[Adiva & Tataria climbing trees at The Dreaming Festival]

Sitting in the kids space at the Sydney Organic Expo watching Adiva and her new found friend Beth play with baby animals and dig with their hands in fresh compost, I thought a great name for a book would be ‘Raising Free Range Kids’. Perhaps my next book? Or a chapter at least?

It got me thinking about how it is that we have cultivated a culture of ‘battery kids’ or an industrial kid factory. We produce and market, more processed, preservative packed, low nutrient food for our kids than any other time in history. Then we fatten them up (often unintentionally) on these food products#, drug them*, and then put them in cages (professionalized/instutionalised structured and supervised environments) where we train them to be good citizens, dependant consumers, compliant workers. And like the battery chickens in cages where 10% or so do not endure the stress and simply die (which is built into the cost of production), I think about the rising mental health rates among our young people, depression, anxiety disorders, body image issues, and suicide.

I also think about the confined spaces of battery hens which necessitates the use of pharmaceuticals – one of the only reasons contemporary hen cities aren’t plague-ridden is the modern antibiotic. It reminds me of the childcare worker who told me that the childcare centre she works urged parents to vaccinate their children for the very same reason. ‘Kids in confined spaces can get sick’ she said, ‘So I don’t tolerate families who don’t vaccinate’. In fact, many schools currently do just that, regularly administering kids their dexamphetamines (ritilin) and routinely injecting flu vaccinations, rubella, and the HPV vaccination.

It makes me think about the blindness to the cruelty, the lack of soul it takes, to build (feed) an industrial kid factory in this way. And yet the fine line (and almost contradiction) of the economic impulse to take this path, because it also needs enough industrial kids in the industrial factory to grow continue to support this system.

I look around the expo at many of the small stall holders. It makes me realize that vegetariasm/veganism/the raw food movement /homebirthing/ homeschooling/ the organic movement doesn’t seem like an unreasonable response to the existence of such an evil. It gives me faith that alternative food systems/birthing systems/education systems are rising up on the margins.

I think about the vigilance people extend to investigating the credentials of their house cleaner or their accountants, but rarely extend that same kind of vigilance to the people growing our food (the same can be said for assisting us with birthing our babies).  I think there would be nothing better for the integrity of our food chain than the gaze of the consumer on the very farm in which our food is grown. To ask the farmer directly about the crops she grows, or the way he treats his animals. This implies, as Michael Pollan says ‘…not only a new kind of food producer, but a new kind of eater as well, one who regards finding, preparing, and preserving food as one of the pleasures of life, rather than a chore’ (Omnivore’s Dilemma, pg, 259). I think that this can be said too of raising our children.

What would the world look like if we opened the cages and let our chicks fly free? Got out of their way and scattered them some natural, organic sustenance when they needed it.

I know the chicks in my would come back laden with grimy covered clothes, berries stains on their faces, dirt under their finger nails, a collection of special rocks and seed pods, scratches from climbing trees or building a cubby house, a head filled with imaginary friends, and an exhausted, yet light-filled heart. I know this, because when we holiday on a farm, or at our beach house, and we get out of their way, and they come back this way.  This is what it is to raise Free Range Kids.

_________________

* We have witnessed a significant rise in the rate of diagnoses and prescription of psycho-pharmaceutical drugs over the last decade. Over 50,000 Australian children are now on prescription drugs (Boon & Rosemary, 2002) Australian consumption of dexamphetamine rose 592% between 1991 and 2005, while consumption of methylphenidate rose 490% (Ritilin) in the same time period. [Shaw, Mitchell and Hilton, 2000]. Also consider that 40 million prescription drugs are taken by Australians each day. This is just over 2 pills are taken per person (Men, women and children) per day.

#Childhood obesity in Australia is rising at an annual rate of 1%, a trend which suggests that half of all young Australians will be overweight by the year 2025 (National Obesity Taskforce, 2005)

We spent the weekend at the Sydney Organic Expo amongst a pulsating sea of stall holders, selling organic produce: cheeses, skin care products, pulses, legumes, wines, chocolates, raw foods, probiotics, cloth nappies. I participated in a compost making workshop, hung out with baby animals, and presented two presentations to a packed audience about kids and chemicals.

