Family Friday: Inspiration from ‘Beatrice’s Goat’

My previous post on children’s books mentioned Beatrice’s Goat. This book has inspired our family to take action and make changes, like the ones below. Read more

Join Us for the National Day of Service

Like many parents of young children, we’ve been wrestling with how best to discuss the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement with our children. We want them to know about the individuals who sacrificed to improve our country and our world. However, explaining that time to them introduces many troubling topics about which they are currently unaware since, on many levels, they live in a world that was only a dream in 1963.

The only presidential election they have seen featured a woman and an African-American as two of the candidates. They don’t think there is anything unusual about tomorrow’s inauguration of Barack Obama, or his name. Their classmates and teachers come from all over the world. Their criteria for friendship is whether a kid is fun, smart, and has a good imagination rather than whether he or she looks like them. Read more

Family Friday: Book Review for ‘Sharing Nature with Children’

“Only by sharing our deeper thoughts and feelings do we communicate to, and inspire in others, a love and respect for the earth. When we share our own ideas and feelings, it encourages a child to explore, respectfully, his own feelings and perceptions.”
- Joseph Cornell, Sharing Nature with Children

Whether your family resides in a large city, is making a home in the suburbs, or lives in the country, Sharing Nature With Children by Joseph Cornell is full of activities to develop and foster a love of nature in your child. And yourself. Read more

Take Another Look – A Solar System May Be For You

Today’s USA Today reports that prices on rooftop solar systems have been falling, with more price decreases expected. Add to those decreases the recent elimination of the cap on federal tax credits for solar power and suddenly the price of solar systems is moving within the reach of average families. Read more

Greener Living Through Mind Tricks

This is my first entry to the Affluent Persons Living Sustainably or APLS Carnival. January’s topic is mind tricks used to help choose the greener option, especially when it is not, at least at first glance, the easier one. The selected entries will be hosted by VWXYNot? on January 22 so be sure to visit and read what everyone has to say.

When we first decided to live a greener life, Richard and I did not realize how challenging it would be at times. We thought we would do our research and start working our way through a checklist that surely someone had put together.

While we found suggestions for changes we could make, it turned out that it wasn’t the big one-time changes that would make the largest difference. It was the many small habits that we needed to address to really green our family. Read more

Free Financial Book Offer

Financial resolutions are being made in many households this year – I know they are in ours. We’ve been working on putting our house in order, financially and otherwise, so we can help save the planet. If part of your plan to green your family includes increasing the green in your wallet, this news is for you! Read more

Family Friday: Family Movie Night Suggestions

Greening Families is excited to announce that Lucas Miller, of Singing Zoologist fame, will be contributing a monthly guest post. These posts will concentrate on suggestions for families to enjoy and appreciate nature together. We hope that these ideas will deepen your appreciation of the world around us while also strengthening your family’s connections. Read more

Creating a Legacy?

I’ve been thinking about the results of a survey I read about recently on Telegraph.co.uk. The survey asked adults in Britain who influenced their current spending habits. Nearly 40 percent said their spending resembled their parents spending patterns. Read more

Reflecting on 2008 and Looking Ahead to 2009

There has been a lot of discussion in our house about the new year. Many of the conversations involved things we changed during 2008 that made us happier. As we talked about those changes, it soon became clear almost all of them also made our lives greener. It was nice to see the two characteristics line up so nicely so I thought I would share!

First is an overview of the greening steps we made during 2008. Since I love hearing about other people’s resolutions, this is followed by the resolutions we have currently made for 2009. Read more