If you haven't seen it, you have to go read the Zero Waste Home blog. I was really convicted when I first read about this, partly because I know that she is doing what our ancestors used to do (and until their methods were pushed out by modern "conveniences", there were no landfills or pollution) and partly because I have really struggled with reducing my impact on the earth (in a physical sense) for a long time. I would like to be more self sustaining and produce less trash, as well as simplify our lives by reducing unnecessary clutter.
I recycle. I try to buy things in packaging that can be easily recycled in my area, which in Alaska, means paper, cardboard, tin, glass and #1 and #2 plastics. I compost, or did until we moved, and will start a new series of piles here this summer. I try to use cloth diapers and washable cleaning rags and towels to help cut down on paper waste. I buy second hand and I sew. I forage and I can foods. But as a home of 6 (and #7 on the way) we still make nearly 1 bag of garbage a day. That is a lot of trash over the course of a year!
I would like to move toward a "zero waste" home for my family. I am overwhelmed with the amount of stuff we own and keep around and I am not advocating throwing it all out and just starting over. There are some things that Bea does that I cannot support or are impractical for our lifestyle. They are thing that I have weighed in my pursuit of a simpler lifestyle.
1.The Johnsons are a family of 4 and they are done having kids. We are at 7 and probably still growing.
2.They live in California, where compost breaks down faster because of climate differences. It takes an average of 3 years in Alaska for a compost pile to completely cook and be ready for use as compost. I will feed kitchen scraps to my chickens and compost too, but our compost pile will never be able to take on wax paper like Bea's!
3. In California, fresh produce, milk, and meat are available year round. I live where everything has to be flown or trucked in, often unripe and expensive because of shipping, and that means I have to grow or preserve what I can when it is in season or buy it packaged from the store.
4. In California, natural foods grocery stores that offer bulk shopping are closer and more abundant, offering practically everything in a bulk bin and again, Bea Johnson pays less because of the shipping difference and she can stock up at any time. I know because when I go out of state, I shop at these stores and bring home all kinds of goodies because they are cheap and of better quality than what I can get at home. My local stores offer a limited mount in bulk, I would estimate a 10th of what they offered in bulk here when I was a child, and there isn't a demand for it like there used to be. I, in turn, need to order the foods, supplements and toiletries that are best for my family from an out of state company or buy them during special sales and keep them stocked up, which means I have to keep more of everything in my home at all times to make it affordable and practical. This means more clutter.
5. I have also noticed that Bea does some canning, but not nearly as much as I do (I haven't bought jam since my oldest was 1), nor does she plan for emergency preparedness, something that I am working on for my family and think is essential.
All of these things combined mean that my house has more clutter and, consequently, more waste than a "zero waste" home might have otherwise. I am not discouraged, I will just have to do what I can and keep finding waste free alternatives. I have started some of this and here is an outline of what I can do, now, within my means and region:
1. Talk to my stores about bringing in my own containers. I have already talked to the butcher at Fred Meyer's about bringing in my pyrex containers for meat and he said "No Problem!" I have also talked to one of the managers at my local Safeway and asked the same about using my glass jars for bulk items and she agreed to help me, as long as I come in while she is on shift. That is a good start. I currently use my mesh produce bags for bulk snacks as well, but obviously, that won't work for flours very well :) Just make sure to write down the item number for the cashiers!
2. Bake more bread. We eat at least 1 loaf of bread a day! My favorite is a brand from Fred's, but making my own is very easy and affordable. Really, I could teach the kids to do it when I am feeling lazy! Safeway and Freds both offer rolls, bagels and some other bread items in bulk and there is no problem with me using my mesh produce bags to get these. I've tried it ;)
3. Get a milk share. Make butter, yogurt, cheese and ice cream. I can start buying my cheese much more regularly at the Gourmet Garden, where I can purchase a myriad of cheeses European style. I am sure there will be no protest to using my own glass containers, but I will let you know.
4. Switch to flip top bottles for bottling my homemade wines and beers. I have some growlers with gaskets and it's not difficult to get more, just a matter of investing in them financially. This will mean less glass recycling and no rubber corks to toss and replace.
