I'm Seeing Green

Green comes to Halloween

Well, everything's going "green," is it not? So why not that great children's tradition of Halloween? Personally, I'd settle for less candy and more tricks, but then I've always been in the minority.

From greenoptions about Halloween [image from greenoptions.org]

Getting your little ghosts and goblins ready for Halloween while attempting to minimize your impact might seem scarier than global warming, but it’s so simple: you’re probably already doing at least one of these things.

1. Use reusable candy-collecting bags. .
2. Handing out treats for trick-or-treaters?
3. Don’t drive your kids around.
4. DIY your costumes. 
5. Use trick-or-treating as an opportunity for stewardship.

From OneWorld.net:

For some environmentally friendly Halloween fun, get your kids involved in the World Wildlife Fund's online pumpkin carving contest.

Carving this year's pumpkin(s) using wildlife-themed stencils will allow you to teach your child about endangered species and foreign habitats. If you post pictures of your kids' creations by October 29, you'll even have a chance to win the online competition!

And how about this one from energywatch:

• If your little ‘horrors’ are dressing up for a Halloween party or to go trick-or-treating, try to avoid throw-away costumes or ones which they will grow out of before next year. Instead, make your own from old clothes, try charity shops, look on Ebay for second hand items or hire a costume.
• For trick-or-treating, use a re-usable container for the treats such as a cloth bag, decorated lunch box or upside down hat.
• If you are expecting some little visitors to your door, stock up on goodies which don’t come in lots of packaging (and preferably aren’t too unhealthy).

Take a Walk on the Wild Side (Not)

The little D. and I have had a long-standing Saturday lunch ritual---he wants sushi and I crave a spinach pie before we go cycling. When he was under 8 years old, I started allowing him to cross streets by himself, although of course I was at or near the intersection. He would then walk the length of the block to the sushi bar (well, it's actually a fish shop with two counter seats,) and order and start eating by himself. I'd join him ten minutes later.

Perfectly normal. Here. I love an area like Park Slope where this is possible. And, unlike the many posts on the many blogs around here, neither of us has encountered the officious types who question this "obvious child neglect" (but see US Open, 2006.) Reminded me of this story in OTBKB about the 9 year old on her own in Park Slope:

Superprotective Mom said. “I don’t want Kate on the street at all. There are too many bad people around."

Well, since then, D's been getting quite comfortable walking a block or two by himself, but both Elizabeth and I were quite surprised when he announced last Monday that he would walk to school by himself, and back, since PS 321 dismisses IV graders by themselves with parental permission.

By himself?

My son, the little baby?

Even Elizabeth was not as concerned as I, and was amused by my reaction.

Shouldn’t we have gotten him a cell?

Luckily this was said not in his hearing as he’s convinced that by 10, he will have one. He will not. Then off he went, and I worried for a while, but not enough to follow him or call his teacher Sara to ensure he made it there. Oh, how limited is one's concern.

On the first day's dismissal, he was having difficulty telling Sara that he was going (the irony---he’s not too nervous to go, just to say he’ll go,) so he got a friend’s dad to call us so we could tell him to tell Sara that he was off by himself.

And there he was at home, seven minutes later.

Whew.

Elizabeth says that when she was in I grade in Los Angeles, she and a friend would walk by themselves. And cycle in the streets. What have we lost by our perception that we can’t allow this anymore? And it is a perception more than reality in the type of neighborhood we live in. Your child is statistically more likely to be hit by lightning than be abducted (which I assume is the most trenchant fear, you can after all teach your child to be cautious about vehicles.) When D walks to and from school in Park Slope, he probably walks by many of his friends and acquaintances. In fact, one of our older neighbors said to Elizabeth yesterday, "He's growing up! Walking to school by himself." Talk about "eyes on the street," she's aware of a lot that happens in front of her house.

So in this environment, why would we worry about III or IV-graders being by themselves? One could blame TV---in fact there are studies that show that the more TV news you watch, the more distorted your perceptions of the prevalence of crime. You could blame our over-emphasis on safety as opposed to common sense. You could blame our seemingly endless ability to want to transfer personal responsibility from ourselves to others. We're practically the laughing stock of most of the world with our fearfulness, our litigiousness, our risk-averseness. But that's another story.

I mentioned D’s forays to a couple of parent friends, and they were surprised. His best friend’s mother, not an over-protective type, said vaguely “doesn’t he have to be ten to walk by himself?” I hope not, he’s been to the store several times since last year to get last minute condiments and I’d hate to think we were in danger of being arrested.

Next week he's going to lunch off-campus (sushi, of course, one day a week since the fish shop is just within the boundary set by PS 321, and other days he will no doubt hang with his equally empowered and independent buddies at Sweet Melissa's or Pino's.)