I talked to many. Learnt a lot.

I met a man previously twice his size, 150 kilos, with cancer. He’s now quite different. ‘Cancer’ he said, ‘was a gift. Without it I would never have understood the importance of living enzymes, potent, fermented probiotics, or found the raw food movement. The cure’ he said, ‘is getting back to nature.  It’s as simple as that. Given the right environment and the right nourishment, the body always heals itself’.

Talking to this man reminded me of a presentation by Czrelle, the maker of our fermented, predigested probiotic, InLiven (and the gluten free version Fast Tract). ‘The body is innately able to heal itself’, he said. ‘Cut your finger and it might take a few days to heal, but heal it will. Your finger (body) instinctively knows how to heal itself. Take away the element of time and people would be in awe of their wondrous bodies. The miracle of them’.

This too can be said of pregnancy. Pregnant women don’t have to get up everyday and think  “grow baby…grow baby’” No. Our bodies innately know how to do this. It’s the same for producing breastmilk and for birthing. The best advice I had from a friend leading up to my birth was, ‘Get your head out of the way Sarah, your body knows how to do this’. And do it, it did!

At the expo I also met Jen who had recently overcome Crones Disease by using the ancient techniques of fermentation and of eating the whole foods people ate 100 years ago. ‘Think about dogs’ she said. ‘They instinctively know what they are doing. They bury their bones. They know their bodies need fermented foods and burying their bones starts the fermentation process. They dig them up when they need them’. ‘Fermentation is natures gift’ , she explains, ‘before we started adding preventatives’. This got more thinking more about fermentation and I vowed to follow-up with my Weston Price Foundation friends who are avid supporters of fermentation.

Another woman at the expo told me about a recent study with monkey’s at the Copenhagens Zoo. ‘The researchers put a pile of organic banana’s in their enclosure and another pile of ‘conventional’ banana’s,’ she told me. ‘And what did the Monkey’s do? They firstly ate the organic banana’s, skin and all. Then they went to the conventional banana’s. Peeled of the skin and ate banana inside’. Amazing!

I ate quinoa salad and raw dark organic chocolate, drank lots of fermented probiotics with spirilina and chlorella, convinced Jason to buy a super-duper Vitamix, ordered a copy of The Makers Diet which was recommended by plenty of people, made friends with the acai stand guys who gave me lots of freebie juice to keep me energised through the expo, presented two presentations at Speakers Corner and met wondrous people afterwards, signed lots of copies of my book, talked to many about their skin, their guts, their bodies, sold plenty of certified organic Miessence products and gave out an equal amount of samples. I met an earthy woman who came to my talk wearing an awesome t-shirt. It read – Stay safe. Stay home. Homebirth. I wanted one. And at the end of the weekend I bought my parents organic bree and rice crackers for them to snack on in their hotel. This was a thankyou gift for caring for our two chicks while we worked at the expo.

We will be there again next year!

Our friends at the National Toxics Network and WWF released a list of Australia’s most dangerous pesticides, more than 80 of which are prohibited overseas because of the risks they pose to human health and the environment. The list includes 17 chemicals that are known, likely or probable carcinogens, and 48 chemicals flagged as having the potential to interfere with hormones. More than 20 have been classified as either extremely or highly hazardous by the World Health Organisation yet remain available for use on Australian farms.

“Australians are at risk of being exposed to a dangerous cocktail of poisonous chemicals, many of which have been prohibited in other countries due to their risks to health and the environment,” said WWF spokesperson Nick Heath.

“Surely Australian farm workers, wildlife and ecosystems deserve the same level of protection as those in Europe or the United States.”

Jo Immig from the National Toxics Network said the list was evidence that Australia’s chemical regulatory system was failing to keep people and the environment safe from dangerous pesticides.

“European pesticides regulation is founded on a precautionary principle designed to give human health and the environment the benefit of the doubt,” Ms Immig said. “Here in Australia we have the opposite, where chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer and other health problems remain on the market for years.”

Mr Heath said the list was a warning that Australians were not being adequately informed of the risks associated with harmful pesticides.

