Sippy cups. Cute plastic sippy cups have been dominating my thoughts recently. Those of you not in the "we've made a baby and now we have to save her and the whole planet" world of parenthood may not have heard about this issue, but it is all over, and I mean ALL OVER, blogs and boards and listserves for parents, particularly those of the green persuasion. The brouhaha? Bisphenol A, an endocrine disrupter, appears to be leaching from plastics, specifically from many plastics used to make sippy cups and other baby and toddler eating and drinking paraphernalia.
Prior to having my darling daughter ("DD" for those of you not in on the parenting blog lingo), if I had even heard about this issue, I probably would have given the uproar little thought, maybe switched my plastic water bottle to a sturdy aluminum one. But now, surrounded by an overabundance of plastic sippy cups sporting cute pictures of Elmo gamboling with his Sesame Street pals, I have to think about this issue. Am I a bad mama if I don't toss all those adorable Elmo mugs in favor of something more reproductive-health-friendly? Do I need to switch ALL our plastics?? What about what my husband and I drink and eat out of??? And if I do need to switch, to what? And at what cost?
It's amazing how, when I had a child, I began to think about things I'd never really considered before; things that before seemed matters of convenience now take on greater importance. Here's how it started for me: when DD began eating solid foods, I took a really hard look at food labels. Oh sure, hubby and I ate pretty healthy, pesca-vegetarian food prior to DD coming along; we ate organic when we could afford it, but I wasn't really a label reader. Mayo is mayo right?
But, like many other first-time moms, I worried about DD. What if what she ate made her hit puberty early? Develop cancer? Have a lifetime of food and health issues all created by Mama's terrible food choices? Ok, so that sounds a little more neurotic than I actually was, but I did begin to look for more organic options, options without the ubiquitous corn syrup, options with ingredients I could pronounce (or at least understand the reason for inclusion -- I mean, I do have a biology degree so I'm not a total chemical moron OR chemical-phobe). And not only for her, because, really, if it wasn't good enough to put in my child's body, then why would it be good enough to put in mine or my husband's?
This interest in organic foods and DD's health lead to contemplation of other, related issues. I mean, if we're going to do what we can to give her a healthier and LONGER life, don't we need to do more to give her a lovely, clean environment in which to live that long, healthy life? Suddenly Jack Johnson's song about the 3 R's (reduce, reuse, recycle) doesn't seem like just a cute ditty but a mantra for how we should be living. So we looked for ways to live lighter -- lighter in the sense of impact on the planet, lighter in the sense of how many possessions we own and bring into our house, lighter in the sense of how much our garbage bin weighs (as compared to our recycling bin).
Here's the kicker, though, living lighter has a cost. You trade getting mass quantities of email from Freecycle for having fewer things to take care of. You trade the smell of new books that are instantly available for only $12.95 a copy for the smell of library books that may have a waiting list of four months. You trade $0.99/pound conventional apples for $0.99/apple organic apples. And you waffle over some of the trade-offs: is it worth it to drive 40 miles to a recycling center that takes the items your friendly neighborhood recycling trucks do not? You trade a blissful clear conscience about throwing things away for guilt over the things that you can't recycle or change in your lifestyle.
For now, in the sippy cup dilemma, we're stuck with Elmo. I, doing my part, have looked -- there are no glass sippy cups. There is a metal one with mediocre reviews and a big price tag. DD needs cups with lids so she can cart her milk around without dribbling (did I say dribbling? no, DUMPING) milk all over Mama's not-so-spotless floors, and she loves that goofy red furry monster. Give her a few months and she'll be ready to drop the carry-around cup and switch for good to a real "little girl" glass.
So for now, for a little while longer, the trade off is a happy, spill-free daughter for a somewhat less light life.
2 comments:
Hey Sherry - Found your blog on facebook, I'm so glad to have a way to keep up with you guys without having to WRITE LETTERS!!! Ha ;)
Anyway, I think you have to do what you can do. You can't do it all, and you can't save the world. Every little bit counts, but you have to decide what works for your own family. I'm sure you guys do >60X what the average american family does, so you're doing pretty good!
Whoops, that was me, Shawn.
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