He's growing up. In just a few years he'll be away to college. Then I'll really worry.

Fun with Recycling

When Dylan was born, I decided that there'd be no plastic toys in the house. Only wooden ones. Like the no-TV rule, this was observed more in the breaking than not. It's difficult to be politically correct when it comes to children's toys, even when you realize that many soft toys, pacifiers included, contain the possible endocrine disrupter, phthlates (which are banned in Europe but not here.) So over the years, we observe the ritualistic disposal of masses of plastic...things...which have collected in his room. Much can't be reused and less can be recycled. I suggested a moratorium on presents at his birthday party starting two years ago, particularly the inaptly named "goody bags," but this was vetoed.

Here's a creative use of discarded plastic, in this case yogurt containers. But I wonder how long such a toy would last...then back to the recycle bin. I suspect if you do a life-cycle analysis of the energy used in collecting raw materials, fabricating, distributing and discarding this toy, you would not come out ahead. From Treehugger [images from site]:

Italian designer Barro de Gast's Yo'Play yogurt packaging includes at least two life cycles--and a subtle message about recycling for those TreeHugger tots out there. After you polish off the yogurt, the light-weight cups are reborn as modular construction toys. Each cup snaps together, creating hollow light 3D shapes and figures ranging from dogs, airplanes, and dolls to castles and houses. Made of monomaterial Polystyrene, the cups are fully recyclable and come with graphical illustrations to aid the creative process. The packaging's smart design recently garnered de Gast a first prize in UNESCO and design firm Felissimo's Child’s Play Design 21 design competition.

And, as long as we're on the Toys-from-Recycled-Materials jag, this website features very cute stuffed toys from recycled sweaters, also available at RealToys [image at right from Realtoys]

Of course, if you want to be even more carbon-correct, you'd make your own toys yourself (or get the kids to do so,) as used to happen decades ago.

What to Read to Your Kids

Never too young to be educated. If you want your little tykes to be aware of the biggest challenge of the day---global warming---this book may be just the ticket for you; from treehugger (image from there)

What’s a writer and mom to do when she realizes that global warming is real and that kids and parents need to be aware of it? Write a book for kids and reach them both at the same time! That’s what Deborah Sherrell chose to do when she combined her love for the environment and love for kids in her recently published children's book, “Baby Lauren and Theodore”. To break the whole process of global warming down to a child’s-eye view the book explores the four seasons in a fun way while children learn the valuable role that trees play in the environment. And actually, the book stemmed from the fact that her daughter Lauren actually had a tree named Theodore, which helped her better understand and appreciate nature and the environment. Because as Sherrell points out, “...get them interested in loving nature early in life because global warming isn't going to go away and it's a huge problem, but we can all do something individually”. If you’d like to give it a shot, it’s available via her website and, of course, at amazon.com.

In other news, our friendly Senator James There-ain't-no-global-warming InHofe "is (from here):

"spending his last days in power attacking a children’s book on climate change, (Tore and the Town on Thin Ice.) The book, published by the United Nations in March, is “based on the theme of climate change and on what children can do to mitigate effects of climate change.” Inhofe’s staff breathlessly notes, “The book features colorful drawings and large text to appeal to young children.” Inhofe claims the book conveys inaccurate information about climate change to children.

If the little ones need further guidance, here's a list of books on the subject from Amazon. Happy nighttime reading!

Man Hates Mother's Day

I  have never been a fan of Mother's Day, admittedly something that I would not normally mention. Always seemed weird to me to create all that artificial brouhaha on one day ... the pressures on the men! ...the children cooking a bad breakfast! ... the frantic calls to make a brunch reservation! We  didn't have Mother's Day in India where I grew up, and I don't think mothers were any the less appreciated for it (or, as one of my Indian friends once said "every day is Mother's day in India, no?"...ah, that smug Indian style.)

Dylan writes incessantly (we're waiting for Random House to call so we can retire,) and has the memory of the proverbial elephant, so I should not have been surprised he remembered what could have been an off-the-cuff remark of years ago. But being outed by my 9-year old was a shock. He just finished his first issue of his new magazine, the Dillster (25c a copy, s&h additional, subscriptions from non-family members welcome) and there it was on the cover:

Mother's day: Hall mark card sceme?

So I ask my mom, wy doesn't Dad  believe in mother's day?  My answer ... he thinks hall mark invented it to sell cards! So, I'm stuck with my dad who doesnt believe in mother's day, when it's in two days! Then I discover that he believes in it enough to go by a card. lucky me.