“The pesticides regulator must recognise that while Australia may have unique wildlife and different farming conditions, the chemistry of these dangerous pesticides is the still the same. If smoking causes cancer in the US, it will also cause cancer in Australia – it’s the carcinogens that matter not the country,” Mr Heath said. “The list demonstrates just how far we are lagging behind the rest of the world. It’s time for us to catch up and give Australian farmers safer and better choices.”

Go to the National Toxics Network website to download the Toxic Pesticide Hit List

What are all those chemicals in your shampoo? your lipstick? your aftershave? And what do they have to do with asthma, cancer and learning disabilities? Get to the ugly truth with The Story of Cosmetics, a new short film from the Story of Stuff Project.

The Story of Cosmetics, examines the pervasive use of toxic chemicals in our everyday personal care products, from lipstick to baby shampoo. Produced by Free Range Studios and hosted by Annie Leonard, the 7-minute film reveals the implications for consumer and worker health and the environment, and outlines ways we can move the industry away from hazardous chemicals and towards safer alternatives.

The film was made in close partnership with our friends from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. We will be interviewing these fabulous people next year as part of our research for our new book. Until then, enjoy the film!

‘Is Jedda sleeping through the night yet?.’ I get asked this question a lot these days. What is it about this question that doesn’t sit right with me? Or is it what follows? ‘My little [insert name here..Glen/Susie etc] started sleeping through the night when (s)he was….6 weeks/2 months/3 months/immediately [insert time duration]’.

Why do we, as parents, ask this question of each other?

On some days I’m sure this question comes from a space of concern for my wellbeing, but more often then not, I think it comes from a space (usually unconsciously) of control. I think it’s yet another social tool we gauge/measure/assess a ‘good baby’ or a ‘good mother’, ‘bad baby’ or a ‘bad mother’.

And if I use this as a form of measurement in my own life, I think I’d be in the bad mother category.

You see, my girls don’t have bed schedules. They never have. They both sleep when they are….get this for a radical concept…. sleepy. Imagine that! And wake when their bodies need to wake-up.

Of course we watch for signs of sleepiness – Adiva starts to talk less and jump on the couch more; Jedda rubs her eyes and pulls her ears. We certainly guide and assist them, but overall, we trust them and therefore their bodies.

I have learnt that there are some things about traditional sleep schedules that set parents and children up for struggle and conflict. Thinking back now, when Adiva was 2 years old, and after a Christmas holiday with my extended family, I felt the pressure to set a bedtime for her. All the other parents set bed times for their children, shouldn’t I too? But Adiva often wasn’t always ready to sleep at 7.30pm when the other children slept. So there was struggle and conflict. Me saying ‘It’s bed time’. Adiva saying ‘But I’m not tired’. And so it deteriorated. It was a messy week.

Now we don’t have any expectations surrounding her sleep.  Nor Jedda’s. They both know what it means to be tired and when their bodies have had enough and need rest. That is more than most adults can say, myself included (I chuckle to myself as I write this blog it’s nearing 1am). Forcing her to bed before she is ready, is certainly not worth the conflict – for either of us. This is the same for where she sleeps. Sometimes she has a need to camp-out on our bedroom floor, or sleep with us, or sleep alone, or have either Jase or I sleep in her bed with her. And when she wakes through the night we look for understanding. Although last summer she woke at 4am, crept up to me while I was sleeping and whispered in my ear ‘Mama I need an iceblock’, which I must admit is funny now, was a little challenging for a tired, pregnant Mama at the time.

Parenting with integrity requires us to trust our children. And in turn, to not control or manipulate their behavior to make our life easier, more convenient, at the expense of removing them from such an innate way of being. I feel grateful [my children] sleep until their bodies are done sleeping, and go to sleep when they feel sleepy. Some nights I also let Adiva know that I have work/writing/research to do and thus need some time to myself, which, because we respect her needs, she, in the main, respects mine as well.

‘So no, Jedda doesn’t sleep though the night. Isn’t that great!’ I reply. ‘I get up twice during the night when she needs me for milk/comfort/connection. I trust her. I trust that she wakes at the perfect time, and she will sleep through the night when she is ready. I feel so lucky that she still wakes up twice through the night. I get to peel back the sleepy layers of her blanket and inhale that intoxicating sleepy-baby smell – creamy and steamy. I’m so grateful for that’.

