Posts
Hi everyone,
Well it has occurred to me that there might be a good reason that we have such a pathetically small number of followers for the Ankle Biters blog, and that would be, because it is so bloody boring! So to follow, please find my inaugural “using our blog for something other than boring product updates” post!
There are many and varied things that I have tried my hand at over the years, I’ve worked as a computer technician, as a staff trainer at Woollies, as a real estate and travel agent, a bar attendant, and even, in my younger years, as a “promotions manager” at a night club (translated to mean “the chic who parades around on stage in skimpy clothes getting people to enter competitions”! Oh, and of course, we cannot forget my ongoing passion of the previous decade, photography, and, more recently my return to University to study community development and child psychology.
As I get older, I feel my conscience starting to take over from my ego and more and more I feel the need to do “good in the world”, which in a way, has led to the building of our family business that you all know as Ankle Biters. Of course, nothing has ever been truly successful as I have struggled through the daily regime that is being a wife and a mum of 5. Through all of the different hats that I have worn though, there is one consistent theme to the comments that I receive from people and that is a) that I talk too much and b) that I talk too much!
Those who know me well regularly say things like “she can talk under water”, “she never shuts up” and call me nicknames such as “Jabber Jaws” and “Motor Mouth” etc. Those who meet me once or twice are much more polite and say simply that I have “the gift of the gab”. Well, who am I to argue?! :) So it is about time, I reckon, that I put my apparent “talent” to good use and so, here it is; a long-winded, at times boring but mostly wickedly funny blog about well, how to be a Not-So-Perfect (wannabe) Green Parent...
Here I am doing what I apparently do best!
Ok, so here’s the thing – whilst we have a Carbon Neutral business and we are working hard to promote the concept of “Green Parenting”, I am not about to proclaim to be the expert at it myself. This might sound a bit hyppocritical but hey, I am only human. What I am trying to instil in my kids though is to be “eco-aware”. I’m trying to teach them that unfortunately, in this modern day and age there are sometimes instances where we must compromise our eco-beliefs for pure convenience or more commonly for us, because of financial restraints.
So I guess that we have really unconsciously adopted an attitude of “eco-awareness” in our house. Rather than just accepting those compromises that I just mentioned, we discuss why it is that we are making the compromise and how we can justify it when we know that it simply isn’t an eco-friendly option.
Take me for example, I am the QUEEN of the clothes dryer. It is my worst eco-vice by far. It is also something that there is no way I am willing to live without. Between 5 kids and 2 businesses, I don’t even have enough time to sleep, and I am certainly not cutting into that time by standing for hours every day at a clothes line. My poor kids spend half of their lives digging through baskets of clean clothes calling out “Mum, I have no undies!” and going to school wearing odd socks as it is! If I didn't do the dryer thing, those baskets of clean clothes would very quickly become baskets of wet, smelly clothes!
I mean, I absolutely cringe every time I put another load into that dryer, but it really is a matter not only of convenience, but one of necessity for us. I try to allay my conscience by telling myself that we do not have air conditioning or any form of heating in our house (except for blankets and slippers!), which results in us sweating our way through summer and freezing our butts off through winter, but at least I feel better about using my dryer! :)
It has been playing more and more on my mind though and yesterday OH (other half) and I bit the bullet and put our "KRudd Money" to good (eco-friendly) use! We did our research and splashed out on a brand new dryer. Ok, so I know the purists out there will argue the eco ramifications of replacing a perfectly working, but old dryer with a new one, but I think that the good definitely outweighs the bad here.
We got the most energy efficient dryer that we could find (and afford) - ** (2 stars) – yippee! Okay, so that in itself is not something to brag about, but it is a lot bigger than our old dryer, (which was probably a negative star rating!), and it has an automatic sensor so turns itself off when the clothes are dry, thus not wasting energy on drying already dry clothes. The larger size is a great thing, not only for convenience but as it saves time and thus energy on doing multiple loads etc.
So, I’ve totally gone off into a tangent here and I really had no intention of devoting this post to the pros and cons of using a clothes dryer, so give me a sec while I regroup....
Ok, anyways, my point that I was verbosely trying to reach is that no matter how well intentioned our lives are, there will be times where we simply have to admit to conceding eco-defeat. So, as I mentioned before, I am allowing this to happen in our house (within reason) by ensuring that the kids are AWARE of what it is that we are compromising and why it isn’t the best option for the planet etc.
For one, we WASTE much too much in our house!! Food is the major wastage issue really– 5 fussy kids generally results in a lot of uneaten leftovers. At the moment, we are renting, and amid our pipe dreams of our very own eco-friendly paradise, we find ourselves in suburban Brisbane, in an early 1980s high-set,double brick house that is far from energy efficient. We don’t have the veggie garden that we fantasize about, nor the chooks, nor the worm farm. We don't even compost, and if we did it would be wasted anyways as we have so little time to garden!
Every night, we chastise ourselves as we clean the kitchen only to fill yet another bag of rubbish to take to the wheelie bin, promising each other (that is me and OH) that we simply must do something about this “situation”. Of course, our chaotic lives then run their course and another day passes until the following night when again, we scrape the plates into the bin and give each other that knowing look once again.
It is just so hard to get our priorities in order. We simply do not have the finances or the time to do everything that we long for. But, we are at least AWARE of this, and do the very best that we can in other ways that do suit our lifestyle and our situation. For example, we have of course, switched to green power. We conserve water as much as possible. We walk a lot, and OH even runs the 15km trek to work (and then 15km home!) on regular occasions. We use only eco-friendly and natural household products. We use only organic personal care products (click on that phrase to be taken to the AB website to view them - yes, that was a truly shameless plug!). We use only cloth nappies or eco-disposables when necessary. We buy organic clothing (more shameless plugs!), food and toiletries as much as we can afford to. We offset our emissions. We are by no means perfect in our lifestyle but we are certainly aware of our impact and carbon footprint and are making sure that our kids are too.
Our efforts are definitely evident in our kids – our oldest is known to his teacher as their very own Grade 6 “eco-crusader”! And for that, at least, we can feel a little proud.
I am going to use this blog to chronicle our evolution as we try to fix the things that we do wrong in our house, as we truthfully work towards being true, unadulterated green parents! If you have managed to read this far without falling asleep, then there just may be hope for me yet and I certainly look forward to you all coming along for the ride! I intend to reveal all of the twists and turns and the many bumps in our “road”, and I hope that one day I will be able to stand here proudly and proclaim that yes, indeed I am perfect! Well, perfectly “green” anyways!
Tan. :)
0 responses