A FaceBook friend shared this link and I thought it was something to laugh at a little; but then we need to make sure our daughters are getting the right message. I would hate for girls of this generation to develop a negative self-worth by princesses in such great dresses and shoes!
STACEY HATTON COMMENTARY
Now that we’re starting summer, there’s so much to look forward to!
Family vacations pent up in crowded vehicles traveling coast to coast, relaxing poolside while gazing up occasionally to make sure your young children haven’t drowned, all-day spouse golf outings to which you are not invited, and according to many acquaintances, the best day of the summer: large trash pick-up day!
I actually enjoy watching how some people’s eyes light up at the mention of this sacred day. Some treat it as a national holiday and get the whole family involved, while others have cute family names for the big day.
If you have experienced this event, you realize there are two ways of looking at it. Either you are the Type A Personality who relishes getting the family on board to clean out the basement, attic, and/or garage and then place all tired items curbside or you are a (whispered) secret shopper.
Fess up. How many of you have been curbside boutiquing, Dumpster driving or nighttime free drive-buying? If you haven’t packed the family up in the minivan so you can have the fastest getaway with the prime goods, I’m sure you have seen or known someone who has.
My favorite shoppers are those who hook trailers to their old, banged-up trucks. Some even rent big flatbeds. These guys are professionals! And I must say watching a king-sized bed frame, a dishwasher and a hide-away couch traveling through the ’burbs at 2 mph cracks me up, unless I am late for a meeting and stuck in one of these crazy traffic jams.
My neighborhood association has the annual neighborhood garage sale extending over a few days and then the following day is large item pickup. Brilliant! Whoever came up with this idea should get a medal — and a wake-up call from me at 2 a.m. when the scavengers come out with floodlights that fill our bedroom like a scene from an alien movie.
To avoid this annoying late light show, I have vowed, “No more garage sales. Ever!” No curb dumping the remnants of a sale that was so bad no one wanted the junk I didn’t want. I’m also hoping to slow down the night traffic on my street a bit — doubtful, but a gal can wish.
However, I must admit I am not against cleaning house to find the more simple way of life. And in the past on large trash pick-up day, in certain neighborhoods I might have been known to slow down and stretch my neck to assess the curbware. And perhaps on a rare occasion, I may have circled the block for a second look. Is that so wrong? After all, to quote Gandhi (or maybe it was The Beatles), “One man’s rubbish is another man’s load of junk for next year’s event.”
Leawood has tastefully changed its event name from “Haul off my Junk Day” to “Large Item Recirculation Day.” If only we were all so classy.
Stacey Hatton is a pediatric nurse and freelance writer. You can find her blog at http://nursemommylaughs.com.
At a time when most of us (other than Kevin Costner) feel helpless and can’t do anything to protect or fix the oil-filled waters south of our country, it’s a sad and frustrating time. So much destruction to marine life and the once beautiful coastlines are filling up with sludge. And what’s worse is there are no immediate answers to when and how this will be remedied.
My question is, “How can I, a Midwestern mother of young children, make a difference with this disaster?” Other than donating money, there is little I can do in the Gulf, but then why not take this opportunity to encourage our local kids and families to protect our local water. Show them the importance of preservation and how certain mindless acts here in Kansas City can affect the eco-system.
Did you realize anything which goes down the storm drainage systems at the end of your block (you know that hole in the curb that gets clogged up with leaves in the Fall) is absolutely unfiltered and dumped directly into our local streams and creeks? Which then feed into rivers and where do those go…the Gulf! (Well, maybe not all of them, but you get the picture!)
So my part in this national disaster is to inform my readers of the things that are harmful to our waters and the wildlife who live in and around it. Baby deer drink out of these creeks!!! We are poisoning Bambi! THE INHUMANITY OF IT ALL!! (Stepping off soap-box and returning to computer.)
Here is what my husband and I have noticed being dumped down storm drains in our city:
Most of us are good about the first items, but I could just stop my car and scream at the yard services (who SHOULD know better) who blow yard clippings into the street so they can save themselves an extra step. The clippings are good for the yard anyway; so turn your blower around and save a fish from the fertilizer that is stuck to the grass you are sending their way. (How did I get up on this box again?)
My final plea is to ask your yard service not to do this and educate your teen children who are making a buck or two mowing yards this summer to be aware of the damage. Us Mid-westerners can make a difference in the Gulf right from our own front yards!
©2010, Hatton. All rights reserved.
Fast Tube by Casper
I hope you have a nice and relaxing holiday, but while you are celebrating a day off from work, please remember these common nursing tips…
Have a great day and catch you on Wednesday with a real posting!!
©2010, Hatton. All rights reserved.
