Transcript: Greenwashing: What Products Are Best For My Baby?

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Parent Savers
Greenwashing: What Products are best for my baby?

Please be advised, this transcription was performed by a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

[00:00:01]

Amy Sorter: Companies are realizing that people want greener options and are attempting to meet the wants of the consumers. Labels like “natural”, “less plastic”, “are now greener”, are becoming popular catchphrases on even baby products. But how do we decipher and understand labeling to know if really is safer or greener option for our children? What ingredients are not natural and what should we do to steer clear of them? Hi I’m Amy Sorter, Co-Founder of https://www.Ecosavvymoms.com and this is Parent Savers Episode 8.

[Theme Intro/Music]
[00:53:00]

KC Wilt: Welcome to Parent Savers broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. I am your host KC Wilt. Parent Savers is all about helping new parents preserve their sanity by getting you the expert advice from the baby years to the toddlers’ years. Be a part of our show, feel free to send us comments or suggestions to the contact link on our website https://www.parentsavers.com or you can call the Parent Savers hotline at 619-866-4775. I am a new parent. My son Carson is now 16 months and I am joined by three new parents in the studio.

Summer Jesse: Hi, my name is Summer Jesse and I have a community of moms online called, “Today’s Natural Moms” and we talk about everything natural and healthy.

KC Wilt: And your children? Do you have……?

Summer Jesse: I do.

All: [Laughs]

Summer Jesse: Actually, funny you should ask! I have 3 children…about 7 years old, 4 years old and 1 years old.

Michelle Franklin: Hi I’m Michelle Franklin. I’m 36 and I work as an editor. I have one girl who is 6 months old.

Jane Park: My name is Jane Park. I’m 37 years old. I’m a part time fundraising consultant and a stay at home mother to my 3 children.....their ages 5, 3 and 12 months and I have two girls and one boy.

[Music]
[Featured Segment: Ask The Experts - Redirecting Behavior]

KC Wilt: Before we start today’s show, here is a message from one of our listeners.

Lisa: Hi, this is Lisa from Berry, Australia. I have a question for the Terrible Two’s Episode put to Susie Walton: So much time is spent by parents nowadays on distracting kids to redirect their behavior. For example, little Johnny has something he shouldn’t have. Not something dangerous but something you don’t want him to play with, like the TV remote. We are told to distract little Johnny with another toy so he drops the remote and thus avoid conflict and a melt down! But distraction, especially when you have a smart kid, takes a lot of time and effort on the part of the parent. What’s wrong with a firm “No. You can’t have that Johnny, give it back to mom.” I feel like kids are so indulged nowadays. What’s wrong with firm boundaries? Thanks.

Susie Walton: Hi, this is Susie Walton. Is it ok sometimes just to say no to them, or say you are playing with something and he shouldn’t have like a knife? You are saying like give your child something to distract him. I don’t really like that either [laughs.] What I suggest you do, if you go up to the child, you just put your hand out as you rub his back and then he normally puts it in his hand. If it’s something that’s dangerous, he shouldn’t have, you don’t have time just to rub his back and put your other hand out while he puts it in your hand, you go up to him, you go, “I love you, but you see Johnny I am not okay with you having that, so either put in my hand or I am going to put in my hand because I am not okay with this.” And if he doesn’t, then you just unpeel his hands and take it out of his hand. It’s a redirected, you are actually dealing with the situation, you are showing them that you have limits and you are respecting him and you are respecting yourself.

And, yes. Sometimes the word “No” could be the most loving thing you could say to a child, especially if it’s really dangerous, like “NO! That is not ok!” But generally speaking, when it comes to power struggles, when a child has something you don’t want to have him have, I suggest you just go up to eye level with no words, absolutely no words, rub his back and put your other hand out until he puts it in your hand and then you say “Thank you”. Okay, I hope that helps and I look forward to seeing if it works for you or not. Okay. Thank you. Bye.

[Music]
[00:04:23]

KC Wilt: So today on Parent Savers, we have Amy Sorter from Eco Savvy Moms with us to discuss Green Washing Baby Products. So Amy, what is green washing and where do we see this?

