I just read an excellent blog posting I wanted to share with you!   Safbaby.com just uploaded this new article on 12 ways to keep your baby and kids toxin-free in 2010.  Many of the tips will be a refresher for some (avoid the dreaded BPA is by now hopefully familiar advice for all parents), and some may be new issues you may want to consider for your family (avoiding corn syrup and food additives etc.)

Safbaby.com is run by two moms who provide great info on raising your baby in a toxin-free environment.

The article is nteresting reading for sure, with lots of links to more in-depth articles for further research. Hope it helps make your home and life more safe for your little ones!

Today we have a guest post from Barbara Nyke, a Toronto interior designer who specializes in eco-friendly design:

Children have been experiencing an unprecedented rise in chronic disease and illness such as cancer, autism, asthma, birth defects, ADD / ADHD, and learning and developmental disabilities. The Learning Disabilities Association of Canada has linked many of these outcomes to unregulated toxic chemicals that we use in our homes.

The benefits of choosing a sustainably-manufactured product for your home are numerous. The top three reasons are:

1. the product has been made by not depleting the earth’s resources 
2. the company is practicing responsible manufacturing methods 
3.   the product can help to improve your home’s indoor air quality; particularly of importance for a newborn and children. 

Indoor air quality can be, and typically is, many more times polluted than outdoor air because of the hundreds of items we bring into our homes.  The important sources of air pollution in the home include, but isn’t limited to: furniture, vinyl flooring, new carpets and carpet adhesives, paints, vinyl wallpapers and household cleaning products.

Some products contain VOCs, volatile organic compounds, which are chemicals like formaldehyde, styrene, toluene, formaldehyde, and a variety of benzenes found in carpeting, dyes, pesticides, fungicides, fire retardants and anti-stain coatings; These are frequently released into the air indoors.  Considering that we spend 90% of our time indoors, this is an important element to address.

All consumers would be better off to avoid chemicals like these that are known to be carcinogenic, toxic to reproductive organs and endocrine disrupting.

Decorating green on a budget

We all want to save money.  When it’s time to decorate a nursery, there are ways to save money, but there are also areas that we shouldn’t scrimp on.  Earlier generations relied on hand-me downs for cribs, clothing and toys.  I don’t think this sharing has ever waned in popularity, primarily for the sake of saving money, because children grow out of these items quickly and due to the benefit of recycling clothes and items.  Nowadays, there are plenty of stores that have taken this idea commercial and resell used products.

Visit  garage and antique sales to find lamps, rocking chairs and dressers to refinish and repaint.  An environmental and cost-effective paint would be a mid-cost, good quality eggshell, low-VOC, water-based paint, approximately $40.  Going this route is a an inexpensive way to have a non-odorous room, that with standard paints and oil paints can take up to a couple of months to off-gass depending on the level of ventilation.  Naturally-made milk paint is another alternative, but is costlier.

For flooring, an economical way to get broadloom on a budget is to choose an end-of-roll piece that has already off-gassed and is cheaper than buying a new cut.

-Barbara Nyke, Eco-Designer, NIKKA DESIGN, www.nikkadesign.ca

For more information on designing healthier rooms for kids, visit the Kai Kids Fall Trunk Show in Toronto this Saturday, Oct. 17, from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. At 11:30 a.m. Barbara will be doing a free half-hour session for parents with time for questions afterwards.

We recently had our third baby, another precious life to nurture, sustain and protect. Back when we had Kai, our first son, almost five years ago, I was just starting to become aware about the toxic load carried in most common paints and household building materials.

When my helpful mother-in-law painted Kai’s room for us, I bought her a low VOC, fairly non-toxic paint to use that wouldn’t off gas hazardous chemicals into the air my baby-to-be was about to breathe. I recall it was called Eco-Spec and I had to hunt high and low to find it. However, just a few years later,  there are now many easily available lines of chemical-free paint and greener reno supplies on the market.

If you are adding a new addition to your family of either sort – a beautiful baby or a new family room, there is a lot you need to know if you truly want to make an interior non-toxic and healthy for your family and the planet.

Over the next week, we will have a guest blogger writing about how to Design Healthy Rooms for Healthy Kids. Barbara Nyke of NIKKA DESIGN in Toronto is an interior decorator who specializes in eco-friendly design.

Barbara believes that incorporating green and healthy living into our lives on a daily basis affects every aspect of what we buy, the products we use, how we dispose of items and the air we breathe.

Check back, as she will be addressing:

•  
  

  What makes a healthy room?

• How do you know the products you’ve chosen are eco-friendly?

• What does eco-friendly mean?

• Can you have it all? What are your environmental priorities when selecting products for your children’s bedrooms?

• Are you finding the style of furniture you want that’s also eco-friendly?
  

Lately I’ve been trying to cook more with my two oldest boys (2.5 and 4.5). Not always together, mind you! But two days a week, my middle son is at home with me and Baby Boy, while my oldest is at JK. He has missed a lot of mummy-and-me time in his short life, always overshawdowed by his big brother who can do more, say more, jump higher, run faster etc. He probably doesn’t notice but now that Kai is in JK I’m trying to make up for it (while the baby sleeps ). So Fridays at our house have become Muffin Mornings.After JK dropoff, some playtime at the park or errands, we come home to bake muffins together while Baby Boy naps. Last week it was Cranberry Flax Muffins, the week before, Super Seedy Muffins, and today, with Thanksgiving this weekend and Halloween around the corner, we made Pumpkin Raisin Muffins.This recipe is quite healthy already, but I threw in 2 tbsp. of ground flax seed instead of a bit of the white flour, and it seemed to work well. There isn’t much sugar but they had a lovely flavour and the boys thought they tasted great! Making muffins at home saves money and packaging so it’s a win all around – fun time together, teaching skills like measuring and counting, being more frugal and consuming less packaging!If you have a suggestion for your fave healthy muffin recipe, I’d love to hear it!Pumpkin Raisin Muffins

Well, we’ve taken a bit of a hiatus from hosting our Kai Kids in person sales lately!  A new baby has a way of sweetly derailing the best of intentions. But we are starting to settle into a new routine and have time to refocus on the business once again, so are planning a fall sale on Sat. Oct. 17th!