5. Look for better bulk items. Safeway, Fred Meyer's and maybe even the Gluten Free store? Local stores offer soaps, chocolate, flours, cheeses all in bulk, so be willing to shop at the little guy. Wax, honey, and maple syrup can be found at Cadre. I will try Echo Lake Meats too. And I just noticed that 3 Bears is offering organic and natural foods now, so some of my grains can come from there.
6. Buy more jars. I use these for canning, but also for storing dry goods for my emergency foods and pantry. Preserve more food like cheeses and eggs.
7. Make my own paper. Use the shredder to facilitate. I have all the supplies for this, and again, it can be something we do as a family once in a while. I recently sorted through all our boxes of books and papers as I was unpacking and found that there is enough paper in the house (construction, lined, notepads, drawing or watercolor) for well over a year! I will not be buying any more paper for a LONG time. We homeschool, so I could go paper less and let my kids do everything on the computer, but I dont' think that sitting in front of a computer all day is good for them, nor do I think we are ready to get rid of our book collections, since our kids read an average of 2 to 3 books a day, each.
8. Use my mp3 player more. I could be buying books on cd and downloading them right to it! Also, change the newspaper and magazine subscriptions to e-subscriptions. And we will be exercising that library card a lot more!
9. Cancel junk mail! Call, email, write to magazines and mailing lists when I get some to help reduce the amount of paper waste coming IN to my home to begin with!
10. Rethink recycling and composting. Buy less packaging, use more aluminum and glass, less paper and boxes, NO plastics. Aluminum and glass can be recycled indefinitely, where paper can only be recycled once.
11. No more birthday party junk. No goody bags filled with junky toys, no balloons, no streamers. Birthday gifts can easily be changed to activities or gift certificates, which my kids love and I love because they get individual time with a relative or mom or dad! Best of all, no mess to clean up! I'll be using my silicone cupcake liners more often and I invested in some Silpat mats to eliminate the foil and parchment that I have been using for baking. Maybe we will switch to a special tablecloth that everyone can write on as a family keepsake or maybe quilt squares that can be saved until they are 18 and then made into a graduation gift?
The same goes for eating out - no more junky toys, eat where there are plates, not a package, when possible, and carry snacks and water in the car like we used to (everyone has their own metal water bottle now). We can even keep extra pyrex in the car for leftovers at restaurants.
14. Switch bathroom stuff. Minimize! Everyone can use the same shampoo, but it would be nice to find one that came in bulk. Make more of our products -like tooth paste, home made balms and salves in our own tins. We have switched to cloth potty wipes for the toddlers, and we already do cloth diapers, and I am switching to cloth pads.
15. Pair down clothing. I have done this for the sizes that the older boys are currently in, but I need to do this with the sizes that are stored right now. Same for shoes. I need to eliminate things that are stained or ripped (they will go into a rag box for sewing projects) and donate the extras. Mom and Dad need to do this too, even if we think we will fit into those sizes again someday, the clothes may be impractical or we may not like them anymore and they need to go! Just reducing the boys clothing has certainly made laundry easier to keep up with!
16. Make sure the hubby and I have time to go fishing, hunting and foraging. Our garden is off to a good start this year and I have plans to get it completely planted before the beginning of June. Doing as much as we can for ourselves is probably the single most important thing we can do to reduce our household waste!
As Bea would say:
Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, in that order!
Wish me luck :)
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Menu Mailer Liberation!
Before you scroll down to read my post, Cooking Traditional Foods is having a giveaway! Click here to enter. There are 9 different ways to enter for a chance at winning the Back to Basics E-book.
Last summer I posted about my new cook book and raved about how much I loved it, but never named it. It is a book called "Nourishing Traditions" and can be found on Amazon. I had been looking for a cook book that would allow me to feed my family with quality food in a way that was close to how I already cooked. This was it. It was similar to how my mother cooked for us when I was young and it seemed easy enough. I cut out store bought mayo, packaged oatmeal, and cold cereal. I upgraded our butter to the best I could find (which wasn't the most expensive, suprisingly) and gave myself a pat on the back for always refusing to feed my family margarine! I loved it because I didn't have to change a lot; I already cooked with fresh ingredients and made everything from scratch. And then I found a blog devoted to cooking in the same fashion! I thought I was set!