I love this book and want every parent in the world to read it! Why? Because as I wrote in the foreword of the book:

‘In a world cluttered with parenting books which promise healthier children, happier children, more content, well- behaved, ‘tamed’, ‘disciplined’ children, this book makes me sit more closely to children. Listen more intently. Wonder at them. And when I do this, they almost always surprise me, delight me, and confound my expectations. There are very few books in the world that have this quality – to make us breathe a little deeper and feel a little stronger as parents. When I make my parenting decisions from this place, I am a wise and wonderful parent. We all are, and this book reminds us of that’.

My colleague and friend, Dr. Bob, has focused his career on children’s advocacy. He has worked as a teacher, coach, therapist, mediator and lawyer. He holds a doctorate in psychology, a J.D. degree in law and two masters’ degrees, but, and I love this bit in the bio of his book, Bob writes:

‘…that what is in a person’s heart is infinitely more meaningful than the diplomas that are hanging on his or her wall’.

I think this statement says a lot about Dr Bob and who he is in the world.

The book, ‘Perfect Parents Perfect Children: Changing the World by Celebrating Our Perfection’ is essentially a book about changing perspectives, changing families and ultimately, changing the world. It’s beautifully written, accessible and can be read in a night or savoured in two.

AND, it’s a FREE book! He wants it this way. And whilst the hard copy is not available until September, it is now currently available to download as an ebook. CLICK HERE. You can also send Dr Bob an e-mail request for hard copies of his book when they become available: theparentingcentre@bigpond.com.

After reading the book, you can make a small donation to help The Parenting Centre to print more copies of the book for others to enjoy. But PLEASE DO NOT FEEL THAT YOU ARE EXPECTED TO MAKE A DONATION!  Donations will only be for the SOLE PURPOSE of printing more copies of the book.  See The Parenting Centre website for more details.

Enjoy the read! I will go back again and again and again.

Over the last week I have had three separate emails asking about the practicalities of raising a predominately raw baby. Is it convenient? What kind of preparation has to be done? What’s a usual menu? And because Jedda-bug (as she has been affectionately named by my dear friend Ashley) and I are currently travelling around the south-east of Queensland doing Chemical Free Kids community seminars in the Sunshine Coast, Bundaberg and Harvey Bay, I have a little space to reflect upon these questions and write a bit of a food diary.

Q: Firstly, is it convenient? What kind of preparation has to be done?

A: Yes. It’s convenient. Easy in fact. We stocked up on raw foods from our local wholefoods shop before we left. But besides raw food (ie. eating as many living enzymes as possible) the other priorities for us  are consuming certified organic, local, seasonal produce as much as possible, avoiding colorings, flavorings and preservatives, and limiting processed foods (these later priorities are easy to do when you go raw!)

Q: What is a usual menu for a predominately raw baby?

A: Let’s look at our food diary while we have been travelling…

Day 1. Driving to Bundaberg

Breakie (before we leave)

• Breastmilk or what Jase calls boobie juice*
• Sprouted chia seeds mixed with avocado
• Ripe pear

In the car (actually on the side of the road as we waited for a car to be towed away after an accident)

• Red pawpaw
• Strawberries (the first ones she has ever eaten as they are just coming into season)
• Strips of flat rice bread# (our friend Amy makes wicked raw onion bread, which she makes in the dehydrator, but we haven’t gone down that path yet – its on the to-do list!)
• Fresh wheat grass juice mixed with water in her sippy cup

Lunch (In a park in Childers)

• Grated carrot  and cucumber(yes, we brought the grater with us! That’s commitment)
• Cubed and peeled  tomato

Dinner (In  our hotel in Bundaberg)

• Raw hummus on flat rice bread
• Red pawpaw
•  Soaked goji berries

Day 1. Bundaberg to Harvey Bay

Breakie in our hotel room

• Red pawpaw
• Quinoa# porridge with saltanas and banana
• InLiven probiotic mixed with water in her sippy cup
• Unhomogensied yoghurt with sprouted chia seeds (this was actually my breakie but she looked me longingly and so I gave her a few bites of it)

Lunch

• Gluten free bread# with raw hummus
• Dried, soaked banana (she gnawed on these in the back of the car while I was driving to Harvey Bay)

Afternoon snack

• Cacao pudding (whipped avocado, cacao, coconut butter/oil, a little raw honey)