Amy Sorter: Sure. You know green washing is just a form of spin which marketing departments or PR departments put on their products and it’s really deceptively used to bring out the perception that the organizations products are green or environmentally friendly. So essentially, whether it’s to increase profits or you know it’s to gain political support, there’s varying reasons why companies green wash. They really do it I should say, to manipulate popular opinion and obviously to support otherwise questionable items, really, so it’s really deceptive practice used by a lot of companies.

Summer Jesse: So it may or may not be actually better or greener for the environment and for….. kids?

Amy Sorter: Yes, yes. That’s what the term “Green washing” is all about. So, it’s certainly not greener, or cleaner, or healthier or non-toxic. It’s just a spin they are putting on their products to try and you know, either like I said, enhance their revenues or make their products look greener. And not to say that not every company is doing this; so, but the companies that are doing it, we consider them what’s the term is called “green washing”.

KC Wilt: Amy, what questions do we think that we should be asking ourselves before purchasing these products, so that we don’t you know, see you know, a label and think like, “Oh this is a natural product,” when it’s not. What should we be thinking about?

Amy Sorter: Okay, well couple of things you want to take a look at when looking your products are the ingredients list, right? And you want also take a look what you probably like maybe do a little back-tracking, like for some examples, of where you would actually see this type of behavior, this green washing. So it’s really common to be used, I should say, on baby products, cleaning supplies, cosmetics, those kind of things. So couple things you want to take a look out for are: What is on the back of that panel. So, you know, I have a five year old daughter and I really didn’t know a lot about what was going on with these products a long time ago. I thought like listen, you look at a bottle and it has a green leaf on it or it has a tree on it, and I thought “Oh it’s all natural!” or the term “natural”. I think we are going to get into talking about labeling a little bit with and what the FDA does and does not regulate as well, and kind of save… your…, we’ll get into that but I’ll talk a little more on that as we get there, but, you really need to take a look at those labels and see what they do mean on the back. So there is toxins in them. I know we have had discussions about things that are unhealthy for our children, and you just need to really to look at what is in that product and then also to…., there are so many other places you see the green washing for example, Macdonald’s in Europe. Their logo right? It’s traditionally red and yellow. They changed it in Europe to red and green and then yellow and green, so that people thought their products are going more environmental friendly. Simply by changing a color on a product, people so say the product formally used to have a blue color. They changed their logo to green or they put green works green into the name of the product. I mean it comes into so many forms. So what it comes down to its really reading those labels and really trying to decipher what’s in that product. And I do have resources for you that we can get into about what you can find that and we do post all the information on https://www.ecosavvymoms.com, but now and today too, you will find that they are some great resources out there you can check, I call them “Watch Dogs” and there are some great watch dog websites as well that I can give to your listeners as well.

KC Wilt: Yeah. Great!

Summer Jesse: And you have mentioned a few already, but are there other specific types of products known for green washing?

Michelle Franklin: Especially in the baby area?

Amy Sorter: Mmm...sure, sure. Oh, yeah. Well [laughs]. Many are the food products that evoke environmental friendly imagery and I’m not going to name any specifics right now, but they are certain food companies for baby products.

KC Wilt: Oh come on……

All: [Laughs]

KC Wilt: You can just say it in my ear later!

Amy Sorter: I know. I don’t want to have, MacDonald’s might be calling me, so I don’t want to have any lawsuits yet.

