Today I handed my daughter a sack of rotten apples and a paper bag filled with garbage. I kissed her goodbye and sent her off to school. Ten years ago the teachers would have been calling DSS, claiming a failure to protect my children’s health, but today my actions earn me a gold star for being a “good mother.”
Children in today’s world are more aware of environmental issues than ever before. “Going Green” in my day, meant turning a sallow shade just before puking your guts out. But for today’s children, it’s a mantra of responsible living.
I am a very reluctant learner when it comes to this issue, but my children, with patience and perseverance, are teaching me to leave a slightly smaller carbon footprint. They bring their lunches in reusable containers, and berate me when I cop-out and use disposable sandwich bags. They ‘suffer through’ my laziness when I toss frozen juice boxes into their totes, and remind me that ‘other kids’ use washable Rubbermaid containers. They collect my ‘junk’ and bring it to school to be reused as art materials. And they remind me, almost daily, that garbage makes great compost that can be used in the school gardens, which in turn, yield fresh vegetables and flowers.
I am not a gardner, nor will I ever be the poster-child for environmental awareness. I am too in-love with my single serving coffee pot with it’s environmentally unfriendly K-cups, and I enjoy keeping convenient Poland Spring water bottles in my gym bag and in my car. I’m not ready to give up those luxuries. But today, instead of running my garbage disposal, I filled a bag with orange peels, moldy tomatoes, egg shells, melon rinds, and apple cores, and I sent it to school for the compost bin. My daughter’s smile and uplifted brows said, “See? Was that so hard?”
It wasn’t hard at all.
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