But like any cook, I get tired. I order in, or eat out, or resort to the occasional frozen meal and I feel SO much guilt each time that I do! How was I supposed to keep up with cooking 3 meals a day, 1 or 2 snacks, chores, homeschool and 4 kids? Everyone slips up, right? I find it even harder to prepare meals in the evening, when I am tired or the kitchen is a mess, especially now in the last 6 weeks of my 5th pregnancy!
While I was filling out my entries for this e-book giveaway, I was asked to answer the question "what your biggest hurdle is to getting traditional foods into your family on a consistent basis?" And I thought I had a few good answers (*cough* excuses) like time, energy, money.... but really, if healthy, filling, nourishing food is so important to me, would those things hold me back? What did it really come down to? One ugly word: stubbornness!
This e-book giveaway is a collection of menu mailers! You know, weekly menu's mailed to you, complete with recipes and shopping lists. Why am I not already using these fantastic mailers?! Because somewhere in my process of learning to cook (which came from Gourmet magazine and the Joy of Cooking), and training myself to reject fast food or mainstream diets, I decided that I didn't need advice from anyone! I had been down the road of going vegetarian, back to meat and processed foods, to vegan, to gourmet, then to allergy and weight loss diets and finally (thanks to my husband) settled in a place where I was allowed to eat what I wanted, as long as it was all natural. I had so many ideas pushed at me that taking any of them became a sign of weakness and I wasn't about to let anyone tell me what to eat ever again, because I was far more informed than anyone! This means that the possibility of following a menu mailer was so beneath me that I couldn't even consider it! I browse the recipes that come to my inbox and move on.
But here I am: to tired to cook or go out to eat, hungry, and I loathe shopping or making lists to GO shopping. I need help! I can't afford to keep eating out, physically or financially! And feeding my family meals from the freezer isn't bad if I'm the one that made them and put them in there! I give up - I am submitting! If you are in any way like me (at least, the to tired to make dinner part) I encourage you to give it a try for a month! Just a month, that's all I am committing to right now. And I'm not waiting to win the book to start.
One last thing before I go.... I want to know: How did you learn to cook? And what is your biggest challenge when it comes to feeding your family healthy, nutritious foods?
Update: I have switched dish unloading/loading time from after lunch, to after breakfast. It seems to be helping a great deal, leaving the dishwasher available for dirty dishes all day long, and keeping my kitchen clean! Its much easier to cook dinner when I don't have to do dishes first. Now, we all load our plates after dinner and I turn it on and things are ready to be put away in the morning! A small change with a huge impact!
Last summer I posted about my new cook book and raved about how much I loved it, but never named it. It is a book called "Nourishing Traditions" and can be found on Amazon. I had been looking for a cook book that would allow me to feed my family with quality food in a way that was close to how I already cooked. This was it. It was similar to how my mother cooked for us when I was young and it seemed easy enough. I cut out store bought mayo, packaged oatmeal, and cold cereal. I upgraded our butter to the best I could find (which wasn't the most expensive, suprisingly) and gave myself a pat on the back for always refusing to feed my family margarine! I loved it because I didn't have to change a lot; I already cooked with fresh ingredients and made everything from scratch. And then I found a blog devoted to cooking in the same fashion! I thought I was set!
But like any cook, I get tired. I order in, or eat out, or resort to the occasional frozen meal and I feel SO much guilt each time that I do! How was I supposed to keep up with cooking 3 meals a day, 1 or 2 snacks, chores, homeschool and 4 kids? Everyone slips up, right? I find it even harder to prepare meals in the evening, when I am tired or the kitchen is a mess, especially now in the last 6 weeks of my 5th pregnancy!
While I was filling out my entries for this e-book giveaway, I was asked to answer the question "what your biggest hurdle is to getting traditional foods into your family on a consistent basis?" And I thought I had a few good answers (*cough* excuses) like time, energy, money.... but really, if healthy, filling, nourishing food is so important to me, would those things hold me back? What did it really come down to? One ugly word: stubbornness!
