Since Earth Day is this week, we thought we would
Go Green for this week's newsletter.
As you know, moms are the ultimate recyclers. We hand down clothing from child to child and create telescopes out of wrapping paper rolls.
Here are some easy strategies to raise an earth-conscious child:
Talk about ways to make a difference. By opening up the discussion on preserving the earth, your child will become much more aware of why you do what you do. Don’t just turn off the water while your child brushes his teeth, ask him to do it and explain why.
Create child-friendly recycling. Allow your child to decorate recycling containers and help dispose of recyclable items correctly. Bring your child with you when you go to a recycling center. Ask your child to remind you when the television or lights are on unnecessarily.
Take baby steps. Fill your home with house plants and ask your child to be in charge of watering at least one of the plants. Take a nature walk and have a picnic outside. Reuse household items for indoor fun (what child doesn’t love an empty cardboard box that turns into a train or hidey hole?).
Try cloth diapers. If you don’t think you could give up your disposable diapers altogether, consider using re-usable diapers when you’re at home. Try Austin Baby Store or
Woolly Bugs
for natural parenting products.
Shop locally. Austin is an excellent place to find earth-conscious stores. Not only is it good to give back to the community, but shopping with the city’s local vendors means that products make less of a journey to your door. (A few of our local faves include, Whole Earth Provisions, Wildflower, Whole Foods, Austinables.com, and Moxie and the Compound.)
Throw an "Earth Day" party any day of the year. Save paper and send out invitations via the internet. Meet at a local park so the only energy wasted is the abundant energy of children. Ask people to walk or carpool to the venue. Serve food from a local grocery or farmers’ market. Encourage guests to bring an unwanted toy for the local charity shop. Before everyone goes home, ask the children to pick up any litter so that the park (and the earth itself) is left cleaner than when you arrived.
Article written by BSA’s European correspondent, April Paine. She does her best to reduce, reuse and recycle in Norfolk, England where she lives with her husband and two children.
Upcoming Events:
Belly to Baby Conference at Kula Yoga
Saturday, April 26th 1-5pm
Green means "GO"! If you are expecting, you will want to go to the
Belly to Baby Conference at
Austin Kula Yoga. 1-5pm. Come for a day of celebrating birth, pregnancy, postpartum, and family dynamics. Several local businesses will share their expertise and information on topics relating to pregnancy and parenthood. Guest speaker, Anita Stoll will focus on the topic, "Caring for your Marriage after Baby". Moms-to-be will also be able to enjoy a free pre-natal yoga class at 1:00. For more info on the event,
click here.
Green is for Veggies! Austin mom, Kelly Corbet, founder and writer for
www.smartfoodshealthykids.com keeps
parents informed on how to raise healthy kids in an environmentally conscience way. Here is one of our favorite articles on how to get kids to eat their veggies.
Click here for entire article.
DOT-COM OF THE WEEK
BSA’s dot-com of the week: www.sweetberryfarms.com
Green is for Gardening! Support our local 
farmers and take a day trip to Sweet Berry Farms to pick fresh strawberries. Kids love to hand pick their own bucket of strawberries and cool off with homemade strawberry ice cream. The pickin' will be good through mid May and there are two farms to pick from. For more details, go to
www.sweetberryfarms.com.
Check out our winners of last week’s poll: Favorite Place for Prenatal Yoga at www.babyscoopaustin.com
Vote for this week’s poll: Best Place for a Mother's Day Brunch
Thank you for posting the Scoop! If you have discussion questions or want to chit chat, head on over to our Baby Scoop Forum and post, post, post!
Check out our calendar for weekly updates. Did you know our calendar is "open to the public"? If you
know of a fun family event going on or you're hosting an event you'd like to post, enter your event details on our entry form. Upon approval, your event will be added to our community calendar.
Be that cool, hip mom-in-the-know that you are, and be the first to tell your friends about the coolest “mommy thing” in town!
Check out our site key for more details.
