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Posts Tagged ‘Turtlehead’

November 7th, 2009

Things the blogosphere taught me this week

In an effort to avoid all the things that I “should” be doing today, I’ve been taking a little tour around the blogosphere. It’s amazing what you can learn. Here’s few items off my list:

Infant formula companies are not supposed to advertise their products in Canada

From PhD in Parenting, I learned that Canada is a signatory to the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes and that in 2007 the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued a letter to the infant formula industry that specifically advises the industry on how to comply with the WHO Code.

In the CFIA letter, it outlined, among other things, that infant formula should not be promoted in advertising, should not compare its product to breast milk and should not even have a picture of an infant on its product label.

Huh. Did you know that infant formula companies were not supposed to use print or online advertising? This is news to me. In fact, I have several Canadian parenting magazines in front of me right now that very clearly advertise an infant formula, compare the formula to breast milk and show images of infants.

I understood that regulations did exist to protect mothers and babies in developing nations. I assumed that in developed countries, where clean water and literacy levels are higher, that these regulations did not apply. But they’re applicable in the Canadian market as well. I sure didn’t know that. Did you?

I have not been recycling my plastics properly

From Turtlehead, I learned that my family has been putting a whole bunch of non-recyclables into our blue bin. Did you know that the only plastic that should be in the blue bin is as follows:

pop bottles;
shampoo bottles, vinegar jugs and the like that are labelled with a 1 or 2 on the bottom (no caps!); and
wide-mouthed margarine or yogurt tubs and their lids IF marked with a 5 on the bottom.

Oh, boy, oh boy … I fear that Lynn would REALLY lose it if she walked by my blue bin instead of her neighbours with the take-out containers. Yikes. I’ll do better, Lynn. Thanks for your post on this.

There are some really freaky nutbars out there

And last but not least, I learned that XUP has met more freaky nutbars in her lifetime than any other person I know. I’m still reeling from the Aurora character.

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October 13th, 2009

Spare me the “stranger danger”

I’m tired of hearing about “stranger danger,” and I don’t like the idea of teaching children the concept of “stranger danger.”

I mean, really. Is it really necessary to instill a fear in children about their fellow community members when the facts show that child abduction is an extremely rare occurence? My child already has her own self-instilled fear of aliens, does she need this one too?

So please, spare me the fear-mongering. Why? Because I worry enough as it is. That’s what Moms do best, afterall.

Let’s look at some facts on “stranger danger”:

In 1999, 203,900 children were abducted in the U.S.A. by a family member seeking to interfere with a parent’s custody; 98% of the children were returned.
In this same year, there were only 115 cases in the U.S.A. of the stereotypical variety, in which a stranger is the perpetrator and the child is kept overnight, held for ransom or killed; 60 percent were returned safely.
That’s 115 cases of stranger abduction in a population of more than 320 million.

I know, I know … you don’t want to be in that group of unfortunate 115. I hear you.

But I also don’t want my child to grow up fearful of others — her very own community.

Remember when we were kids? You were let out the door to simply “go play outside.” Does anybody do that anymore? Cause it was really fun.

I realized just how over-protective we’ve become as parents when I suggested to my 7-year-old that she “call on a friend.” She didn’t know what that meant. I was referring to that once familiar act of ringing the doorbell and asking “do you want to come out and play?” Soon it will have vanished from our communal lexicon altogether.

I really don’t think that people have changed that radically since we were young. I really don’t think that there are more pedophiles today than there were in the 1970s. I really don’t. And the stats back me up on it.

So let’s scratch this one worry off of our already long list of worries. Instead, let’s encourage our kids to “call on a friend” to play.

And if we, as adults, have a lingering fear of “stranger danger” — let’s not share it with our children. Instead, let’s ask the other parents on the street to join with us and communally watch out for our children and let each other know if anything worrisome has cropped up.

Are you with me? (Or do you think I am naively deluded?)

Listen in: In 15 minutes (4 pm today), CBC’s All in A Day will be hitting this issue. Dani from Postcards from the Mothership and Lynn from Turtlehead will debate the issue. I can’t wait to hear what they have to say!