All: [Laughs]

Amy Sorter: But, they are certain baby food products that will put a green leaf on their label or look natural oats on their label, so watch out for that even though it truly means nothing, it’s so easy to be deceived I think this days for parents, because you think you are trying to do the right thing and you see label that has, you know these oats and these greens, and these little green leaves on them or trees and you think it’s natural and a great product for your kid. So you really needed to take a look I think food first of all for your children and whether or not truly organic. Clothing, just as an example for your kids you want to buy organic clothing or this or that so…. It was funny when my daughter was first born I bought this once and said, “Oh made with organic cotton”, and I said ”This is fantastic!” and I went to wash it you know, I read through it at the time, I wasn’t quite an eco savvy mom as I am now, went to wash it, looked at the label and it said 2% organic cotton. You know so they can advertise anyway they want to. 2%.... you know, so what’s the other 98% made off? It’s amazing how every little thing you do affects your health and what’s going into your body. I had a discussion with a mom earlier today and we were talking about doctors that tested breast milk. They found over 3000 toxins within a mother’s breast milk when they tested it. From…, and a lot of that stuff you can’t help, right? You can’t help, you know, the air you breathe, you can’t help, I mean, you could help the city live in, but mostly you know is where you are living, you can’t… those things you can’t help, but you can help what you put on your body, you can help what you put on to your body, what you ingest, I mean so I think when you know better, you do better and you try and make the right choices for your child.

The FDA has no authority to require any pre-packaging you know assessment like it does with the drugs or anything else. They heavily monitor the drug registry. The FDA monitors other areas with our foods and that. For some reason, the FDA…, people seem to think they monitor. There is this misconception that they monitor cosmetics. It’s the least monitored item on our shelves, I think in all of America, are what is in cosmetics. So it does not have the authority to regulate. There is no laws regulating it. So I think a lot of people would think that ”Oh, if it’s on the shelf, it’s healthy. The FDA is regulating it.” So and the FDA, I will just add a little quote from the FDA’s website and they explain their limitations. They say, ”Their legal authority over cosmetics is different from other products regulated by the agency. Cosmetic products and ingredients are not subject to FDA pre-market approval authority with the exception of color additives”. That’s the one thing. So it’s pretty amazing, they just have no statutory authority over what’s going into our products, so essentially to answer your questions.....

KC Wilt: Anything can go in.

Amy Sorter: Anything can go in it.

KC Wilt: And it does.

Amy Sorter: Yeah. There are some laws right now they are trying to pass like the Safe Cosmetics Act maybe you have heard of, it and a couple other things but we got so much going on, election year, those kind of things a little bit, it’s not a priority. Right?

Michelle Franklin: How do you learn about the Safe Cosmetics?

Amy Sorter: https://www.safecosmetics.org is the website you can go to. And what I will do to on https://www.ecosavvymoms.com , I can post these kinds of watch dogs sites and those safe sites you can go to.

KC Wilt: We can post on our Parent Savers to....

Amy Sorter: And I can give it to Parent Savers as well. So essentially, if someone’s putting toxins in their product, there is no one policing them. It’s a great question. There is really not, So, the only person you can trust is yourself and your information.

KC Wilt: I....I don’t know if you ever heard this Amy, but I used to work with a Swiss company and the Swiss you know, the… a lot of Europeans in general, really have higher standards....

Summer Jesse: I was just about to say that....

KC Wilt: And amazing with what they say....

Summer Jesse: Absolutely....and they like banned the use of like 400 ingredients and US banned like 8.

Amy Sorter: There is so much I think. I think the movement is starting now or it’s starting to have these discussions. But until we really find someone strongly lobbying for this, it’s just not going to change.

Jane Park: So consumer knowledge is critical.

Amy Sorter: Consumer knowledge is absolutely key and just making yourself aware of those toxins that I think we are going to chat a little bit more about those in the next section.

KC Wilt: Yeah. Thanks Amy. So, when we come back, we will talk about what toxins to avoid and what to look for when we buy our baby products. We will be right back.

[Music]

[00:12:37]
KC Wilt: So what are some toxins that we should avoid and why? We hear about BPA, we hear about Parabens, what are they? What are they in and why are they dangerous?

Amy Sorter: I have a whole list of... I will tell you. I kind of characterize my toxins into the Red Alert, Orange, and then kind of Yellow. So, the red alert like at the airport where security is on high alert, so this is my body security right, so I am on a high alert and .... Then it really..... And I really trust the environmentally working group’s suggestions.... and they do a lot of research about toxins.

KC Wilt: And they have the cosmetic database?

