The picture below is a photo of a young child gathering pods to harvest cocoa beans. There are hundreds of thousands of children in West Africa who do this work. Young children. Children who should be attending school and having a childhood. And they are working for most of the mainstream chocolate providers in the USA. A report from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture about cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast estimated there were 284,000 children working on cocoa farms in . . .
Ethical and fair-trade candy ideas for Halloween
Did you know that most commercial chocolate companies are relying on child labor to source their cocoa? The low-down is here . . . but in a nutshell a BBC documentary revealed that child labor and even child trafficking is rampant in chocolate production, and that chocolate from most mainstream candy companies can be traced back to farms employing (and even buying) children to work in dangerous conditions. For our family, the response to learning this has been to limit our chocolate . . .
How to monitor safety issues while managing your own parental anxiety
This post was sponsored by Empowered SAFETY With my first child, I was really concerned about safety issues. Possibly even too concerned. I’ve always been a bit of a hypochondriac about my own health. I am a master catastrophizer, and having a child was just a new place to project some of that anxiety. I have been gifted with an overactive imagination, coupled with a propensity towards gloom and doom. This fatalistic creativity has led me to be a bit, ahem, DELUSIONALLY PARANOID, when it comes . . .
Money management with kids, and the power of matching
This post was sponsored by Scholarshare. For a recent birthday, one of my sons got a twenty-dollar bill from a family member. His eyes lit up when he opened the gift. He was excited about his newfound wealth. He pocketed it. A few days later, one of our neighbors came over after our kids had been playing across the street at their house. She had $20 in her hand. Guess who had just left his new twenty clutched in the sticky hand of the neighbors' four-year-old? My kids are . . .
What I want you to know about being poor
What I Want You to Know is a series of reader submissions. It is an attempt to allow people to tell their personal stories, in the hopes of bringing greater compassion to the unique issues each of us face. If you would like to submit a story to this series, click here. Today’s guest post is by Keshia W. What I want you to know is that poverty is not a choice, but rather a circumstance that severely limits a person’s choices. Poverty affects everything in my life, and . . .
That;s what SHE said: stuff clueless white people say, defining progressive evangelicalism, the fallacy of the giving tree, children who aren’t adopted, and more . . .
Where I’m Actually Coming From As A Progressive Evangelical | Patheos For people who grew up in the height of the culture wars in the eighties like me, we heard evangelicals make a lot of hyperbolic, paranoid claims about rock music, homosexuals, and non-believers in the world which were then contradicted by our direct encounters with such people. We were told that Democrats were evil satanic baby-killers, but then we met Democrats who weren’t. We saw evangelical leaders who had the Bible . . .
The “twins” turn eight
Our “twins” turned 8 this month. One of my favorite stories about these two: Being as they were born same year, same day, we started jokingly referring to them as "the twins" and it stuck. One day, when she was about 5, India came to me and said she knew they weren't real twins. On account of how much taller Kembe is. (photo by Trever Hoehne) Sure, sweetie. That's the giveaway. It’s gotten harder figuring out their join birthday parties as they’ve gotten older. I am a fan of the destination . . .
Friday Finds: Breast Cancer Awareness Edition
1. Bumble & Bumble dry shampoo | BCA Campaign 2. Facewatch silicone strap watch | Nordstrom 3. Advance night repair & pink ribbon keychain | Estee Lauder 4. Pink palette | Essie 5. Aveeda hand relief | BCA Campaign 6. Clinique | Pink with a Purpose long last lipstick 7. Donna Karan Cashmere mist rollerball duo 8. Poppy Wildflower spray | Coach 9. Limited Edition Pink smooth sphere and nail polish set | Nicole by Opi 10. Harley Davidson Pink . . .
What I want you to know about being married to someone with a physical disability
What I Want You to Know is a series of reader submissions. It is an attempt to allow people to tell their personal stories, in the hopes of bringing greater compassion to the unique issues each of us face. If you would like to submit a story to this series, click here. Today’s guest post is by written by an anonymous writer. My husband was born with Spina Bifida. He endured many, many surgeries and doctor visits as a child, but still managed to have a normal childhood. . . .
On not “firepitting” our marriage (or our children)
We’ve got a new metaphor in our house to describe a bad habit that we often fall into. We’re calling it “firepitting.” It’s one of those things that a lot of people do . . . that tendency to live your best life when others are around. A prime example of this is our backyard firepit. We pull it out almost every time we have guests over. We love sitting around it, listening to music, talking, or roasting marshmallows. But here’s the thing: we NEVER pull that firepit out just for our kids. We . . .
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