Dinner in Harvey Bay

• Avocado dip
• Brocccoli flowers (these were steamed and she used these to dip in the avocado dip)
• peeled, diced tomatoes

Day 3. Harvey Bay to Sunshine Coast and Brisbane

Breakfast in Harvey Bay

• Green smoothie (banana, kale, super greens mix (chlorella, wheat, barley grass and spirillina, frozen berries, sprouted chia seeds)
• Soaked nuts, cashews and almonds, blended into a paste and spread on flat rice bread

Lunch in Gympie (it was raining so we spend lunch at Gympie Centro surrounded by people eating Wendy’s hotdogs and kebabs :-)

• Kiwi fruit
• Custard apple
• Sips if wheatgrass juice
• Dehydrated apple and pears

Afternoon snacks at the Sunshine Coast

• Tamari rice cakes
• Grated carrot
• Sips of Berry Radical antioxidant made on almond milk

A few notes about travelling with a raw baby…

Given that Jedda is 9 months old we have in the main avoided grains, unless they are fermented (and very occasionally soaked). They will still be a bit harsh on her belly, and difficult to digest. We also consider the acid/alkaline levels of the foods we consume, but that’s a whole other blogg

Food for Mama? Well, I essentially eat the same things as Jedda-bug, but will add in some grains, eat more leafy greens, whole vegetables, and a lot more raw chocolate! Given that I am breastfeeding I also drink some beautiful lactation tea.

NB: * Breastmilk is the best wholefood on this planet and Jedda- bug consumed as much breastmilk as she likes (and pretty much whenever she likes). We feed on demand and that works for both of us most of the time.

 # Not raw

[Click on the cartoon so you can read it better!]

The cartoon is by my dear friend Arun. He writes a sensational parenting blog called The Parenting Pit and I am inspired by his ‘adventures in crappy parenting’. When I spend time with him (and his family ) or read his work, I immediately feel myself falling away from trying to be a ‘good parent’ and being constantly disappointed with myself that I didn’t do it ‘right’ ‘this time’.

Today for example, Adiva had our big blue ball (my birthing ball – or some crazy people use it to do sit-ups on. Can you imagine?) and was rolling it into Jedda’s head as she crawled along (mind you Jedda didn’t seem particularly disturbed by the experience). On a particularly ‘zen’ parenting day when I’m in the ‘zone’, I would have said something like  ‘Wow, are you wanting to play with Jedda?’ or ‘That’s a fabulous ball isn’t it? Let’s see how far we can roll it across the courtyard’. But my reaction today was to shout  ‘What, are you crazy? What are you thinking rolling the ball into your sisters head!’.

Perhaps it’s the lack of sleep, or the balancing of breastfeeding/cleaning/burping/ careering, or that frigin’ Ben 10 book that Adiva wants me to read her every night that I despise (she loves it), that has tipped me over the edge? Whatever  the reason, my outburst sets the stage for a volatile few hours.

‘Well, I think we should just put Jedda in the garbage bin’ says Adiva.

And I say ‘Well, I think we should put you in the garbage bin’. (See, I find myself regressing)

And Adiva replies, ‘Well, you got to go in the garbage to because you’re a mean Mama’.

And Jedda starts crying.

So today I’m embracing my adventures in crappy parenting! It’s not that I’m proud and reveling in my adventures, its just that I’m learning to embrace those moments/hours/days of crappiness  – look at them, laugh at them, and most of all, learn from them.

Pinkwashing: a term used to describe the activities of companies and groups that position themselves as leaders in the struggle to eradicate breast cancer while engaging in practices that may contribute to rising rates of the disease or toxicity of the body.

Last month I did the Mothers Day Classic.  A walk/run organized across Australia to raise money for breast cancer research.  Thousands of people attend the Mother’s Day Classic and for me it was a time to remember my dear friend Yani who died early in her life of breast cancer. And remember her in all her gorgeous glory I certainly did!

But at the end of the walk participants received a bag of goodies. I love bags of goodies but was gutted to discover that if I didn’t have cancer before the event, use the bag of goodies, and I’d certainly be on my way to getting cancer or at least increasing the toxicity of my body.