Fast Tube by Casper
My maternal grandfather was responsible for teaching me several things before he died. We showed me of a deep passionate love of Jazz music, taught me to dance like no one is watching and not caring if anyone is, that honesty is absolutely necessary, and most of all to enjoy life to the fullest. That was my PeePaw. A kind, jazzy, always a kidding, smiling man who resembled John Wayne in his younger days, minus the cowboy hat.
One other lesson he shared, is one he taught his children and his grandchildren. My mother reminded me and my brother. I think every person in the world needs to hear this one. This is what he said:
“When you are driving down any residential street, you should be concentrating on looking for little feet underneath parked cars. I don’t mean the kids are laying down under the cars, but children who are running out of their front yards to chase a ball or bubbles or whatever. They will run out into the street faster than you can blink or press on the brake. If you see the feet running under the front of the parked car, you can stop your vehicle before the child will get out in front of you. You will save a child!”
This is a tip that when I was an Adolescent nurse in a primary care office, I told every new driver of this tip. Especially in a day of too many early drivers who are talking on their cell phones, or worse texting – they need to be reminded in residential neighborhoods there are children just waiting to run in front of their car.
This lesson isn’t just for you to pass to your teen drivers. Parents rushing their kids to school or after school events, while talking on the phone and racing down side streets is happening often and everywhere. I admit I have done this as well, but I then I hear my PeePaw telling me to “slow down and look for little feet.”
I think the “visual” truly sticks with everyone to whom I have told this story, and I hope it will for you as well. Please try to pass this story on to 5 others (especially your new teen drivers) and we can make our streets a little safer for our little ones who haven’t quite learned to stay out of the roadways!
©2010, Hatton. All rights reserved.
Thought this AP article found in the Kansas City Star newspaper was important to pass onto parents and readers of this site. MAJOR RECALL information below.
Wal-Mart said Wednesday it is pulling an entire line of Miley Cyrus-brand necklaces and bracelets from its shelves after tests performed for The Associated Press found the jewelry contained high levels of the toxic metal cadmium.
In a statement issued three hours after AP’s initial report of its findings, Wal-Mart said it would remove the jewelry, made exclusively for the world’s largest retailer, while it investigates. The company issued the statement along with Cyrus and Max Azria, the designer who developed the jewelry for the 17-year-old “Hannah Montana” star.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had learned of cadmium in the Miley Cyrus jewelry, as well as in an unrelated line of bracelet charms, back in February, based on an earlier round of testing conducted at AP’s request, but had continued selling the items. It said as recently as last month that it would be too difficult to test products already on its shelves.
In its statement, Wal-Mart did not say whether it would also remove the bracelet charms.
Exactly how many of the items have been sold was unclear. The charms – also available exclusively at Walmart stores – were sold under the name “Fashion Accessories,” though Wal-Mart has not said when they began appearing on shelves. The Miley Cyrus jewelry hit stores in December.
Long-term exposure to cadmium can lead to bone softening and kidney failure. It is also a known carcinogen, and research suggests that it can, like lead, hinder brain development in the very young.
Cadmium in jewelry is not known to be dangerous if the items are simply worn. Concerns come when youngsters bite or suck on the jewelry, as many children are apt to do.
Wal-Mart said that while the jewelry is not intended for children, “it is possible that a few younger consumers may seek it out in stores.”
“We are removing all of the jewelry from sale while we investigate its compliance with our children’s jewelry standard,” Wal-Mart said.
That was a reference to a policy Wal-Mart voluntarily implemented last month, under which suppliers are required to prove their products contain little cadmium, or else Wal-Mart would not accept them.
The company’s policy of not checking products already on the shelves appears to have changed: In its statement, Wal-Mart said it reviewed children’s jewelry and pulled “the few products that did not” comply with its new testing regimen.
Cadmium in children’s jewelry became a public concern in January when the AP published the results of an investigation that showed items at Walmarts and other large chains were as much as 91 percent of the toxic metal by weight.
That testing was conducted by chemistry professor Jeff Weidenhamer of Ashland University in Ohio. In February, Weidenhamer was asked to provide to Wal-Mart headquarters detailed results of tests on items he bought at Walmarts as part of testing he had done for AP. Those items included 10 of the charms and three from the Cyrus line.
To judge the continued availability of pieces that Wal-Mart has known were contaminated, AP dispatched reporters throughout the country last month to buy any of the 13 items they could find. The packaging said they were made in China; all were bought for $6 or less.
All but one of the 13 were on store shelves in the eight states where AP reporters looked. Contrary to Wal-Mart’s statement Wednesday, which said the Miley Cyrus jewelry was sold in the women’s apparel section, AP reporters found the items either in the jewelry section or discount bins.