A parent report later in the magazine has a Mom answering the question "Is there anything good about mother's day?" with "No, especially since you don't get presents." Not true, not true!

Another excerpt from Dillster#1:

Wedding Opinions

Age 1: Gross

Age 5: Wy are they eating each other?

Age 8: Can you play “M” rated games?

Age 15: Wish I were the groom.

Age 30 over: She’s so lucky.

Age 70: My young man! Sniff.

P.S.: As an equal-opportunity curmudgeon, I don't think much of Father's Day either. Perhaps I should attend the "Edgy Mother's Day Event", curated by Louise Crawford, at the Stone House on May 24th.

Take the Kids!

Ephemeral Art: Street Art (i.e., sanctioned graffiti, painted heating units, rubber-band spider webs, etc. ) curated by the Wooster Collective, is being exhibited on the outside and inside of a soon-to-be-razed building. The NY Times article says "Depending on your point of view, the hulking 19th-century brick building at 11 Spring Street in NoLIta, a former stable and carriage house, was either a stunning eyesore or one of the most famous canvases and lodestars in the world for urban artists." All art will disappear after this weekend.

Dec 15-17, 11-5,  11 Spring Street, Manhattan.

Not to be missed Trio of artists at the Brooklyn Museum: Liebovitz's magnificent photographs, including several hundred photos exhibited casually as if the equivalent of "outtakes," and a to-die-for portrait of the glowering Cheney with the rest of the Bush cabinet. Now thru Jan 28/Feb 11, 11-6, 200 Eastern Parkway.

Walton Ford's hyper-realistic watercolors of animals and flora are "wry and subversive comments on society,"...check out the human and other shapes in the tiger stripes, for example. Or the allegorical plentitude on the elephant at left.

And! Ron Muecks's ultra-hyper-realistic sculptures of brooding/angry/explicit men and women are extraordinary, if not as much for their fine-artistic merit as for their level of detail and imagery. "Disorienting," as the museum says, since none are life-sized, and the pint-sized ones are as fascinating as the 16-foot brooding man (right)..."makes you think he's about to get up and strike us all," said the little D. A video detailing how Mueck makes the sculptures, including inserting individual hairs into the silicone surface, is equally absorbing. [images: from Brooklyn Museum website]

Cans, Cans, Cans

I went on the little D's field trip to the CanStruction exhibit at the NYC Design Center. Normally I avoid these trips, but a little arm-twisting on Elizabeth's part made me the fall guy. And what an enjoyable experience it was! Too bad it was the last day, but put this on your calendar for next year, it's free, fun, fabulous and for a good cause.

The exhibits are quite spectacular, all made of cans and food packages. Up close, and sometimes even from afar, it's difficult to see the level of detail exhibited by these amazing constructions . As with pointillist paintings, you need to be at the right distance. Check out the sushi at right:

"Canstruction combines the competitive spirit of a design/build competition with a unique way to help feed hungry people. Competing teams, lead by architects and engineers, showcase their talents by designing giant sculptures made entirely out of canned foods. At the close of the exhibitions all of the food used in the structures is donated to local food banks for distribution."

At left (all pictures thanks to Adam Klein, who would show me the image on his camera viewfinder, often making things a lot clearer; he speculated that looking through the viewfinder would de-emphasize the division between the cans and thus improve clarity,) is a flamenco dancer, my favorite. Close up (she's ten feet tall,) she's just a jumble of cans, you'd have to be about fifty feet away to get the perfect effect.

Thanks to NYC Design Center, and all the people who donated time, effort and skills to this exhibition. And, of course, thanks to Sara, D's teacher who did a magnificent job in corralling the 23 kids and letting us adults off the hook.

Homework Redux

"What day is it?" asks the little D as we go to school in the morning.

"Thursday," I reply, and can't help adding, "and what day is tomorrow?" You see he still has a tenuous grasp of the sequence of weekdays, and I figure a little impromptu drilling can't hurt. He ignores the question in his usual pre-teenage way.

"Yay! No homework today!" he yells.

"Why not?" I ask.

Well, it turns out that his class has managed to be "good" enough on every occasion when it counted towards a star, or, more accurately, a marble which was placed in a jar. When the jar is full, they have no homework for a weekful of days, which they, again collectively, decided to take one day off a week on Thursdays. Apparently a marble can be taken out too, for "bad" behavior. Seems to be a school rule, as D claims that any teacher can affect the marble level.

"You mean that if you (not putting him on the spot or anything) are bad, the whole class is 'punished?'"

"Yup."

"But everyone has to be good to have a marble added?"

"Yup."

