Bye Bye Plastic

UPDATE: A few people asked about Tervis Tumblers. They DO have BPA according to a company statement. BPA is THE major endocrine disruptor. Sad, I know. I used to LOVE them too. Tervis claims their products are safe though (see comments). I would not trust the safety of any BPA though after the studies I heard the other night. Canada banned BPA in baby bottles and the US and other countries are following suit. If is is safe, why would they ban it?

Also, a few people told me they have found stainless steel at their local Target for lunches and snacks. Wish I could go buy some:( I am hinting for Dave to get some but he is not taking my bait.

Last week I read a very interesting book called Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax. I would recommend it for anyone raising boys today. Months ago, my good friend in Virginia (Hi Colleen) suggested this book to me and it was on my "to read" list. Then last week, my new neighbor stopped by to invite us to a little party at his house. As it turns out, the author is his brother and was going to give a little talk at the party. I was thrilled because Dr. Sax looks at how boys and girls learn differently and how they are coping in today's society in his two books (and a third which is coming soon). In graduate school, I studied and researched gender differences as well and I have taught university courses on the subject. I published research on gender differences back when I had a career. In fact, back in the day, I won a national award for my research in this field. So, I was very excited to talk to the author.

Dr Sax points to five factors that are contributing to young boys being "adrift" in today's society and he presents very convincing research. However, there are some sweeping generalizations made in the book. For example, he suggests that boys are not interested in reading or winning the school spelling bee anymore. I am sure many are not, however Will and his friends LOVE to read. And as you know, Harry is quite the spelling bee competitor. So, while his book has many valid points there are places where I think he exaggerates the true condition of boys today. In reading this book, I realized that fortunately, Will and Harry are most certainly NOT adrift. But there were topics that made me re-think some things we could improve upon.

One of the big topics in this book is endocrine disruptors. I am not a scientist but my understanding of the research is that plastic cups, bottles, etc. are really impacting the hormones of our children in a very negative way (everything from premature puberty to low sperm count and infertility to low motivation). I had been wanting to make the switch from some plastic cups for the kids to all glass but I never got around to it. The book and Dr. Sax presentation Saturday night really convinced us to get rid of ALL of our plastic cups. So, now all of our drinking vessels (even Kate's) are glass. Since, I cannot buy glass containers until after Lent, we are phasing out our plastic food storage over the next few weeks. I do have some glass containers and I trying to use them instead of plastic.

I urge you to read this book if you want to look at how boys are changing and some dangers as they grow up. I also would urge you to read the research on endocrine disruptors here, here, here, here and here. This article (sent to me by Rebecca~thank you) is really thorough. It is all very eye opening to read and really such an easy change to make for the betterment of our children and our environment.

We are going to try to phase all of this plastic out. See that little stainless steel snack bowl? We have a few of those stainless steel plates too and they are a safe alternative to plastic for little ones who might break glass.

I found a website that offers really neat alternatives for plastic (especially for lunch-boxes, bye bye baggies?) The products are a little pricey but I think they might be worth it!