Same place, 1390 Danforth Ave., same time, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but with one big difference:

this time we are going to feature a special information session on Designing Healthy Rooms for Healthy Kids, by Toronto interior decorator and eco-designer Barbara Nyke of NIKKA DESIGN. Barbara is an accredited interior decorator who specializes in eco-friendly design, and has spoken widely on the topic on CBC Radio, Breakfast Television,  Canada AM, in the National Post and Loulou Magazine, and recently at The Green Home Show.

Send us your questions for Barbara and she’ll be happy to answer them for you during her talk at our sale! Either post them by commenting here on our blog, or email us at infoatkaikids.com (please replace at with @ – we are trying to avoid auto-spam here).

So make sure to join us for a hands-on look at our latest products, some special discounts, and Barbara’s talk on keeping toxins out of your toddler’s room. She will be doing a short presentaion at 11:30 with a question period after.

Mark your calendars!

Back in university I used to be a vegetarian. I am no longer, but still love legumes and many vegetarian cuisines. And now that I’m cooking for my kids, part of my mission to provide healthy meals is to provide a weekly meatless one.

Once a week we eat a vegetarian entree for dinner. The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health suggests just one day a week without meat can reduce your consumption of saturated fat by 15% and reduce your chances of heart disease.

The other night, as we were tucking into a tasty Red Lentil and Swiss Chard Stew over brown rice,  I explained to my two older boys (4.5 and 2.5) the reasons why we were eating a vegetarian supper:

• it helps reduce our carbon footprint. Less of the planet’s resources and energy is used to grow plants than to raise animals
• vegetarians have lower rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and some cancers.
• going meatless saves money. It’s a frugal, yet tasty and healthy way to curb your grocery bill, which is especially helpful right now during a recession

When my boys were babies and toddlers I would often just open a can of black beans or chick peas, rinse and serve as their protein that meal. It was quick and convenient, not to mention healthy, and helped vary their diet. Something must have stuck as now I’m fortunate that my kids love peas, beans, chickpeas etc.

I must admit, I’m not a tofu lover, so vegetarian night at our place tends to involve beans and legumes. Here is a great recipe we tried last week; easy, flavourful, cheap and nutritious. Plus, otherwise my sons won’t go near Swiss Chard (my husband is not a fan either), but they didn’t even notice it in this recipe!  It is quite thick, so you can serve it as is, over rice, or thin it out with more broth to eat as a soup.

 Red Lentil and Swiss Chard Stew

-2 Tbsp olive oil

-1 onion, sliced

-5 tsp. curry powder

-1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (I used 1/8)

-42 oz. vegetable broth

-1 bunch chard, chopped

-2 1/4 cups red lentils

-1 can chick peas, rinsed

-yogurt or sour cream for garnish

In a large soup pot saute the onion in oil over medium high heat for 10-15 min or until golden. Stir in curry powder and cayenne.

Add the broth and chard and increase heat to high. Bring to boil

Reduce heat to medium and stir in lentils and chick peas. Cover pan and simmer for 10 min or until lentils are tender.

Divide soup into bowls  and top with garnish if desired.

Check out the great Organic teething Bonbon review on Cool Mom Picks!

Cool Mom Picks – Bonbons for babies

Kids love painting, drawing and colouring, and even if your little ones spend a lot of time creating at home, they probably are also bringing home several masterpieces a week from school or daycare. We have a magnet board in our kitchen where I post the latest works of art from our two boys, but they do tend to pile up.

I used to sneak old paintings and those that weren’t my favourites into our recycling bin when my sons weren’t looking. But then I realized that their colourful, abstract (they are ages 2 and 4) paintings would make excellent wrapping paper for gifts!

This reuses their paintings (and gives them a thrill to see their masterpiece adorning a present for a friend’s birthday party etc.), reduces the amount of wrapping paper we consume (I haven’t bought any in two years!) and saves us money. And friends and family love the personal touch and think it’s quite fun to receive a present wrapped in children’s artwork.

Plus, I no longer have to feel guilty about not keeping every “unique: canvas they bring home!

Do you have any good ideas for reusing items around the home and encouraging your kids to reduce, reuse and recycle? I’d love to hear them.

To celebrate Earth Day today, I thought I’d share some excellent children’s books our family has read lately so you can try to make every day Earth Day in your household (we all know how little ones like to hear a story over and over again…).

One day earlier this spring I escaped for a bit of rare “me-time,” and headed to Chapters downtown, sans enfants. I scored several charming books for toddlers and preschoolers that I thought my two little green stars might like. Perhaps yours will, too.  Read the rest over at Canadian Family’s site, where I’m guest blogging this week!

Happy Earth Day everyone!

It’s only Tuesday, but it’s already been a busy week for Kai Kids. First we were featured in the Toronto Star’s Sunday edition, which brought us lots of online traffic and kept us busy shipping parcels off to new customers, yippee!

Plus,  I was invited to be the guest blogger over at Canadian Family’s blog for the week, in honour of Earth Day! My first post went up today: fun ways you can help your kids grow up green. Check it out, and if you haven’t already, spend some time on their site: it’s an excellent magazine and web resource for parents, full of Canadian content, and over the past few months, they’ve really beefed up their coverage of three of my favourite topics: the environment, mompreneurs and social media!