And I thought collective punishment was outlawed under the Geneva Conventions...oops, I forgot that as of Oct 19, 2006, our dear lame-duck President Bush had decided that these laws no longer apply to the inhabitants of these United States of America.

Didn't take long for the news to hit the local schools, did it? Just kidding...

But on a more interesting note, what does this say about the symbolism of homework as conveyed by our school? If you can avoid homework by being "good" (albeit collectively), then:

1. Homework must not be "necessary" for academic success.
2. Homework is "bad" and a chore.

Is this what the little D needs to hear?

And do the authors of the book mentioned by me and originally by OTBKB (here) a few weeks ago, "How Homework is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It", who'd agree with D in considering homework evil, or at least non-productive,  know about this trend?

AllHallows Day

Well, until the last minute we (Elizabeth and I) didn't believe the D would go though with it!

Two weeks ago when asked about what he was going to be for Halloween, he replied, "a fashion model." Yeah, right, I figured, but E got into it and allowed him to select the charming green number you see him in, as well as suitable accessories. He demanded the appropriate color eye-shadow (E only had earth tones,) so she had to buy him some.

D and his good friend, One-Of-Four, the latter more conventionally but no less fetchingly costumed as Dracula, made the rounds. D was initially somewhat shy, and insisted, with his own peculiar logic, that he would only do the T&T routine where there were no kids. He may have been right, adults found him quite funny and original. Kids may have been more judgmental.

We did meet one of his classmates who literally fell down laughing at Dylan. His mother couldn't stop laughing either, until she decided to take a picture of the three of them. D, to his credit, didn't object violently. Digital camera lag was helpful in this instance, as D, who always turns away from the camera, turned back just in time for the perfect shot.

As predicted, he faded a bit after watching the 7th Ave Parade (great photos on OTBKB) for ten or so minutes. Elizabeth claims that, like her, he gets over-stimulated when surrounded by mass activity, given his high-strung personality. Back home he and OOF settled down to the sort-and-trade-your-candy ritual and, thankfully, didn't eat many. I must say that the two of them were exceedingly good with each other throughout the night (and next day, it was a sleepover.)

Can't wait until next year.

Allhallows Eve

Halloween is here and it's a school night. The little D and his close friend OOF are doing the T&T thing together. Living in Park Slope, it's great to be able to actually walk about and ring doorbells. Kids and parents are out in force, and hundreds if not more gravitate to the Seventh Avenue Parade, always a treat. Maybe this year D will stay for it, he's usually tired out from the candy-collection ordeal.          [david childs-Press Assoc]

Lest you think I'm always bashing these United States of America, these pleasantries fresh from the European Union:

The Brits (wow, am I fixated on the British this week!) are grumping away as usual - herewith the best from the curmudgeons (emphasis added):

• Trick or Treat? For Many Britons, the Reply Is Neither

“All they want is sweets,” said Ms. Boyd, a 57-year-old writer, sounding genuinely surprised. “They’re not scaring you, or singing to you, or charming you — they’re just grabbing it and going to the next house and then going home to be sick.”

“Trick or treat? I don’t know about you, but my answer to this question, if I’m honest, would be unprintable in a family newspaper,” the critic A. N. Wilson wrote recently in The Daily Mail. “Let’s say it’s stronger than ‘push off.’ Yet the little beggars will soon be round, banging and ringing at our doors with this irritating refrain.”

Mr. Wilson blamed “the kitsch hotchpotch known as American Gothic.”

Hugh O’Donnell, a professor of language and popular culture at Glasgow Caledonian University, said in an interview that “the main complaint is that it’s just fun without any meaning behind it.”

“It’s no longer got any relationship to anything — not the old Celtic idea of the living and the dead, or the Christian tradition of Allhallows Eve,” said Mr. O’Donnell.

“I’ve thought about removing the cover from my doorbell so they electrocute themselves,” one participant wrote.

Ok, we banned the French Fry (remember that jingoistic move after the French didn't kowtow to us on the Iraq invasion?) Well, the French say Non! to Trick or Treat:

• French Press Declares Halloween Dead

Halloween, ancient Celtic festival or U.S. marketing gimmick according to your point of view, is dying in France after a short-lived breakthrough, French media reported on Tuesday.

"Halloween pretty much buried," the daily Le Monde reported, quoting Benoit Pousset, head of costume company Cesar, who attributed the festival's demise in France to "a cultural reaction linked to the rise of anti-Americanism."

Germans ape the movies?

• Germans lay claim to 'invention' of Halloween

Be that as it may, law-enforcement authorities in Germany are alarmed at a dramatic increase in vandalism and lawless carousing on October 31 by young Germans who are attempting to re-enact scenes from Hollywood movies depicting trick-or-treat antics.