This e-book giveaway is a collection of menu mailers! You know, weekly menu's mailed to you, complete with recipes and shopping lists. Why am I not already using these fantastic mailers?! Because somewhere in my process of learning to cook (which came from Gourmet magazine and the Joy of Cooking), and training myself to reject fast food or mainstream diets, I decided that I didn't need advice from anyone! I had been down the road of going vegetarian, back to meat and processed foods, to vegan, to gourmet, then to allergy and weight loss diets and finally (thanks to my husband) settled in a place where I was allowed to eat what I wanted, as long as it was all natural. I had so many ideas pushed at me that taking any of them became a sign of weakness and I wasn't about to let anyone tell me what to eat ever again, because I was far more informed than anyone! This means that the possibility of following a menu mailer was so beneath me that I couldn't even consider it! I browse the recipes that come to my inbox and move on.
But here I am: to tired to cook or go out to eat, hungry, and I loathe shopping or making lists to GO shopping. I need help! I can't afford to keep eating out, physically or financially! And feeding my family meals from the freezer isn't bad if I'm the one that made them and put them in there! I give up - I am submitting! If you are in any way like me (at least, the to tired to make dinner part) I encourage you to give it a try for a month! Just a month, that's all I am committing to right now. And I'm not waiting to win the book to start.
One last thing before I go.... I want to know: How did you learn to cook? And what is your biggest challenge when it comes to feeding your family healthy, nutritious foods?
Update: I have switched dish unloading/loading time from after lunch, to after breakfast. It seems to be helping a great deal, leaving the dishwasher available for dirty dishes all day long, and keeping my kitchen clean! Its much easier to cook dinner when I don't have to do dishes first. Now, we all load our plates after dinner and I turn it on and things are ready to be put away in the morning! A small change with a huge impact!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Taking stock
Thanks so much for the positive feedback on my last post! Its been hard to stay away from church, actually. It has paid off SO much, just in the 2 weekends I have missed. I hope you will visit my other blog and check on our home projects.
One of the things that I have been doing to prepare our family for hard times, be they financial collapse in our nation, natural disasters, or any other unforseen trouble, is to replenish our long term stocks of food and supplies. We had started doing this a few years ago, when our finances finally allowed us to buy extra and put it away, but we ended up using it! We decided to use our stores while we were saving up money for our house and it was very helpful. Now that we are in the new house, its time to start that up again, but how do you feed a growing family of 6 on a budget?
How? First we are returning to our budget. With our savings and tax rebate for buying a house, we have become pretty lax in our spending habits! We have used it to run out and buy materials for things, eat out when we are too tired and its really gotten out of control! Now that our reserves are pretty much depleted, things must change!
I have set the grocery budget (which includes clothing spending, school supplies and gift giving) at something pretty modest and will adjust it if I discover that it's just not possible to keep us fed or floating on that amount. Food in Alaska is much more expensive than the contiguous U.S., no matter what retailer you shop at. Gas is way more expensive. But there has to be a point to start from. I buy 1) what we need for the week for food and home care and 2) any extra in the grocery budget goes to stocking the shelves with future necessities. This means I have a list of things that we absolutely could not live without in a pared down existence and if something is on a screaming sale that week, I get it and check it off. I am rotating thru the list on a monthly basis, so I am purchasing an extra one of each storage item every month. The goal is to stay under budget each week, and build up some savings (again, since we kinda used it up working on the house!) Hopefully, at the end of each quarter (so that would be the end of May, since I started in March?) make a bulk order for grains and things that are VERY hard to come by at my local stores and must be ordered.
Now, my organizing of these items is sub-par! We have shelves in the basement, but they are currently crammed with all the boxes and random junk from the move. I have to get down there soon and reorganize! I should probably make a master list of expiration dates too, to help me keep on top of using what I have and keeping it replenished. Its a lot of work to get this set up, but as I learned with the last time we needed it, it is worth the effort.
Tomorrow I have a fun list of things that I am doing at home to help make our lifestyle less a "consumer driven dependency " and more self sufficient. Well, they are fun for me :)
One of the things that I have been doing to prepare our family for hard times, be they financial collapse in our nation, natural disasters, or any other unforseen trouble, is to replenish our long term stocks of food and supplies. We had started doing this a few years ago, when our finances finally allowed us to buy extra and put it away, but we ended up using it! We decided to use our stores while we were saving up money for our house and it was very helpful. Now that we are in the new house, its time to start that up again, but how do you feed a growing family of 6 on a budget?
