Catching up with the kidlets: Spring 2010 June 7, 2010

It’s been far too long since I’ve posted pictures for Gramma and Grampa in Canada to see. These little gems are from Spring 2010.

Just last week, my 5-year-old Joseph surprised us all by suddenly passing Level One after only FOUR swimming lessons! He has always been a big fan of his bath, and he loves to go in pools and to the beach, but he has always been very nervous to try to leave the edge and try to learn to swim. When he was a baby, I took him to parent-and-me classes at our local rec center, but it was mostly water-bonding and blowing motorboat. And fun, of course!

This summer, I made the commitment to put the boys in “real” swim lessons and signed them up to work together in semi-private lessons at Waterworks Aquatics, thanks to a referral from my friend Kristianne Koch. Waterworks is amazing, but costs a pretty penny. Kristianne’s son Merrik went there as an infant and with his parents’ help and encouragement, was boogie-boarding and beginning to surf last summer at age four… for hours!

Anyway, Joseph was very excited and curious about swim lessons–but I could tell he was nervous. His little brother Noah was beyond excited. When I put Noah in the water, I need to stay right next to him because he will simply leap forward into the deep water, fully expecting to be able to swim. He is confidence personified. In order to get the boys prepared for swimming (and to bring Joseph’s courage up to his little brother’s level) I began listing all the things they’ll be able to do once they can swim:

• Pretend you are dolphins!
• Pretend you are sharks!
• Pretend you are mermaids! (hey, who isn’t curious about mermaids at some point?)
• Have swim races for prizes!
• Dive for treasure!

OK, for the first four items, they were cheering! With each new idea the cheers grew louder and louder until I said, “dive for treasure.” Noah’s joy came to a crashing halt. Joseph continued to bubble with enthusiasm: “I know! We can put treasure into a treasure box, and put it at the bottom of the pool, then DIVE for it!!”

All the color drained from Noah’s face.  He did not share these dreams. He did not want to go to the bottom of the pool, not for any treasure of any kind. I’d overshot the mark, and toppled the confidence meter. Now Joseph was desperate to get in the water and Noah was clinging to the edge in fear. What was I thinking?

Over the first two lessons, Joseph worked very hard, and while I could see that he has reservations, he set aside his fear and powered through. Noah cried and cried, so I’ve let him sit out until he tells me he wants to try again, and transferred our pre-paid lesson package to Joseph. If there’s one thing about Noah, he has an uncanny ability to figure things out. At age three, he is almost as good at riding his bicycle as his older brother.

I’ve never seen Joseph so focused. I sit where I can see him and give the “thumb’s up” when he looks my way, but I am otherwise removed from his lesson. From the beginning, he was equally cautious and determined. I am so pleased to see him resolve his own inner conflict of fear, choosing to try instead. His teacher is very matter-of-fact. She doesn’t overflow with positive reinforcement, but she doesn’t appear disappointed either when he doesn’t get it right the first time. She simply offers more and more chances to try, in different ways. When I saw him swim down almost four feet to get a toy, I just knew how thrilled he must have been.

I’m so proud of him–It is incredibly rewarding to watch your child decide to meet a goal, and to make his own efforts to achieve that goal. I always reward the spirit of “never giving up” because if we persevere, we can do the things we want to do. I have seen him be frustrated when building with his Legos, and the huge sense of accomplishment that arrives when he figures out to create what he sees in his mind. But learning to swim requires trusting the capabilities of your whole body, entering an unfamiliar world and letting go. When success comes, it is sweet indeed.

U.S. students have been drinking tainted water for past decade September 29, 2009

An Associated Press investigation found that over the last decade, the drinking water at thousands of public and private schools in all 50 states contain unsafe levels of lead, pesticides and dozens of other toxins. As water safety violations have multipllied, the problem has gone largely unmonitored by the federal government.

“If a landlord doesn’t tell a tenant about lead paint in an apartment, he can go to jail,” remarked Marc Edwards, an engineer at Virginia Tech who has been honored for his work on water quality. “But we have no system to make people follow the rules to keep school children safe?”

Approximately one of every five schools with its own water supply violated the Safe Drinking Water Act in the past decade, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), analyzed by the AP.

The contaminants are especially dangerous to children, who drink more water per pound than adults and are more vulnerable to the effects of many hazardous substances. “There’s a different risk for kids,” said Cynthia Dougherty, head of the EPA’s Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water.

When the Associated Press analyzed a database showing federal drinking water violations from 1998 to 2008 in schools with their own water supplies, the organization discovered:

• Water in about 100 school districts and 2,250 schools breached federal safety standards.
• Those schools and districts racked up more than 5,550 separate violations. In 2008, the EPA recorded 577 violations, up from 59 in 1998 – an increase that officials attribute mainly to tougher rules.
• California, which has the most schools of any state, also recorded the most violations with 612, followed by Ohio (451), Maine (417), Connecticut (318) and Indiana (289).
• Nearly half the violators in California were repeat offenders. One elementary school in Tulare County, in the farm country of the Central Valley, broke safe-water laws 20 times.
• The most frequently cited contaminant was coliform bacteria, followed by lead and copper, arsenic and nitrates.

