t it scare me that there are chemicals that can hurt my children in their food, shampoo, and toys (same thing really)?

Besides the fact that I have every other page folded down at the corner and there's a rainbow of highlighter marks throughout the book, what makes this book just what all Green and Clean Moms need? Christopher Gavigan is a new parent and he gets what we feel (so that makes him a Green and Clean Dad). He knows how overwhelming and scary it feels to be responsible for this little life but have all this bad stuff surrounding you, confusing data, information, labeling, advise, and the list goes on. Every chapter is important and chalked full of useful information and facts but it’s easy to decipher and when you’re a busy mom you need someone to tell it to you just like it is and cut to the chase.

Here are a few of my favorite parts of the books or quotes that made me realize this is the perfect Green and Clean Mom book and a must have for you to go buy and for me to recommend...

*The book states at the very beginning that it is offering easy and doable steps to take towards making a child’s world a healthier place. Doable and easy are good words for a busy mom trying to figure it all out! AMEN! Organic shopping pointers, cleaning tips, what is a must to avoid and the basics all spelled out so simply. Even with pages to cut out and stick in your purse or hang up for reminders. Love it!

*Walking me through the words: Cancer, Asthma, Allergies, Autism and ADHD and Mental Development and retardation without me having to read 5,000 pages of technical terms (remember I’ve done this for my masters degree in early childhood education) but cutting to the chase and keeping it simple, factual and relevant was terrific!

*The idea that “Green Cleaning” mean more help around the house because it’s safe for the kids to help had me jumping for joy! Can’t all of us moms use some more help with the cleaning???

Throughout the book there are celebrity contributions and here are the best quotes ever…

*Amy Brenneman the actress wrote, “But we’re not perfect. I tried my two-year old on gDiapers and he looked at me like no, way!” I loved this because I didn’t feel so bad about not using such a great diaper.

*Courtney Cox the actress wrote: “Among my friends I’m the ‘green’ novice.” And “I’m just learning this stuff…” Phew, it’s okay to just now be learning stuff but the fact that she’s doing something, I’m doing something and you’re doing something is all a good thing!

*Jenna Elfman the actress wrote: “Before I had a child, I’d hear people talking about green this or that, but most of it didn’t seem to apply to me.” Raise your hand if you can relate to that! And then she writes, “I start with the things I can face easily.” What good advice.

Let me leave you with this last quote (there are so many good ones throughout the book) from Robyn O’Brien, founder of Allergy Kids…

“Sometimes it just takes a passionate mom. We all have her in us.”

Yes we do!! I do and that is why I blog and try to reach other moms like myself. I know you have her in you too! Start by reading this book and educating yourself with practical ideas for just how you can use your own two hands to make a difference.

Imagination + Box = Eco-Friendly Toy

When I think back to my childhood, I don’t have memories of toys or possessions. I remember playing outside until it was dark and making the bath water black because I was so dirty. A rock could be play money for playing store or twelve of them were a dozen eggs. A leaf suddenly became the dollar bill I needed to buy my dozen eggs! The ideas were endless and my imagination ran wild. That’s the natural thing about childhood, the imagination. It’s so fresh and vivid…and then we buy every plastic toy out there, videos, and video games and the vivid imagination fades. It’s sad really and I see it happening with my own four year old.

I’m an early childhood educator, I know that play is how children learn best. Not by watching a video, pushing buttons on a video game or having a thousand expensive toys at their fingertips. Children should be able to play with blocks and have them be more than just blocks. Blocks can turn into race cars, space ships, a house, a hamburger, and the list goes on. Too much has been created for our children and that takes away from their natural ability to imagine! Today I had a rebirth, I went to Fridge Blog. I had become desensitized as a parent and had lost touch with the basics of childhood and being a green mom!

April, with Fridge Blog, has an online store called, FridgeBoxWorld.com and it’s exactly what it sounds like, a place to buy a fridge box. As a preschool teacher, I’ve done dozens of cool things with a fridge box (bear caves, tree houses, haunted tunnels, play kitchens, castles, etc.) over the years. They were hard to come by and were usually broken down and damaged. With FridgeBoxWorld.com you get a heavy duty fridge box, you can use both sides, it’s eco friendly, non-toxic, made from recycled materials, and can be recycled. It keeps getting better…April donates a percent of her revenues to http://www.onepercentfortheplanet.org! Plus, Fridge Boxes to school teachers for sustainable storytelling workshops. Made in the U.S.A., no recalls to worry about and the children get to use their imagination to power this toy, not batteries.

I have one coming, thanks to April, and plan to build a hot air balloon out of it with my son’s preschool class! This was my favorite project when I was a preschool teacher! I’ll post the pictures here for you to see. In the meantime, visit the Fridge Blog and reconnect with what is natural about childhood…playing and the imagination.