(Continued from Spring: A Celebration of Life!)
REDUCE
Two rules that I have enforced at home during school nights:
No tv and bed time/lights off at 8:00 pm.
As a working mom, I do not get to see the kids until 5:00 pm. That leaves me only 3 hours in the evening to spend quality time with them. I reason with them that “too much tv is bad for your eyes and brain,” whenever they ask why they can't have any tube time. But equally bad is that it zaps the quality right out of our precious, limited time together. So instead, Edward and Alison work on their activity books on the kitchen table while I prepare dinner. We talk about our favorite and not-so-favorite times of the day during dinner. We read books and spend time together lying on the bed - or tickling each other (fun!) - before we get into our 10 Minutes till Bedtime Routine.
Increasing quality time with the family by reducing energy consumption at home - not a bad deal for the environment, huh?
REUSE
If you haven't been to a Filipino household that doesn't have an empty ice cream tub reused as a dishwashing liquid/scrub holder, now is the time to get into such a house! :) Oh, the things you will learn about “new uses for old things” in Filipino houses: used grocery bags as waste basket liners (who doesn't do that anyway), old clothes disguised as bathroom rags (maybe even rugs!), or empty peanut butter jars reused as drinking glasses (yes - my grandmother's kitchen in the Philippines was full of those)!
Two years ago, I discovered my own great reusables: Christmas presents!
I haven't seen so many new toys in my life since Christmas 2006. At the time, Edward and Alison were both at the age when they were able to appreciate opening gifts. Thus, everyone showered them with toy presents! We literally filled two big boxes with just their Christmas presents. I thought that the best way for them to appreciate each and every gift was for them to play with only one new toy a week.
So early this year, when I introduced the “Sticker Notebooks,” I knew exactly how to reuse the tons of toys that they received for Christmas:
Each of them can earn 1 sticker for his/her “Sticker Notebook” for every good deed, such as watering “Thirsty Plant,” putting dirty clothes in the laundry basket, cleaning their room, etc. etc. Once they have 3 stickers, I give them a star on their “Star Board.”
Three stars? Viola! An opportunity to reuse a Christmas present as a big reward for their good deeds!
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