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 Never, ever, slam another Mother.

So during the week I listened on the radio as Jackie-O defended her actions of feeding her baby whilst crossing a road. It seemed absurd to me to hear that she had to defend herself, but apparently Pru Goward via a media outlet had branded the act as having "endangered her baby" by feeding her while crossing the road earlier this week. For those of you who haven’t heard of Pru, she is the New South Wales Families Minister. So I am SOOOOOO happy that she used her ‘position’ to step in and put Jackie down in this manner.

REALLY?

Well no.

See the fact is, although I am not a huge fan of Jackie O I am also acutely aware that one shouldn’t put another mother down*.

Next we know Pru Goward will declare that simply crossing a road which child will be too dangerous. And why was she ‘endangering’ her baby? Looked like milk in a bottle to me. And, whether the milk was bottle or breast is of no concern to anyone but Jackie, her hubby and baby. So, was she not paying full attention to the road as she crossed? Oh, of course! Because crossing a road whilst holding a screaming, wiggling child is much easier!

Thankfully, many women in the media came to Jackie’s defence and supported this first time mum.

You know, my bestie belongs to an online network of mums and their saying is something like “the only time you should look down on another mum, is when you bend down to offer your hand to help her up”.

Sage words for Pru Goward don’t you think?

*That is unless she is so obviously breaking the law and endangering her child, in which case you’d go to the ‘authorities’, not the media, Pru.

It may seem like a bargain at the time, but cheap plastic toys are everything but a bargain.

Imagine my glee at finding a box of 99 plastic food items at Target! “Yippy!”, I exclaimed. Perfect fit for the gorgeous little wooden kitchen Master 1^st born had. Eggs, Carrot, Capsicum, Chicken Drumstick… and loads of little plastic plates, forks and knives.  Plenty to play with, pretend to cook with and…spread across the house!

That was about 4 years ago.  Master 1^st born is 2 weeks shy of 5 years of age and starts kindy today (glad I am typing as tears would stain the paper if I wrote, but that’s for another time, another blog)

I’ve learnt a lot since the ’99 box’ day. An awful lot, awfully fast. Who doesn’t once you’ve had kids? Don’t they teach you a lot!

One of the biggest things Master 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd born have all taught me is that “Plastic is not Fantastic”

Whilst we still have plenty of plastic toys in the house, and I swear allegiance to always adore Lego (I still get immersed in lego construction!),  Hubby-extraordinaire and I have solemnly vowed to buy wooden and ethically produced toys first and foremost.  Why is it a big deal?

Well, let me count the reasons we have taken this step in our house:

1)   Happy plants, happy planet. Now, I’m not a total greenie, I’ll admit it. I’m kinda on board with climate change certainly I am to the extend that we should all strive to leave as little a footprint as possible. So, what happens to all the plastic toys that break (at an extraordinarily fast rate!), where do they end up, recycled or not? When you think of the damage plastic water bottles do to the environment, do you think about the discarded, broken plastic toys too?

My argument here goes to longevity of toys. Wooden toys are built to last. They are also aesthetically more pleasing and more likely to be past on to siblings and charity shops for resale.  So green support it is, by buying less toys in the first place, using them longer and passing them on!

2)   Conscience calling. When launching my own baby goods business, investigations into the manufacturing of toys made me feel a little nauseous. Approximately 80% of toys are manufactured in China, where unfortunately there have been numerous product recalls safety reasons (think lead) and many reports of child labour. (see  article Assianews.it for a succinct summary of these “Chinese toys tainted by lead or made by child labour” ) . Whilst this blog doesn’t go into this, I can safely say that the majority of toys that have been recalled or are unsafe, and cheaply manufactured are plastic. Whilst China manufactures so many of the toys, it is almost impossible to avoid purchasing toys made in China, and I for one would not recommend all avoidance. What I do advocate strongly, is knowing if the toy has been manufactured under fair and equitable workplace agreements, where child labour is strongly opposed and safe manufacturing (of the toy and for the works) is paramount.

3)   Value add. I’ve bought toys where I swear the packaging would have cost more than the toy inside to make. You know how it is, the toy is wired down into a cardboard box, with plastic molding holding it in place so grubby little hands at the shop can’t get at it. Sometimes I wonder if they should have class at school on how to unwrap ties on toys. It would be of more use that learning how to write out the words for numbers on the off chance you ever write a cheque! But there you are, 30 minutes, many swear words muttered under breath and finally, the toy is presented to child, who…breaks it. Then and there. “Hello little one, would you like a robust cardboard box to play with instead?”

4)   Perfectly paired. I only have 10 toes assigned to 2 feet, they are to last me my life, and I can’t bear to step on anymore plastic toys strewn across the house (why is it that it can’t be contained? Inverse relationship with socks, they disappear each wash, plastic toys multiply per play)

So all you gorgeous mammas out there, and friends of the little people (aka. Kids) choose your toys wisely and carefully, if you don’t want it to end in tears (yours for the plastic takeover, kids for the broken toy yet again…)

Automoblox - superb craftmanship, robust and uber cool!

Really, which would you prefer?

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