Brainwashing at its Finest Part II: MacGuyver Has Nothing on My Boys
A few weeks ago in the park my 4 year old stopped me from throwing out the bag that previously contained a questionable rice cake snack given to him in yet another party bag from PreK. (How 10 kids can manage to have 433 birthdays in a year is beyond me.) “Ma…I could totally reuse that for my snack tomorrow.” So…I rolled it up and popped it into my purse and just smiled. There is hope for our little planet. 
*********The Boys Prepare for Their Next Mission ********* As you start reducing the incoming tide of plastic and other wasteful disposables into the home…you soon discover that the “waste” you do have needs to play 3 or 4 rolls before making its exit. By all means include your little people in these discussions!!!! Let the little monkeys raid the recycle bin. You would be amazed at what their brains come up with. My two year old will take any container…M&M dispenser, old sippy cups, Ming vase and deposit it in the tub indicating that said object has passed his rigorous examination and has earned the second use of the elite…a tubby toy. (If you ever BUY a toy for the bathtub I order you to smack yourself right now. Go ahead. I’ll wait. Now that we all feel better we can move on.) If all else fails…art supplies. My husband and son love taking toilet paper roles, a shoe box and a little scrap paper and making AT-ATs. (Never saw a family get so excited over using toilet paper up. More fiber STAT; we have a fleet to make!) I guess my boys are lucky. They come from a long line of reusers. Their Uncle Brian, at around the same age, once discovered the remarkable similarity between a slide whistle and a tampon applicator at one of my mother’s parties. She must have been beaming at his pure ingenuity. When I am stumped…I turn to my little superheros and say..what the hairy heck could we use this for? Trust me…they’ll come up with something. It may be mortifyingly embarrassing, but it will be something. More importantly…they will hopefully see that things in life are not so disposable if you are just willing to think a little.
That’s so great! You really are raising little environmental super heroes! Very cute!
Go boys!!! Manly tree-huggers in the making
I totally get what you mean by birthday parties monopolizing our weekends. What? another birthday? Two more bags of crap? How do you decline “give-away” bags without antagonizing hosts and angering your children? I have gone as far as telling the hosts ahead of time that my kids only need one bag. Hasn’t worked. It is very sad for me to see that even my three year old asks where her goodie bag is during a birthday party. That said, I have seen a bit of general improvement in the content. These days we get more books and side walk chalks than 5 cent plastic crap.
I am liking these super heroes. The fact that they wear pants outside their underpants only add to their appeal (and cuteness)!
Kids rock, don’t they?!?!