Green with Children

Talk Isn't Cheap

My old friend Caroline and I had babies at the same time. We both lived in D.C., so it was a no-brainer that we'd kill countless hours on play dates. The kids have been together since all they could do was lie side by side and drool. This allowed us time to relive the slacker days of our younger years, talking at length about matters of no consequence. For us, motherhood was college with toddlers.

She came to visit a couple weeks ago and I noticed that the three-day long conversation drifted to environmental issues so many times. When I told her I had stopped using napkins, she said she had done the same. We talked about frustrations with trying to control our kids' wasteful tendencies. Her husband is feeding his garden with compost from the kitchen. She used reusable Tupperware containers for drinks and snacks.

At my son's tennis class a couple weeks ago, I noticed one mom brought strawberries as a snack in a recycled takeout container. I commended her, and she said "I've been doing this for years! Whenever we get Chinese takeout, I wash these. They're perfect for sending friends and family home with leftovers after dinner, too." Another friend insisted on buying a Christmas tree that they'll plant in the yard this spring.

At preschool pickups, the pizza place, and in playrooms, conversation is just naturally drifting to efforts to be more green. Regardless of my status as Alix in Wonderland, my friends are talking about ways to be more conscientious about consumption. These people are just like me--we don't come from particularly environmental perspectives, we're all very mainstream and very busy and harassed with two or three kids carrying on in the backs of minivans. And all of us are just shifting to an existence that's a little more thoughtful about garbage, in a good way.

© The Green Guide, 2008

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