It was packed full of things, most notably Weight Watcher bars and wafers and puddings and jelly crystals – low calories, but hey, packed full of preservatives, emulsifiers, colourings and flavourings. And at the bottom of the bag was a little pink personal care product proudly printed with the National Breast Cancer Foundation pick ribbon – ‘Sliver partner’ .

It was Cedel Hairspray!

I remember this product from my teenage years. I’d tease out my fringe and wand curl out my side flicks, liberally spraying my hair until it set firm and extra strong – just like it says on the packaging.

Cedel is Australian company that began some 75 years ago and has been a partner with the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) since 2009, donating $25,000 cash annually in addition to over 120,000 pink Cedel hairspray cans in support of the NBCF official events. Their website states: ‘The funds raised through the sales of Cedel Hairspray are helping to fund the research program of Associate Professor Alexander Dubrovnik from Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Victoria… Cedel looks forward to continuing their support in search for a cure of breast cancer, and working with the NBCF to enrich the lives of Australians’.

But like many products with the pink ribbon, are they actually helping? Or is this another form of pink washing?

Let me tell you about the product and what’s in it:

Ingredients: Alcohol Denat., Butane; Isobutane, Propane, VA/Crotonates/Vinyl Neodeconoate Copolymer, Aminomethyl Propane, Cetyl Acetate, Acetylated Lanolin Alcohol, Phenyl Trimethicone, Pentadecalactone, Fragrance.

Warnings from packaging: Flammable Gas: Extremely Flammable. Keep out of reach of childrem. Do not spray on naked flame or any incandescent material. Keep away from sourses of ignition – no smoking. Storage & disposal: Pressurised Dispenser. Protect from sunlight and do not expose to temperature exceeding 50C. Do not pierce or burn, even after use. Intentional misuse by deliberately concentrating and inhaling contents can be harmful or fatal. Propellant: hydrocarbon

INGREDIENTS

All I can say is, beware of the pink ribbon! It’s not that having an iconic symbol of the pink ribbon is problematic, it’s that the carefully contrived messages about ‘awareness’, ‘hoping for a cure’ that serves to distract from a deeper public interest about prevention – what we need to put in place (and what we need to illuminate) to have a healthy, optimal body. The pink ribbon seems to exclude all critical notions of corporate accountability. Instead I see adds for cosmetics and personal care products that read: ‘shower for a cure’ with pink ribbon gel, ‘Hint of a cure’ blush, ‘Kiss Goodbye to Breast Cancer’ with lipstick.

Crazy! Here’s a great website which makes you think before you pink!

Jedda (now 8 months) is eating! And as her picture shows, there is such joy when she eats (and we get such joy watching her). We have taken a baby led weaning (BLW) approach, where babies choose the foods that interest them and feed themselves.

BLW assists babies to develop their tactile sense, gets them used to different textures, tastes, develop their gag reflex (important to help prevent choking), and from our experience, leads to much less fussy eaters because they pick and choose what they eat from the range of foods offered to them. We never force our children to eat anything they don’t feel like eating (I still have memories of my younger brother sitting at the kitchen table two hours after dinner had finished. My parents told him to sit there until he finished his peas. He didn’t crack, and was eventually sent to bed without watching Dr Who).

Jedda insists on feeding herself! She always has. She made the transition from solely breastmilk to solid foods, bypassing pureed foods altogether.

These days it is recommended that babies are not fed solid food until 6 months of age. From this time, they are developing more mature digestive systems and are clearly showing signs of hunger and interest in foods. Delaying solid foods means that baby is much less likely to develop food allergies and digestive sensitivities. You know your baby is ready for solids when (s)he is sitting upright and literally grabbing for your food.

Jedda’s first foods were avocado and red paw paw. Like her parents and older sister, Jedda is primarily (around 75%) a raw food baby (although she loves a slow cooked sweet potato now and then). Over the past month, she has been enjoying pears and kale (we mostly blend these together, uncooked, into a chunky concoction which she mashes into her mouth), bits of dulse (a nutrient rich red algae), an occasional quinoa porridge with almond milk, persimmons, custard apples, grated carrot, coconut oil, spirillina and barley grass, soaked and blended nuts and seeds, and green smoothies.

I have written more about food and children in some of my other blog posts and published articles.