Being green

It sounds to me as if you are doing a good job and setting standards. Perhaps you can 'influence' your GC to be responsible towards the environment. Possibly they would enjoy being green.

Keep up your good work I say.

I have noticed family members use eco friendly cleaning products but continue to use disposable nappies, have two family cars and jet off on holiday.
I remind them that the first 50 years of my life was completely planet friendly and everything cooked from scratch so if I want to let my hair down now I will.

We recycle everything which can be recycled, use "e-cloths" to lessen the use of cleaning products. The cleaning products when used are all eco-friendly.

Have solar panels, a 3,000 litre water harvesting system, a eco effecient car. Cook from scratch, buy where possible local produce, which in turn reduces packaging and air-miles.

But I will not and shall not stop going on holiday!!! Some of the countries we visit are poor and rely on tourism to survive. We spent our working lives looking forward to traveling child free in our retirement!!!

thats the younger generation. i presume that get recycling boxes. you could get the to go to a green envioment for the day especially the gc. make it seem like fun to go beach litter picking...whats an e-cloth? i use old knickers for dusters ,i really have cut down on plastic.even washing powder comes in a box now .i use soda crytals instead of washing up liquid. soap instead of dispensers.no plastic drink bottles .mine are made from bamboo....gradually phasing out plastic cooking stuff for the microwave.recycle everything.food gets eaten skins too .bake the skins of vegeatables as a snack. mouldy bread goes to the pigeons..left over cat food goes in the crows/magpies or the local fox....i get the neighbours to give me there out of date fruit and make it in to smoothies.couldnt believe one neighbour. whole bag of oranges just going in food bin,out of date by one day. i stopped her .and said what a waste.can i have them? so i got 48 oranges for free.!!!

enviroment

We too gave our children a “green” upbringing but we have found that our adult daughters are considerably “greener” than our sons.
All the daughters cook from scratch, buy or grow organic veg, shop responsibly, use washable nappies etc - but our sons are so much less bothered. I think they take the lead entirely from their girlfriend and wife (not pointing fingers here just think it’s how it is).
Now one of my sons has a family he has become a bit more focused. Fingers crossed our other son will “mature” into a more sustainable way of life in due course!

In the 80s the debate was about whether all that boil washing was good for the environment. Things have moved on, and no doubt will continue to do so, some disposables are greener than others.
Truthfully, if my kids had put their child in terry nappies, I'd have thought they were losing it!

I understand the principle behind not using disposable nappies, but I do think it is the one time a young mother should be allowed without remonstration to use them. Having babies and young toddlers is just about the most exhausting time of your life.

I moved to Stockholm with a 2 yr old and 6 week old, both in terry nappies and all that paraphernalia. In Sweden it was impossible to get things like liners, Napisan etc. so I was forced into disposables. It changed my life! and never looked back. When we came back to England we filled the large car with disposables as the Swedish ones were much better.

However, at that time little ones came out of nappies much earlier than nowadays. Today's disposables are so much better that the child is not uncomfortable so why bother with a potty!! nothing wrong with gentle potty training from a year old. Works quickly with some but not with others, go with the flow!

I can't see anything wrong with a young family using disposable nappies. Why would we want to make life any harder for them than it already is? I remember working full time as a single mum and having nappies steeping in buckets ready to go into the twin tub then having them hanging all over the flat to dry. Why should we wish that for our children/grandchildren's generation? My DD doesn't drive and hasn't flown anywhere in over 10 years so I see it as a fair compromise .

My elder daughter used washable nappies for her first child but they were always leaking, she had problems drying them in winter (until I bought her a tumble dryer I know that’s not eco friendly) and these days the clothes are not made to go over bulky material nappies. So for her second child and all my other DGC it’s been disposables all the way. But all AC are good on recycling everything, cook from scratch and don’t fly very much!

I mostly used terry nappies until DD went to a childminder, they insisted on disposable nappies (early 1980s). I recycle as much as possible & always have done.

Recycling & upcycling was a feature of my upbringing & early married life. I'm not averse to a bit of recycling/upcycling now as are my DD & DiL.

I drive but life would be difficult without my car as I have limited mobility & I'm not yet eligible for a Bus Pass. None of us go on foreign holidays so having a car is our concession, I feel we do our bit. DD needs her car to get DGS1 to School as it's much too far for them to walk, also his swimming & martial arts.