Amy Sorter: Yes, they have the cosmetic.... The environmental working groups are fantastic, https://www.ewg.org

KC Wilt: I type in the cosmetic database, then I can put like Johnson & Johnson and the baby wash and it come up and it all says the toxin levels.

Amy Sorter: Yeah, the EWG is fantastic even if you just Google and either you will come up with all those resources. But EWG for me is a fantastic site that really lists some great things. So a couple of things that bother us are many, many but I will list the highlights of what is really important I think to avoid....and then we’ll chat a little on all those.

KC Wilt: So, get our pens out.

Amy Sorter: Yes, get the pens out [laughs].First is coal tar is used in dandruff shampoos and anti-itch creams and it’s a known carcinogen. It’s a coal tar-based dye such as FD&C blue No. 1, who hasn’t heard of that?

KC Wilt: Wait, so will it say, “Coal Tar or it will say FDC blue number?”

Amy Sorter: No, coal tar base that’s the problem. Nothing says coal tar. It will say FD&C no. 1 and it will say....and that’s used in toothpaste. FD&C Green 3 - it’s used in mouthwash and it should be avoided. We had this discussion earlier about [laughs] mouthwash.

Summer Jesse: Make your own mouth wash.

Amy Sorter: Yeah, I know [laughs] and toothpaste as well. So when you look into the more natural products Thompson Maine is great as a few others great products in the market and imagine like we say you absorb 60-70% of what you put on to your skin because it’s a major organ, a lot of people don’t know that, when you ingest it, it’s the same situation and your mouth and in stomach.

Michelle Franklin: It’s in your mouth.

Summer Jesse: And in your stomach.

KC Wilt: And if you are giving your baby a toothbrush and they are learning how to brush their teeth, or swallow. They are not spitting it out.

Amy Sorter: Oh, sorry, and when you go your child first dentist appointment what toothpaste do they put in there, it’s not organic and it’s not natural.

Jane Park: It’s not Thompson Maine!

Summer Jesse: Do you bring your toothpaste? You will be like, here we go. It will be strawberry fluoride free …..

Amy Sorter: I did.... you know, I went to Natural Pro Expo West, I’m not sure if you guys have been to that, but it all the natural products and you know I said, “Can you please do Thompson Maine” and ask for natural toothpaste, can you please get into some of these dentist and they are a few, and I’m now finding a few that are now going towards these fluoride free, these you know, coal tar free thing....dental items to use on children and their adults. So, and you can find it now, so yeah it’s trending.

KC Wilt: So tell me what else is on the list?

Amy Sorter: Fragrance....fragrance.

KC Wilt: This is the red list still, right?

Amy Sorter: Yes, this is the red list; I’m still on the red list. You really pick an ubiquitous term used to mask 100s of ingredients including Phthalates....Phthalates disrupt the endocrine system and they can cause reproductive and developmental harms. So fragrance is a huge one to look out for.

KC Wilt: That’s everything.

Amy Sorter: Yeah, I know it’s really tough.

Summer Jesse: It’s like one of those words they think that people look at and they don’t think it’s bad.

KC Wilt: They don’t, right

Michelle Franklin: It’s like, “Oh they like”; fragrance makes me smell pretty well!

Amy Sorter: Yeah, yeah. So.... then Hydroquinone. A lot of folks use it now to like let you know, I mean when I was pregnant I got a little bit of that mask of pregnancy and I first used that until I found out that it’s really what it does it’s a neurotoxin and its allergenic, and that’s a huge one

KC Wilt: So it would say....hydro....

Amy Sorter: Yes, and a lot of.... actually advertiser as like its good and it’s like lighten your skin and it’s found like in those skin lighteners.

KC Wilt: How do you spell that?

Amy Sorter: Hydroquinone... so it’s h-y-d-r-o-q-u-i-n-o-n-e, Hydroquinone.

Michelle Franklin: Are you going to find that in baby products because you are generally not lightening their skin?

Amy Sorter: Not, no, no.

All: [Laughs].

