My husband and I (OK, particularly my husband, but I am learning daily) have always been pretty environmentally conscious. We reduce, reuse, and recycle regularly, we compost, we rinse out Ziploc bags, use reusable canvas bags at the grocery store, don’t shop very much or “consume” many products, use public transportation, etc. I’m sure there is always more we can do (and please feel free to make some suggestions — we’re always looking for better ways to do things!) but for the most part we really try hard to be as “green” as possible.

However, sometime over the past three years we have stumbled GREATLY. Suddenly I am driving everywhere, in a “big gas-guzzling SUV” that was the only thing we could find that we thought would hold three carseats (and now that we have two carseats in there already, that third one is going to be a mighty tight fit!). It is nearly impossible to take MUNI with two young children and a stroller (see here for more on that…), and I’m using more Ziploc bags for sandwiches and carrots and other lunch goodies than I ever thought was possible!

And don’t even let me get started on our “digital clutter”….we have thousands of digital pictures and videos stored on hard drives that are destined to become obsolete and buried in the “Electronic Hazardous Waste” graveyard in just a few years, not to mention cellphones that are quickly becoming outdated, PC’s, digital cameras, and more.

We buy stuff now, too. Lots of stuff. TONS of stuff. For “non-stuff-oriented” people, “stuff” has basically exploded all over our house! We have baby gates and high chairs and bouncy seats and a Gymini and teethers and stuffed animals and hundreds of plastic toys (probably all made in China) and cribs and baby clothes and baby silverware and baby plates and baby wipes and diapers and…. well, you get the idea. We are swimming in a huge pool of STUFF and it’s truly insane and drives us crazy, and yet, we somehow still seem to accumulate MORE instead of “cutting back” and living with less!

There was a study released just yesterday in the UK on how children are more likely to remember a day at the beach with their parents than the latest new gadget or toy. I fully believe this is true, as when I look back at my own childhood I definitely remember the experiences that I had far more than the toys that I played with (well, except maybe for Star Wars — the Millenium Falcon was really cool!). But despite this fact, we still seem to accumulate so much STUFF for our girls! Yes, a lot of it is gifts, and some are generous hand-me-downs, but the end result is the same — we are drowning in stuff.

And the amazing thing is, except for a very few toys, both Keilani and Malia are pretty much non-interested in this stuff! The most fascinating object for Keilani is whatever Mommy or Daddy is using at the time, whether it be our real cellphones (not the cute pink plastic one that is “hers”), our keys, a wooden spoon (still interesting even after 2 years), etc. And Malia at this point is pretty much fascinated by everything — a plastic bag, a cardboard box, watching leaves sway on a tree (actually I like watching that, too!).

We tell ourselves that we are holding on to these things until Baby #3 arrives, should we decide to have him/her in the future, but I somehow doubt that Baby #3 will be any more interested than Keilani and Malia are!

So what is a family of four to do? Boycott all toys? Go down to a 5-toy-per-child limit? Move someplace where we can walk everywhere? There are definitely steps that we can take and as we become more aware of our environmental impact I look forward to seeing how we can do things better. Much better!

Got any ideas? We’ve a long way to go and would love to hear them!

It’s true…Keilani has recently discovered the magic of pretend-play, thanks I’m sure to her new friend Boobaby, and her most favorite game (aside from pretend calling her favorite people on the phone, which is adorable) is “Let’s find parking!”.

To play “Let’s find parking!”, Keilani pushes her little toy stroller or grocery cart all around the house, talking to her baby doll and saying, “Come Baby, come! We need to find parking! Oh! There’s a spot!”. She will then careen the stroller or cart wildly, pulling into the “spot” and performing the parking cheer—”YAY Baby! We found parking! YAY!” This is good for almost twenty minutes of fun with endless variations on the theme.

I guess I sort of expected Keilani to play “house” and “school” and “fort” growing up, as I did, but it never occurred to me that:

1. We live nowhere near any sort of nature where she could really build a fort, and
2. We look for parking at least three times a day, and sometimes more, even though we live in the “suburban” area of the City where there is usually plentiful parking!

You might ask why we don’t take public transportation more often, as those of you who knew us before we had kids (BK) know that we were pretty environmentally conscious even before it became “cool” to be “green”. Well, it is next-to-impossible to manhandle a 30-pound toddler, a 13-pound infant, a 19-pound stroller (even the “ultra-light umbrella models” weigh 11 pounds!), and a 3-pound diaper bag onto the bus, particularly when they require you to take said kids and bags out of the stroller (and do what with them? have the toddler stand in the street? hand the baby to some random stranger? lie the baby down in the street?) and fold the stroller and then somehow lift all 65 pounds onto the bus without dropping anything (especially the baby!)? Impossible!

So Keilani and Malia will probably play “parking” for as long as we live in the City (or at least until MUNI changes its stroller policy… hint, hint MUNI!), but hopefully they will also learn to play “recycling” and “compost” and maybe even “fort” someday, too. In the meantime, I do love hearing Keilani say, “Let’s go Baby! We found parking!”