Am I the only one who thinks this is kind of weird?
An exercise bike for toddlers that has educational benefits. What happened to playing outside in sandboxes and running around and jumping. Or riding a tricycle? Or climbing a tree?
Maybe I am out of it – after all, I had kids in the last century – but this just rubs me the wrong way.
And when are they going to make one for grown-ups? I mean one that teaches us while we fake-cycle.
I rarely read the Reader’s Digest, but I read an article about a Superbug not long ago. It was, in the typical yellow journalism way of Reader’s Digest, alarming and I was slightly concerned, but got over it quickly. Yesterday the principal of my kids’ high school sent an email (and letter) out alerting the school community that a student was diagnosed with a drug-resistant staph infection. Then today we got an email saying that several news teams were broadcasting from outside the school, but not to worry – there were no more cases reported.
The second email mentioned the lack of hot water and soap in the bathrooms (it is advised to wash your hands to prevent spreading this disease) and my daughter agreed. The principal assured us that the students would see an improvement in that area.
This morning I finished Jon Krakauer’s harrowing Into the Wild and thought how terrible it was that the young man in the story abandoned civilization for a few months and died as a result of it, hoping that my son would never do anything so impulsive. Maybe Chris McCandless had the right idea – after all he didn’t have communicable diseases to worry about. Most of the students that have gotten the disease in this area are athletes. My son is a wrestler – the most contact of contact sports. I wouldn’t be surprised if they canceled wrestling this year.
I wonder how much of this we brought on ourselves. Using antibiotics when they were not needed. Using antibacterial hand wash instead of soap and water. (Tony Fauci just confirmed my theory on the 6:00 news).
If it’s not one thing, it’s something else. At least I quit worrying about terrorism.
Coming in late in the game, but I noticed that today is Blog Action Day. I heard about it a week or so ago, and thought I’d add my voice to the cause when the day came, but didn’t know the exact day so I promptly forgot about it. Noticed that today was the day on a headline of an RSS I subscribe to.
I most certainly am no expert in the field. I used to be more concerned (even obsessed) about the environment:
Then something happened. I began to not care so much. I was caught up in motherhood and, while we continued recycling, the rest of the environmental issues took second place to our family comfort. I don’t keep the winter temperature below 70°. I blame it on my Raynaud’s. However we rarely use our air conditioner. It has to be sweltering before we turn it on (90° or more with humidity). So I figure we even it all out.
As for global warming, I admit that I didn’t believe in it until recently when something profound happened. Of course I don’t remember what it was – but something happened that I saw and made me believe that we were really experiencing global warming. Please note: I’ve not seen the whole of Al Gore’s film for another reason I cannot recall.
I’d like to say that I’m working from home in order to save the environment from yet another single passenger car from being on the road, but I’m actually working from home because I like to work in my jammies.
My kids accuse me of what I accused my parents – we’ve let them down and ruined the Earth for them. As a teen I thought big – globally. As a young adult I did the same. As a parent and middle-aged adult I think more locally. Perhaps as an elder I will think globally again.
This wasn’t so much of a post on the environment as a post on my response to it. So be it. My next car will be a hybrid though.
Clutch Cargo Lips 