How? First we are returning to our budget. With our savings and tax rebate for buying a house, we have become pretty lax in our spending habits! We have used it to run out and buy materials for things, eat out when we are too tired and its really gotten out of control! Now that our reserves are pretty much depleted, things must change!
I have set the grocery budget (which includes clothing spending, school supplies and gift giving) at something pretty modest and will adjust it if I discover that it's just not possible to keep us fed or floating on that amount. Food in Alaska is much more expensive than the contiguous U.S., no matter what retailer you shop at. Gas is way more expensive. But there has to be a point to start from. I buy 1) what we need for the week for food and home care and 2) any extra in the grocery budget goes to stocking the shelves with future necessities. This means I have a list of things that we absolutely could not live without in a pared down existence and if something is on a screaming sale that week, I get it and check it off. I am rotating thru the list on a monthly basis, so I am purchasing an extra one of each storage item every month. The goal is to stay under budget each week, and build up some savings (again, since we kinda used it up working on the house!) Hopefully, at the end of each quarter (so that would be the end of May, since I started in March?) make a bulk order for grains and things that are VERY hard to come by at my local stores and must be ordered.
Now, my organizing of these items is sub-par! We have shelves in the basement, but they are currently crammed with all the boxes and random junk from the move. I have to get down there soon and reorganize! I should probably make a master list of expiration dates too, to help me keep on top of using what I have and keeping it replenished. Its a lot of work to get this set up, but as I learned with the last time we needed it, it is worth the effort.
Tomorrow I have a fun list of things that I am doing at home to help make our lifestyle less a "consumer driven dependency " and more self sufficient. Well, they are fun for me :)
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Count down - 80 pictures to the finish
I got my sketchbook in the mail on Monday. It is little but still very intimidating, with its 80 blank pages staring at me. I managed to start one drawing in it yesterday, and finished it mostly. I'm still undecided as to what medium to use. Probably pencil and colored pencil, since that's what I have on hand. If I want anything else, I will have to push my way in to my office and dig thru some boxes to find it.
Pencil it is!
As far a theme, I chose "The greatest story ever told..." I had to make a short list to help me focus. I'm a list maker, perpetually, and I have found it has helped me keep the contents of my head in order and in so many ways.
One idea was to draw my way through the bible. I really like that one, but that might be the most controversial and I'm just trying to ease my way back into this. Not to mention, I'm short on time and that is definitely going to take longer than 16 (eek!) weeks. I do plan on doing that one also, but maybe after the new year.
Another idea was to just make it a book of portraits. Each portrait is a picture of a person and what story could be greater than that of every person you know? Everyone's story is of value and interest, however short or sad or carefree.
In the end, it was a simple drawing of my infant son that helped me narrow down my topic. It will be a biographical series, chronicling the life of one person (male), birth to death. I am in a position where my models are all around me in several ages and stages already (my husband and boys) and if I average 4 or 5 drawings a week, I could be ready to mail it in January 1st. I'm going to choose to forgo words of any kind to help me capture the moment for each period. That means I won't caption the pictures or explain in words what is going on. They will just be pictures.
One picture down and....79 to go :) Hope your evening is peaceful.
Pencil it is!
As far a theme, I chose "The greatest story ever told..." I had to make a short list to help me focus. I'm a list maker, perpetually, and I have found it has helped me keep the contents of my head in order and in so many ways.
One idea was to draw my way through the bible. I really like that one, but that might be the most controversial and I'm just trying to ease my way back into this. Not to mention, I'm short on time and that is definitely going to take longer than 16 (eek!) weeks. I do plan on doing that one also, but maybe after the new year.
Another idea was to just make it a book of portraits. Each portrait is a picture of a person and what story could be greater than that of every person you know? Everyone's story is of value and interest, however short or sad or carefree.
In the end, it was a simple drawing of my infant son that helped me narrow down my topic. It will be a biographical series, chronicling the life of one person (male), birth to death. I am in a position where my models are all around me in several ages and stages already (my husband and boys) and if I average 4 or 5 drawings a week, I could be ready to mail it in January 1st. I'm going to choose to forgo words of any kind to help me capture the moment for each period. That means I won't caption the pictures or explain in words what is going on. They will just be pictures.