Amy Sorter: Is that deliberately? [Laughs].

KC Wilt: No, but you know we are talking about moms here too. What we do for ourselves to with cosmetic, so you are not generally going to find that in baby products. [Laughs].

Amy Sorter: But it’s such known carcinogenic and allergenic that, you know look for it if you are trying to get something to know like I said, lighten your skin you know am going to hit 40 this year so you know you are always trying to be like use products to you know.....

KC Wilt: Not look forty?

All: [Laughs]

Amy Sorter: So the best fun you know is eating healthy and living healthy lifestyle but you know a lot... it’s become very popular all this year’s selling these skin lightening treatments now everywhere, so that’s a big one to look out for. Aluminum, aluminum…., it’s often used in eye shadow, it’s a color additive. Deodorants, oooh....

Michelle Franklin: How do I get rid of my husband’s Gillette, how?

Amy Sorter: Well, there so many other aluminum free. Have you tried the Thomson Maine for him?

Michelle Franklin: Yeah, he doesn’t like it, he likes the Gillette.

Amy Sorter: They are some products you going to warn him or not, it’s just the way. I am not perfect you know what I mean, maybe chemicals are a few things make up in my house, I don’t know. Since I have learnt better, I don’t buy them anymore, but you can’t avoid it 110% it’s truly impossible, you just do the best with what you can.

KC Wilt: So with the baby’s stuff, you know what is the BPA in parabens why is everyone candid now on this BPA kick that says non-BPA free?

Amy Sorter: Well, BPA in parabens are synthetic chemicals that are used as preservatives. So the paraben is a big thing too and it’s put in a lot of products and you almost see it like methylparaben, propylparaben it’s got lot of different names and it’s practically. It’s in so many products unless you see the Paraben-free like a yes to carrots, I love them, Paraben-free on there or there are other products that will put Paraben-free but it’s cheap basically way to….., well, in the beginning, I would say I would go back to Parabens, a lot of companies thought, this is fantastic like I can put this into my product it is going to have a longer shelf life and it’s cheap. So they thought, great like now instead of two-month shelf life for our mascara, it’s got 6 months to a year or you know the lotion for the children, oh it’s going to last now for 2 years instead of 2 months. There is other ways to really make sure that those products last longer and have a longer shelf life than using these synthetic hormones. And also to…., want happens with Parabens and BPAs and then I hadn’t mentioned in my red alert list Triclosan, which is, I think we were talking about it a little earlier.

KC Wilt: That’s in everything?

Amy Sorter: Yes, it is in everything.

KC Wilt: Toothpaste, hands sanitizers?

Amy Sorter: Hand sanitizers the big one

KC Wilt: Weedkiller, isn’t it?

Amy Sorter: Yes, it is in everything. Yeah so.... which really also to decrease fertility, which is a big thing for moms out there too and it has been linked to birth defects as well. And then you know, like I said, Lead and Mercury another huge thing to look out for as well, so all these things are….Who said Lead and Mercury?

All: [Laughs]

Amy Sorter: Lead can appear in toothpaste as a naturally occurring contaminate of hydrated silica. Hydrated Silica.

KC Wilt: Silica! Yeah, what is this Silica….?

Amy Sorter: That’s a Lead of Mercury.

Jesse Summer: Those are those little packets they tell you not to eat, right?

Amy Sorter: And guess what? They are in products too. Hey, “don’t eat these you will die… but let me put them on products you are going to put on your face. Fantastic!” You know? So …. [Laughs]

KC Wilt: Oh, my gosh.
Amy Sorter: Yeah, I know. It’s also a neuro-toxin appears in men’s hair dye, you know, with the Lead and the Mercury, and it’s also found in a cosmetic preservative called Thimerosal. So you look……

Summer Jesse: That is in, that is in.... when you get your vaccines? They are not doing it as much anymore, but a lot of times they are preserved with Thimerosal.

Amy Sorter: Yes they are.

Michelle Franklin: You guys are so smart!

Amy Sorter: I know! Thanks for helping me. [Laughs].

