According to recent tests, leading brands of bottled water in the US turned up a variety of contaminants, including cancer-linked chemicals 3 times higher than California’s health standard.  These tests challenge the notion that bottled water is purer than tap water, which is what many brands of bottled water assert.

I think it’s time to invest in metal water bottles.  Not only is bottled water expensive, and environmentally-unfriendly, but now it’s been shown that the water quality is no better (if not worse) than tap water.

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According to “Economic and Environmental Implications of Online Retailing in the United States” (Matthews et Hendrickson), e-commerce sales have both a cost advantage, and environmental benefits.  According to their study, a product purchased online has a carbon footprint because it may be shipped partially by airfreight across the country, and require local truck delivery.  Furthermore, the product is likely to be packaged and the packaging cannot be re-used.  However, the adverse effects of repeated trips to shopping malls and brick-and-mortar retailers outweighs the carbon footprint of online shopping.

So this Christmas, I’m going to shop online to say time, money, and the environment!

I always make sure that my daughter wears a helmet when she bikes.  According to Helmets.org, 540,000 bicyclists visit emergency rooms with injuries every year, and 770 of these bicyclists died in 2006.  Quite frankly, the statistics show that 1 in 8 cyclists with bicycle-related injuries had a brain injury.

So when my daughter’s friend showed up this weekend without a helmet, there was no way I was letting her ride helmet-less with my daughter using one of our bikes!  Her friend’s head was too small, and her head would not fit any of our helmets.  And quite frankly, a helmet that is loose-fitting (and can be moved from side to side exposing the head) will do nothing to protect a victim in the event of an accident.

So I improvised.  Since I was going for a run anyways, I let my daughter’s friend run along with me for the first 3km, so she could run back home to her parent’s place.  She, out of breath, then managed to pick up her helmet, and her own bike, and I accompanied her back to our house.

As a parent, my motto is always: safety first!

I tried Wii Fit for the first time, and I loved it!

I am not a gamer.  Video games bore me.  I don’t care for explosions or life-like graphics and screenplay.

What first attracted me to the Wii was the interactive aspect of the gameplay.  It seemed like a great way to “trick” children into actually doing exercise!

“Instead of joining Sony and Microsoft in the arms race to pack their consoles with ever-higher-performance graphics chips (to better attract sophisticated gamers), Nintendo built the Wii–a cuddly, low-priced, motion-controlled machine that broke the market wide open by appealing to everyone from grade-schoolers to grandmas. “  John Gaudiosi, Business 2.0 Magazine

Now, with the Wii fit, I can get a great aerobic workout at home, work on my yoga stances, do strength training and conditioning, and play fun and interactive balance games!  Wii Fit makes exercise fun!  And the console actually charts my daily progress against my fitness goals.

Wii Fit is great fun for both yourself, and the entire family!  The only problem is, if you want to get it for your family for the Christmas holidays, you had better start scouring stores now.  Wii Fit is in such high demand, that they are hard to come by.

In order for children to grow up to be contributing members of society, they need to develop their creativity, adaptability, confidence, and respect.  Toys alone cannot accomplish this.  As a parent, I believe that the way to accomplish this is to spend time playing with your child instead of investing in expensive toys.  In the long run, this will challenge him or her to learn how to entertain himself/herself, while encouraging to develop their own creativity and imagination.

My children love being read to, because I started reading to them since they were young.  Sometimes, we’ll do crafts together.  I’m not very crafty; however, the ideas for these crafts always come from books from the library.  And when I do buy toys, I like to keep them simple.  For example, many hours of fun can be had with wooden cars.  An entire journey can be played out by taking a car for a road trip around the house! 

In the long run, I think my children will appreciate my time more so than any blinking gizmo.  Remember, quality time with your children is what helps them to develop into healthy adults.