One picture down and....79 to go :) Hope your evening is peaceful.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Trying to focus
My husband and I came to the realization last night that I have to scale back my participation on renovating the new house. This sucks. Sorry, but I'm really disappointed. I do agree with him 100%, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating. I really want to help get our new home ready and be a partner in the remodel, but I will have to do it in a different way.
I've been having a couple of teenage girls watch the baby for a couple of hours every day, whenever possible, and then spending that time working at the new house. The problem is that it sometimes takes me all day to get ready to go to the house, or assemble all the materials because I am doing it with 4 little kids under foot either at home or at the new house. I have to work around the baby's nap times, when I can get the most done, but sometimes that doesn't happen until the late afternoon, which puts a real crimp in dinner plans. I still have to prepare all our meals, and my home is really suffering because I don't have the time to seriously clean it, since I'm always preparing to be gone. Basically, everything is getting partially done, but very poorly! This has caused a lot of frustration for me and for my husband, who is working all day and then putting in a few hours at the new house and is not being taken care of as well as he should be. Failing at everything is miserable.
I'm a little resentful right now, so pray for me. Not just about the house, but also about our extended family dynamics, concerning child care. I know that I shouldn't be so mad, and that the Lord has called me to a different kind of job than my husband's. My family would be best served by a mother who is home to feed everyone and keep the home in order, especially during this very chaotic process of moving and renovating. It will also give me time to pack and purge, a job unto itself. Pray that I will have the grace to be the support and not the lead on this project, and that I will find satisfaction in meeting goals of a different kind. And keep my husband in prayer - he is working long hours and mostly by himself. Safety is a top priority right now.
I've been having a couple of teenage girls watch the baby for a couple of hours every day, whenever possible, and then spending that time working at the new house. The problem is that it sometimes takes me all day to get ready to go to the house, or assemble all the materials because I am doing it with 4 little kids under foot either at home or at the new house. I have to work around the baby's nap times, when I can get the most done, but sometimes that doesn't happen until the late afternoon, which puts a real crimp in dinner plans. I still have to prepare all our meals, and my home is really suffering because I don't have the time to seriously clean it, since I'm always preparing to be gone. Basically, everything is getting partially done, but very poorly! This has caused a lot of frustration for me and for my husband, who is working all day and then putting in a few hours at the new house and is not being taken care of as well as he should be. Failing at everything is miserable.
I'm a little resentful right now, so pray for me. Not just about the house, but also about our extended family dynamics, concerning child care. I know that I shouldn't be so mad, and that the Lord has called me to a different kind of job than my husband's. My family would be best served by a mother who is home to feed everyone and keep the home in order, especially during this very chaotic process of moving and renovating. It will also give me time to pack and purge, a job unto itself. Pray that I will have the grace to be the support and not the lead on this project, and that I will find satisfaction in meeting goals of a different kind. And keep my husband in prayer - he is working long hours and mostly by himself. Safety is a top priority right now.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Summer Fun
School has slowed down for the summer. We have just 2 subjects to work on, Math and Language Arts. Usually we do a lot of activities thru the summer, attending festivals, road trips, museums. We will try to do some of that, but honestly, most of our time will be spent working on the house! I hope this proves to be a summer they will remember, despite it's general lack of "fun". The fun will have to more of the homegrown variety, like backyard games and time with our friends.
Here is a sampling of some extracurricular things we have done this summer:
Eddie has been learning to mow the lawn (supervised of course), and the boys have had a great time shooting bb guns in the backyard with Dad. We also managed to get over to the Kenai River Festival for an afternoon, where we painted some wooden fish, met some mimes and Eddie was kind enough to stand behind the mermaid cut out, while his brother was the whale! What a great big brother. There are lessons in each of these: selflessness, diligence, patience, not to mention the value of hard work. I'm hoping these will be lessons that stick! Perhaps they are learning afterall....
Here is a sampling of some extracurricular things we have done this summer:
Eddie has been learning to mow the lawn (supervised of course), and the boys have had a great time shooting bb guns in the backyard with Dad. We also managed to get over to the Kenai River Festival for an afternoon, where we painted some wooden fish, met some mimes and Eddie was kind enough to stand behind the mermaid cut out, while his brother was the whale! What a great big brother. There are lessons in each of these: selflessness, diligence, patience, not to mention the value of hard work. I'm hoping these will be lessons that stick! Perhaps they are learning afterall....
