Sunscreen. The other day, my sister was putting sunscreen on my kids (which I am horrible at remembering) and was mentioning a website at which you can look up which products are good to use on your children and which have chemicals that are bad for them. So, I asked her about my sunscreens and she looked at the back and named of a few chemicals (of which I cannot spell or pronounce of the top of my head) that ought not to be there.
So, later in the week I gave her a call and asked for the website to check out shampoos, soaps, lotions, etc. My mistake. Apparently the coppertone spray, which I found so convienent has a 10 (as in 0-10 and 10 being the worst) rating in chemically hazardous to children. AWESOME! convienetly I was killing my kids. I might as well let them burn and die from skin cancer.
These are the things that overwhelm me as a parent. We are on a tight budget and I cannot afford organic food and $25 sunscreen. I also cannot check into every little thing my child puts in his mouth or rubs on his skin. After rat testing, there are so many don'ts out there:
"Don't use aything but BPA free bottles"
"Don't give them milk with growth hormones" (although with my height genes, they may need it)
"Don't give them food that have pesticides"
"Don't give your child toys made in china, for fear of lead poisoning" (By the way, what toys aren't made in china?)
"Don't get your child vacinated, they may get autism"
At this point, I can't feed them, I can't give them toys and I can't keep them from getting major diseases. What good am I as a parent?
Dramatic a bit? Maybe. I tend to be an all or nothing person and this is just not an all or nothing situation. You can't keep track of it all and I can't physically (or financially) do it all to keep my child safe. However, I would be unwise to do none of it. I can (and did) get BPA free bottles, I can buy organic when it's on sale and I can pay an extra buck for less hazardous sunscreen.
And so I pray for wisdom and peace...wisdom to be convicted of the things I need to do as a parent to keep my child safe and peace to not worry about the things I can't do.
I also try to remind myself...if anything the mylar balloons my kids ate and inhaled and the woodchips eaten on the playground probably had a worse effect than the unorganic apple. At least I am pretty sure...have they done rat tests on that?
So, later in the week I gave her a call and asked for the website to check out shampoos, soaps, lotions, etc. My mistake. Apparently the coppertone spray, which I found so convienent has a 10 (as in 0-10 and 10 being the worst) rating in chemically hazardous to children. AWESOME! convienetly I was killing my kids. I might as well let them burn and die from skin cancer.
These are the things that overwhelm me as a parent. We are on a tight budget and I cannot afford organic food and $25 sunscreen. I also cannot check into every little thing my child puts in his mouth or rubs on his skin. After rat testing, there are so many don'ts out there:
"Don't use aything but BPA free bottles"
"Don't give them milk with growth hormones" (although with my height genes, they may need it)
"Don't give them food that have pesticides"
"Don't give your child toys made in china, for fear of lead poisoning" (By the way, what toys aren't made in china?)
"Don't get your child vacinated, they may get autism"
At this point, I can't feed them, I can't give them toys and I can't keep them from getting major diseases. What good am I as a parent?
Dramatic a bit? Maybe. I tend to be an all or nothing person and this is just not an all or nothing situation. You can't keep track of it all and I can't physically (or financially) do it all to keep my child safe. However, I would be unwise to do none of it. I can (and did) get BPA free bottles, I can buy organic when it's on sale and I can pay an extra buck for less hazardous sunscreen.
And so I pray for wisdom and peace...wisdom to be convicted of the things I need to do as a parent to keep my child safe and peace to not worry about the things I can't do.
I also try to remind myself...if anything the mylar balloons my kids ate and inhaled and the woodchips eaten on the playground probably had a worse effect than the unorganic apple. At least I am pretty sure...have they done rat tests on that?
BJ says our "boys" can have milk with growth hormone (to be tall basketball players) but our "girls" can't (early periods and boobs). Nice double standard, huh?
ReplyDeleteHolly,
ReplyDeleteI've been lax in reading and writing blogs lately but just read your last several down to this one and I swear, since finding and reading your blog (several months ago) I find no reason to blog myself for your entries are my EXACT thoughts! We are the same mold completely! Amazing! Too bad we don't live close, we'd get everything figured out and be on top of the world with the Lord leading us! But I do praise the Lord for the internet and the friendship I've found in your blog. Know that you are not alone in your feelings as you have blogged, I'm feeling the exact same way. Keep blogging, I enjoy knowing that someone is going through the same thing! ... I do believe that a lot of what is going on with our emotions, explosions, growing pains, etc has to do with the age in which our children are, especially the youngest..."this too shall pass!" and as a great friend of mine recently stated, "we are doing the best we know how and when we know better, we will do better!" God Bless!