The items were then tested by Weidenhamer. Of 61 samples, 59 contained at least 5 percent cadmium by weight, with 53 of those measuring 10 percent or higher.
Weidenhamer’s prior research has shown that the testing method he used – an X-ray gun that can roughly tell the amount of cadmium in an item – typically underestimates how much is present.
Representatives of the jewelry industry have argued that the presence of cadmium, even at high levels, is not by itself proof that an item is dangerous. The important thing, they say, is how much can escape if the item is sucked, bitten or swallowed.
Lab testing conducted by Weidenhamer at AP’s request showed that several items easily shed the metal when exposed to a mixture that simulated human stomach acid.
The day after AP’s original report, Wal-Mart said it was pulling two of the highlighted items – pendants with themes from the Disney movie “The Princess and the Frog.” Within three weeks, the chain had agreed to recall all the pendants already sold.
Since then, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued two more recalls, for charm bracelets sold at the international jewelry chain Claire’s and at a Dollar N More store. Last week, the agency’s spokesman said there will be more recalls.
While AP’s January investigation focused on jewelry clearly intended for children, the items tested for AP this time were labeled “not intended for children under 14 years.” That is an important legal distinction: Under current law, children’s items are defined as for kids 12 and under, and children’s products are subject to regulations that others are not.
For reasons that are not fully understood, girls ages 6 to 11 – an age range that includes many fans of Cyrus’ “Hannah Montana” TV show, movies and CDs – appear to be more at risk from cadmium.
Data from a major national study found that girls of that age absorb more cadmium than other children or adults, according to Bruce A. Fowler, a toxicologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The increased absorption could be because those girls typically have iron deficiency and their bodies grab on to cadmium as a substitute, Fowler said, or it could be because they encounter more of the metal in objects such as jewelry.
The importer of the bracelet charms, Cousin Corp. of America, said that earlier this year, it persuaded one of the Chinese factories with which it works to stop using cadmium. The cadmium-heavy jewelry Weidenhamer tested was produced in 2008 and 2009 at the problem factory, said Roy Gudgeon, vice president of merchandise at Florida-based Cousin.
“Our intention as a company is to never willingly cause harm to a child,” he said.
Federal regulators’ own research says that kids start becoming interested in making their own jewelry around ages 6 to 8. As for products featuring Cyrus, her fans include teenagers, tweens, even kindergartners.
Associated Press writers Briana Bierschbach in Minneapolis, Ben Dobbin in Rochester, N.Y., Ray Henry in Atlanta, David Mercer in Savoy, Ill., Kathleen Miller in Alexandria, Va., Thomas Peipert in Denver, Bob Salsberg in Boston, Terry Tang in Phoenix, and Michael Tarm in Chicago contributed to this report.
Fast Tube by Casper
Several years ago, we received a fabulous educational refrigerator musical magnet that’s purpose is to keep young children entertained and supervised while you need to prepare food. (The directions don’t state this, but it really is a no brainer.) The musical toy is recommended for infants who can sit up on their own and usually is appreciated up until toddlerhood.
Now we no longer have toddlers at our home. But at our house, we can’t quite donate this one to Goodwill yet. We have a tradition of when things get a little out of hand, as they often can with two preschoolers 14 months apart; we break out the Booty Dance. Never heard of this one?
When your kids misbehave, as you all know, you have to choose your battles. Is the offense so naughty that “time out” or the act of being sent to your room is necessary, or do you need a diversion tactic?
Sometimes we have to use a little discipline, but if you just want the behavior to stop and for the child to be redirected. Booty Dance Break.
This musical magnet has a button that when pressed will play a different upbeat farm type of song. At first the girls would just take turns hitting the button and then dance around in a circle in the kitchen grabbing the hands of anyone in the room. This then progressed to the same lead up, but then leaning over and shaking your booty and laughing until you couldn’t laugh anymore.
Now the girls have discovered if you place the magnet toy at the right height on the fridge door, you can run over, bump the button with your booty and then shake your hind quarters to your heart’s content!
I decided one day that if I joined them, I might be able to avoid putting myself in “timeout.” If we could cancel out some of the estrogen in the house by increasing the endorphins through exercise, music and laughter, life might be more peaceful at our wild and crazy house. We usually do this for about 15 minutes until the phrase “Mommy is tired!” is heard and then we all seem to get along better for the rest of the afternoon.
The Booty Dance Break is not going to teach children how to behave properly or be respectful. It will not solve all of your parenting issues, but it seems to work in my kitchen; and hopefully, when the girls get tall enough to be seen through the kitchen window dancing with their mother, the neighbors won’t think, “Those poor children! Their mother has been hitting the bottle again and it’s only noon!”
©2010, Hatton. All rights reserved