Michelle Franklin: Seriously!

Amy Sorter: You know something, I am not a scientist, but I always pronounce everything correctly. But you know, once you recognize what to look for, in these toxins, I think you can make better decisions. You know, and I think going to the environmental working groups website before you go shopping or before you are about to place that online purchase, take 5 minutes to just take a quick glance, I mean, that’s really your best defense I think. Don’t look at the packaging. Packaging can be so pretty and seductive, you know. It’s almost like sex sells, the green sells.

All: [Laughs]

KC Wilt: What about changing the places that you shop? I mean even that can make a huge difference!

Amy Sorter: A huge difference! There are so many great online stores, now too, that you can go to as well to look at. Yeah.

KC Wilt: Well, here is the thing. I’m a little bit worried because then I started…, ok I changed some products and then also I found one company was getting sued because they were using the term ’organic’ on the name of the company, but nothing in there was organic or UFDA regulated or anything like that, so now I can’t even trust the companies at, you know, the health food store, so how do I negotiate that without, you know…

Amy Sorter: Label reading?

KC Wilt: Yeah!

Amy Sorter: It really comes down to it. First of all, like we talked about FDA doesn’t regulate, you’re the regulator. You are your own FDA, you know what I mean? So you have to do that and you have do the research as well. And I think we are so lucky right now because we have, like I said, there are some watch dog websites out there you can go to. The EWG, like we have the internet, we have the resources down to know better and the information is absolutely amazing. In our Eco Savvy Moms you know, we post these watch dogs, we put information about, you know, these websites you can go while doing the research, but at the end of the day it’s just about you taking the time to research what’s going into your body, on your body, what’s in your home.

Summer Jesse: I wanted to add something, because I think this could just be so overwhelming. All of this and a lot of moms, like if you are not, you know, going down the natural path at all, it can seem, you don’t even know where to start. So I think it’s important to know, even if you can take baby steps and like start off small and know that every time you go against change, it’s going to be weird at first, you know? It’s just…, it’s going to be a little bit of a transition. But if you could just take those baby steps then eventually it will get easier, you will become more familiar.

KC Wilt: When you get your shampoo and then you get the right one then you always just go back to Amazon hit what to re-order and…..,

Amy Sorter: I find that’s its sort of like…, that domino effect. Once you start with one thing you go, “Wait a minute what about this?” And you know on Eco Savvy Moms we say, “We are not perfect”. I don’t know, show me a perfect mom, I don’t know Cindy Crawford is physically perfect but nobody is perfect you know, even the Eco Moms out there are doing their best, we are not perfect. But it’s just about making that one small change, maybe you decide, so you don’t want to overwhelm yourself, one small change a week or one small change in a month. You know? And it can start with taking your recycle bags to the grocery store, so it all kind of like rolls, I think, downhill from there. So once you start looking at better ways to treat your body, the environment; it just turns into a lifestyle. And that’s really what I think our planet needs to change into, is eco friendly, safe non-toxic, needs to be a lifestyle. And here is the thing. There is a great book out there, by Dan Machorn that is about spending your money... it’s a great book basically about green dollars, right? So, if we put our money into companies that are using safe products, environmentally friendly products, they have great environmental practices, people are going to change. If companies that are putting this toxin in their products are not making money anymore, guess what? They are not here. So, our dollars talk and I think that’s the best we can do to make changes for our future.

KC Wilt: Great, we will put that actually, that book into our online book store.

Summer Jesse: What about people who say, I want to use up what I have, I don’t want to waste it or throw it away?

Amy Sorter: You know what? I fully understand that. Because you know what? Wasting is….

Summer Jesse: Would you recommend to do that? Or chuck it?

Amy Sorter: If…, it depends on what’s in it. If it’s a kind of on that mild list, if you go to the EWG and you check that cosmetic and its, you know, doesn’t have anything from the red alert list, then I think you know, you would be okay using it, because really, that’s really not environmentally friendly. If you bought half this bottle, use some of it, when you listen to the show, “Oh, I got to chuck that!”. That’s not really….