Unfortunately, the EPA does not have the authority to require testing for all schools and can only provide guidance on environmental practices. Schools with wells are required to test their water and report any problems to the state, which is supposed to send all violations to the federal government

For more info: Read the report in its entirety.

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How to wash your car – the eco-friendly way! August 18, 2009

With two kids aged 2 and 4 years, I don’t have a lot of time to wash my car. My little one is horrified by conveyor-style commercial car washes, and my older one is a hose-happy water waster. Washing my car in the driveway is, by all accounts, one of the most “un-green” household chores, but pulling up to a playdate in a crud-encrusted VW is not so nice either.

The debate: Which is greener—commercial car washes or doing it yourself at home?   Commercial car washes use power, land, and harsh detergents that may leak into the environment. However, the amount of water used for washing a car at home can be anywhere from between a whopping 80 to 140 gallons of water, while commercial car washes average less than 45 gallons per car, according to International Car Wash Association.

More importantly, federal laws in both the U.S. and Canada require commercial carwash facilities to drain their wastewater into sewer systems, so it gets treated before it is discharged back into the great outdoors. (1972 Clean Water Act). By contrast, when car owners wash their vehicle in the driveways, a combination of gasoline, oil and residues from exhaust fumes, and car wash detergent goes directly into storm drains funneled toward rivers, streams, creeks and wetlands, poisoning aquatic life wreaking ecosystem havoc. (Household waste water enters sewers or septic systems and undergoes treatment before it is discharged into the environment.)

Responsible at-home car washing techniques It is important to note there are several benefits to washing your car at home: you get a decent work out, save money, receive vitamin D from the sun, and may use less water than commercial washing (see how below), and will most likely do a more thorough job than an automated car wash. Also, when using environmentally-friendly products, you can safely involve your children in the chore! The keys to creating an eco-minded home car wash are
a. use less than 45 gallons of water (piece of cake!) and,
b. to decrease harmful run-off.  

Here’s how. Choose a biodegradable soap specifically formulated for automotive parts, such as Ecover’s Carwash and Wax. or Simple Green’s Car Wash. I like Ecover because its two-in-one wash/wax saves on water use, time and money. Also, I’ve noticed my car stays cleaner, longer.
Or, make your own biodegradable car wash by mixing one cup of liquid dishwashing detergent and 3/4 cup of powdered laundry detergent (use ONLY chlorine- and phosphate-free and non-petroleum-based products) with three gallons of water. This concentrate can then be used sparingly with water over exterior car surfaces.

Playing Quarters. My approach is to wash the car in quarters; First, I give the entire vehicle a quick but thorough rinse down. Next, I sponge on the car wash detergent to only one quarter of the vehicle. Then, I carefully rinse just the section I washed, and immediately chamois off to avoid streaks. I do all four quarters one at a time, then concentrate on wheels/rims, then move on to glass and interior polishing. This greatly reduces the volume of water used, and ensures a streak-free finish.
I’m also toying with idea of parking on an old bed sheet to collect more product and run-off, then washing it with my soiled micro-fiber sheets from household cleaning, and simply hanging to dry.   Also, try this advice from Helen Coronato, author of Eco-Friendly Families: Mix baking soda and water together to make a paste to shine hubcaps and chrome bumpers. A sprinkle of baking soda followed by vacuuming can freshen and clean floor mats and interiors. After long road trips, clean bugs and dirt from the windshield by sprinkling baking soda on a damp sponge, rubbing and rinsing. Stubborn stains on your car, often caused by tree sap or road tar can be eliminated by applying your baking soda paste to the stain for 10 minutes and then rinsing with a damp sponge.

Ecover also offers an excellent Car Glass and Interior Spray which leaves the car smelling fresh and new-car-ish, but not perfumey. (It also works beautifully on exterior chrome finishes if you really want your car to have that shiny, freshly-detailed look.)    Another option is avoid water altogether using a waterless formula, such as Freedom Waterless Car Wash, applied via spray bottle and then wiped off with a cloth. This method is especially handy for spot cleaning, or while using my “quarter approach”  

For more info:  The International Car Wash Association offers this advice for Car Wash Fundraisers Kids and parents planning a fundraising car wash event should know that they might be violating clean water laws if run-off is not contained and disposed of properly. The temporary measurement of wastewater flows from a professional car wash is hampered by the traditional plumbing design of the sewer outfall. Non-intrusive meters such as ultrasonic meters or magnetic meters are commonly used in the water industry to measure flows with entrained materials are large amounts of particulates. These types of meters require a stretch of unbroken pipe to which the meter can be attached. Most sewer outfall pipe at car washes is buried under asphalt or concrete, under the floor of the bays or the parking lot. Future design of car washes should consider leaving a stretch of outfall pipe with access through a meter box sufficiently large enough to install temporary non-invasive metering equipment. This would ease the job of a car wash owner/operator wishing to demonstrate the water losses at their facility from evaporation and carryout.  

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