Saturday, June 5, 2010
No Apologies
An acquaintance of mine just found out she is pregnant with baby number 4! I'm happy for her and wish her the best, but it seems like she is getting some flack from her and her husband's family and friends! That has really become an irritation for me! I hear that each time I get pregnant and it is SO annoying!
I'm so sick of listening to random opinions flying out of people's mouths concerning pregnancy and children. A) Its not your place to tell someone how many kids you think they should have, B) its just plain rude and inconsiderate to not wish them well, but instead chastise them for having a child! Maybe you don't consider children a blessing? Good. Don't have any of your own! Maybe you think they have too much on their plate? Trials build character and ability, which these naysayers must be lacking or they wouldn't share their opinion so readily.
Some people find raising children to be a wonderful kind of life. No one said it should be or would be easy. No one asked you to donate or pitch in to help raise a large family, and if that is the basis for the criticism (i.e. having a large family that is dependent on welfare), I do agree, but most often that is NOT the case. If you are bothered by children in public place, don't go there! Find other times to do your errands or dine. Children keep this county, and our economy, going!
It is a fact that U.S. has fallen below the replacement birth-rate (the rate at which our future generation will replace our currently mature workforce), much like most of Europe, Japan and China, and will see a major workforce shortage in the next 2 generations and will not be able to support its aging population (that's you, baby boomers!) I personally think that this will allow us to eventually get our federal finances back in line and rediscover our values as a nation, but I could be wrong. In either case, the people of child-bearing age who don't want to have children feel that they are doing the world a favor by not having kids, and I feel that I am by having them!
I won't make apologies for wanting or having a big family. I take care of my children, teach them to be upstanding citizens of sound judgement and compassion. I take pride in my job, and this is the one I am best suited for! You should be thanking me for making the world a better place.
Am I done? No. I'm not positive we'll have more kids, but I wouldn't mind if we did! Am I tired? Sure, but its a good tired, one that comes with a job well done, and I'm not about to quit half-way thru!
Finally, to all the critics out there who ask pregnant women "Don't you know what causes that?", as a woman with 9 children once said " Yeah, we do, and we're darn good at it!"
I'm so sick of listening to random opinions flying out of people's mouths concerning pregnancy and children. A) Its not your place to tell someone how many kids you think they should have, B) its just plain rude and inconsiderate to not wish them well, but instead chastise them for having a child! Maybe you don't consider children a blessing? Good. Don't have any of your own! Maybe you think they have too much on their plate? Trials build character and ability, which these naysayers must be lacking or they wouldn't share their opinion so readily.
Some people find raising children to be a wonderful kind of life. No one said it should be or would be easy. No one asked you to donate or pitch in to help raise a large family, and if that is the basis for the criticism (i.e. having a large family that is dependent on welfare), I do agree, but most often that is NOT the case. If you are bothered by children in public place, don't go there! Find other times to do your errands or dine. Children keep this county, and our economy, going!
It is a fact that U.S. has fallen below the replacement birth-rate (the rate at which our future generation will replace our currently mature workforce), much like most of Europe, Japan and China, and will see a major workforce shortage in the next 2 generations and will not be able to support its aging population (that's you, baby boomers!) I personally think that this will allow us to eventually get our federal finances back in line and rediscover our values as a nation, but I could be wrong. In either case, the people of child-bearing age who don't want to have children feel that they are doing the world a favor by not having kids, and I feel that I am by having them!
I won't make apologies for wanting or having a big family. I take care of my children, teach them to be upstanding citizens of sound judgement and compassion. I take pride in my job, and this is the one I am best suited for! You should be thanking me for making the world a better place.
Am I done? No. I'm not positive we'll have more kids, but I wouldn't mind if we did! Am I tired? Sure, but its a good tired, one that comes with a job well done, and I'm not about to quit half-way thru!
Finally, to all the critics out there who ask pregnant women "Don't you know what causes that?", as a woman with 9 children once said " Yeah, we do, and we're darn good at it!"
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