I had a baby and a toddler in nappies in the 1980's and another child just started school. The toddlers wore terry towelling ones, tied with a huge safety pin and as they got wet they sagged. Over the nappies they wore plastic pants which went hard when washed. The washing machine was always going and washing line full of nappies. Who would want to go back to all that? All the children were toilet trained by 3 years old before starting playschool (called pre school now).

Reusable nappies are much better than they were, Flaxwoven. I had some really cute ones for my kids in the late 90s that I enjoyed using. (All-in-one with Velcro fastening, no safety pins, no plastic pants, pretty designs on the outside.)

I agree with you about the need to take care of the planet, Emelle, and also do the things you mention. My kids are aware of this need but don’t always bother.

My son and DiL recently bought modern reusable nappies for 10 month old. They have to be changed a lot more often than the modern disposables, and have leaked on many occasions, resulting in clothing and bedding to wash as well as the nappy!
I notice that she is back in disposables most of the time, and I don't blame them!

Maybe it depends which reusable nappies you buy. Mine didn’t leak and I didn’t have to change them too often. The babies never got nappy rash either.

Staying on a site in Dorset South Lytchett Manor , when you check in given recycle bag list of things to put in it, in rubbish area bins for everything.
Battery box
Glass bin
Mixed recycling bin
Bin for non recycling
Lights on motion sensers in facility block the only place with outside lights at night

Not bad for a camp site, bus stop at gate so encourage you to use bus. Even the small coffee stand gives you 10% discount if you bring your own cup told GCthey are very impressed

I've used washable nappies including the old fashioned berries with a bombproof water right plastic pant type. The only drawback is carrying around smelly nappies all day on a day out. Then I used the eco disposables which biodegrade quicker than normal.
My ponder was all the water used and napisan was it actually any better for the environment? FYI nappies have been used twice and will be used again soon.
I wash cleaning cloths and dishcloths, I do use bleach where needed and recycle where I can. My girls usually pick up litter where we are out and bin it.
We have only been on an aeroplane twice.
So we try.......
If we can do more I will gladly take advice. X

Doing all these things for the environment ( and bragging about it) is all well and good, but unless the human population of the world is severely curtailed - by about 90% - Planet Earth and everything on it is doomed.

Good for you Grannygravy, I love my holidays too, and have waited all my life to be able to travel in the way we do now. I try to do my bit with other areas of my life, use as little plastic as possible, recycle etc.

Totally agree quizqueen, I don’t really know how the population can be at least stabilised, no chance of a reduction I don’t think. It is the cultural norm to have big families in some societies, how does that change so that the population of the world stabilises?

I dont think small changes are going to cut it to be honest, not any more, and people just dont want to give up the higher carbon luxuries, clearly.

www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-global-warming-end-human-civilisation-research-a8943531.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1teLwwSfIYloAXyG6RPKLUE44322r986GaJR3c9tDppjtm1OXR9YdShik#Echobox=1559658155

Emelle, you are like me and do as much as possible, but when there was a demonstration in London to encourage us to do more to help the environment, didn't one of the leading Americans fly over to make a five minute appearance. A typical hypocrit.

I am sad to read many of these messages. I have struggled for 50 years to get the urgency of what humans are doing to the planet across, and seem to have failed totally. So many Gransnetters are making comments without knowing about the facts behind the situations.
JohnD, it was Emma Thompson who is British, who flew in, and the reasons were clearly explained at the time.
My daughter used modern terry nappies for my DGS and they were great. Disposables help when travelling but I have picked too many used ones out of the hedges in our lanes, too think they are wonderful. And the impact on landfill is horrific.
We really are facing a crisis of survival and it is no wonder the young ones accuse us older people of being selfish if we don't realise how things have changed since we were young. We have to change our expectations and stop feeling entitled to so much if our DGCs are going to live as long as we have.

Seriously, would you really expect mothers today to go back to towelling nappies? I used them for my children because there was no viable alternative, and I was at home, so able to do all the revolting soaking and sluicing and sanitising involved. But working mothers don't have the time, and imagine having to collect a bag of soiled nappies along with your offspring from the nursery!
And would you expect women to go back to using rags and towelling, as our grandmothers had to do, for our periods, instead of using disposable products?