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Like you, I love my mother but it wasn’t until I became a mother myself did I understand and see all the sacrifices she made for me growing up, that I do now for my own children.  It’s a 24/7 hour job with no pay that starts from birth and continues all through life.  Even when a child is grown and has left home, a mother still worries and hopes her child is safe and well!

A mother’s love can concur the world and move mountains.  A mother will never take no for an answer and strive to do the best and get the best for her child.  I especially would like to praise mothers who have children on the spectrum, because I know it’s not easy and that it sometimes feels as if you have double the amount of children.  Moms don’t get me wrong–all children our demanding and need our attention–but children on the spectrum have needs 10 times more than your average child.  Remember to never give up and keep fighting and looking for alternative choices that offer no side effects because all your hard work and effort is well worth those precious hugs and smiles.

I would like to congratulate all mothers and wish you a very Special Mother’s Day and thank you for supporting this website.  This website was especially designed for mothers and individuals seeking a “green lifestyle” with the desire to take preventative measures to insure healthy choices for themselves and their family.

Once again,     “Have a Wonderful, Fabulous, Mother’s Day!”

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We bet you know a lot of moms who deserve a “Mother of the Year” award. Imagine their surprise when they get a video news clip saying they are the 2009 Mom of the Year. Be sure to send yours before Mothers Day tomorrow.

Go to cnnbcvideo.com to send your favorite mom a video with her name embedded in it. The site also sends you a copy of the video so you can forward it to her friends and family, if you want. Everyone should know she’s won “Mother of the Year.” Right? The site’s privacy policy states that they will not send additional email to you or the video recipient, unless you leave the check box marked to opt-in to receive emails from moveon.org or momsrising.org, the two sponsors of the site.

Check out a sample of the finished video, where our own Green Diva Mom is the 2009 Mom of the Year

©iStockPhoto.com - Ahmad Hamoudah

Birth control: Most of us use it, have used it, or will use it in some form or another. Whether you opt for hormonal methods like the pill or the patch, barrier methods such as condoms or diaphragms, intrauterine devices, or surgical sterilization, no method is without its drawbacks. Hormonal methods can cause side effects such as weight gain, headaches, depression, decreased libido, and nausea, and the potential dangers of ingesting synthetic hormones for extended periods of time are still largely unknown. Barrier methods are inconvenient. Intrauterine devices can be painful and are associated with complications such as uterine puncture and tubal infection. Surgical sterilization is costly and usually irreversible.

You may be surprised to learn that there is another option, one that is virtually free of side effects, costs, and inconveniences: natural birth control. (continue reading…)

©iStockPhoto.com - Ahmad Hamoudah

Right around now I usually look at my personal planner and feel like crap. Because it’s usually empty. The beginning of each year I buy day-view or month-by-month view pages for my binder, and vow that I’ll use them, and then I don’t and feel like I’m a loser and a tree-killer. February is when I usually clear my desk of last year’s stack of unused “day-at-a-time” sheets and vow to do better.

My problem is that I either fly by the seat of my pants and don’t plan things ahead, or the things we do (music lessons, karate, etc.) are the same time each week so there’s no point in my writing that down on a gazillion pages. I’d imagine most moms with young kids are in the same boat. Do you really need to write down your Tuesday morning Gymboree class on every Tuesday in your planner? Even worse, do you find yourself writing things in after the fact just so your planner doesn’t look so pathetic and empty? (continue reading…)

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If you ask any doctor, or look in any magazine, the symptoms of stress are pretty clear: you’re tense, have a hard time making decisions, and you’re snappy; everything other people do seems to be calculated to drive you crazy. Yet, most of us run around all the time so much that this kind of condition is natural. If we’re not stressed, we’d probably stress out about not being stressed. But is it okay to be this stressed all the time? Is it okay for our kids?

Most of the time management books talk about how to budget for relaxation time, or make appointments for exercise or “me” dates. What they don’t talk about is just how unlikely it is you’re going to relax if you know you’ve only got fifty minutes between the hours of 3 and 4 and only if there’s no traffic and you don’t really have to stop and get bread and you know you’re going to pay for this dearly when you come out of hiding and your small child is desperate for your attention. It’s possible that the trained lab rats were able to relax under these conditions, but quite probably just before they dropped dead.

But how do you make time to relax and de-stress yourself? (continue reading…)

The profusion of red on Valentine’s Day is appropriate, considering the holiday is about as far from green as one can get.  While some holiday traditions, like champagne and black eyed peas for New Year’s Day, seem oblivious to what is in season, the typical Valentine’s Day celebration with greeting cards, flowers, candy and a romantic meal is one of the few holiday traditions that seems bent on openly defying seasonality and good environmental sense. All is not lost, though.  A few simple tweaks can green up Valentine’s Day, and make it even better than the traditional celebration, for you, your partner, and the planet. (continue reading…)

I know that the nine-year-old can be difficult and moody, but when mine wrote “2008—another year to live through” in his journal, it got me to thinking: those teenage years are going to be bad, bad, bad. Sure, there’s no way to guarantee your kid isn’t going to be miserable or get into trouble, but there’s got to be some way to help inoculate them against the troubles of life.

What I really wanted to know was how to tell whether my child is depressed, or just has a really bad attitude. If you’ve got a phlegmatic child who by nature complains a lot and will always comment that the glass is half-empty, what can you do to help that child survive his middle-school and teenage years, never mind the trials of adulthood? How would you even know when this kind of child is actually depressed as opposed to just constantly negative? (continue reading…)