KC Wilt: It’s overwhelming how suddenly you get rid all your stuff and you are like “Crap! Well, what do I…, what do I clean with now?”

Amy Sorter: Exactly, exactly.

KC Wilt: My family, we have this policy at the moment that, ‘out with the old, in with the new’, and so, when my husband is done with his deodorant, I bought him some good stuff. However, I bought a Cosco pack about 3 years ago and am still working on my deodorant and so, but eventually, but I don’t use it that often, so maybe that’s better...

All: [Laughs].

Amy Sorter: It is better, yes.

KC Wilt: But it is one of those things that, as soon as…, because I think its overwhelming, so as soon as I get done with the old 409…,

Amy Sorter: Yes, right.

KC Wilt: …, I go to…, you know, I get...and sometimes I had this…, I had this idea that I was going to have a green cleaning party and learn how to make everything with vinegar and baking soda.

All: Yeah!

KC Wilt: However, in theory, then you have a baby and you are going to run around and you can’t do it, and so you know, instead of beating myself up going, “I haven’t made my baking soda powder yet!” I have gone to the Heath Food store and I have bought Mrs. Myers, if that the name, and bought whatever else, until that next moment, and then I have just done that to kind of just take my baby steps, because it is overwhelming to get done wit. So…..

Amy Sorter: It’s completely true. Yeah and I think you know use what you have in your house most is crazy like on the red alert toxins list you know, or you can also donate to deserved places as well.

All: [Laughs]

KC Wilt: Thank you so much Amy for helping and educate us on what truly are greener options and not just the fakies out there. So, if you want to learn more about Amy, simply visit the Episode page on our website and look for today’s topic or visit her website https://www.ecosavvymoms.com and look for her. In the future we will do some more episodes on “How To Go Green”.

[Music]
[Featured Segment: Toy Talk - Toys For Your Toddler]

KC Wilt: Before we wrap up today’s show, here is the latest Toy Talk.

Brian Miller: Hello Parent Savers. I’m Brian Miller. I’m the owner of Geppetto's Toys Stores in San Diego. We want to talk about toys from one year old to two year old, your beginning toddlers. At that age, your kids are going through a language explosion, they are learning their first words, repetition, books are wonderful for that age. Books that have interaction, books that have surprises, books that repeat and repeat and repeat. That’s how children learn. So any book that you can read with your child, where there is a surprise, where there is interaction, those are awesome for that age. Also larger motor skills are being developed. So things like stable walkers, even a baby carrier that’s stable for your child to push with the baby and even play shopping carts. Those are a great things to play with a 2 year old. Also at about that a year and half stage, kids are going to love carrying something around with them, that they can put their toys in, so might be a purse to be like be like mommy, it might be a bag that they are going to fill up with their fun things. It’s great to be able to walk and hold something. Also push and pull toys: a child does a push toy first like a pretend lawn mower, and then as they develop the skills to pull something, because pulling, they have to walk and look behind them; that’s a great combination effort. A pull toy is a great thing for a child. A dog and a string that they can pull; there is a cause and effect. Those kind of larger motor skills really help with coordination. You can visit our website https://www.geppettostoys.com for more information or for future ideas, listen to Parent Savers for more toy tips in the future.

[Music]

KC Wilt: That wraps up today’s episode. We love to hear, if you have a parenting topic you would like to suggest or if you have a questions for Amy about today’s show or the topics we discussed, call our Parent Savers hotline at 619-866-4775 or send us an email through our website at https://www.parentsavers.com and we will answer your question in an upcoming episode. Parent Savers is also looking for listeners to join our blogging team. If you would like to share your current or past experiences about parenting, be sure to send us an email. Coming up next week, we will learn about Common Money Mistakes New Parents Make. Thanks for listening to Parent Savers, empowering new parents everywhere.

[Disclaimer]

This has been a New Mommy Media Production. The information materials contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Though such information materials are believed to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional medical advice or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problems or disease or prescribing any medication. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified healthcare provider.

[00:29:09] End of Audio

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