Watching Mandy (my wife, pictured here with our son Hucky) take on motherhood over the past 5 years has been a site. She is a force. Researching, reading, engaging and playing.
It came naturally to her, but maintaining the balance between who she is as a person and who she is as a mother is not easy. Especially in this era of expectation. Mom's are often expected to be everything to their kids, while also holding down a job, exercising their bodies and souls, supporting partners and still having time for friends and hobbies.
It's a lot, and for our family, the great pause has given me an opportunity to appreciate how much my wife has done for our little guys (aged 3 & 5) to ensure they grow into caring and courageous boys and men.
A big part of this has been environmental stewardship. Mandy has found courses (if you're in Toronto, check out the Pine Project, it's amazing) and books, games and lessons to guide them on a path of understanding, connection and appreciation of the natural world. And I love her for it.
Tell us how your Mom has helped guide you (directly or indirectly) to become more sustainable and connected to the natural world. We'll choose five answers and send your Mom an etee hit kit!
Put your answers in the comments below!
Congratulations to the commenters below, we'll be contacting you shortly about your etee hit kit !
Sarah Gregory
“My mom has always been a champion of the environment. Made sure I always knew the difference in what could and could not be recycled, she used to embarrass me at picnics and other events but fishing out the plastic from the garbage, and would told me she didn’t care what people thought of her, she was doing what was right for the environment. Every year at Christmas she picks a new product (for many years it was 7th generation toilet paper) that is responsibly sourced, uses recycled resources, and most of all less or no plastic and gives that to everyone, it has been bamboo straws, and re-usable grocery bags, and toilet paper. Every year we go to a family camp of about 250 people and she used her own money to buy everyone re-usable water bottles to reduce the number of single use water bottles. She is always looking for ways to be the most Eco-conscious and conservative she can be. After I got over the childhood embarrassment I now admire and appreciate all that she taught me, and how she continues to be a champion no matter what.”
Cynthia Fogliatti
My mother had a tremendous effect upon me growing up and, although she has passed, still influences me to this day. She lived frugally, according to her Scottish/English heritage, with the mantra “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!” She was wonderfully inventive in fashioning “fixes” for various problems and I look at everything—especially now with the Coronavirus crisis keeping everyone sheltered in—with the question of how I might reuse it, repurpose it, or at least recycle all or parts of it. This has saved our family a lot of money getting another use out of something and NOT buying items we don’t really need. There’s also a bonus factor: it’s fun to put your mind to work inventing creative solutions!
Susan Young
My mother, Anne Cochran, raised us in the 60’s and 70’s and was an EarthMother before her time! She always had little nature/ science projects going. We made terrariums, and sprouted seeds, and raised tadpoles,(of course releasing them when they became frogs!) . We got up at night to watch meteor showers, and we rose before dawn to see a bunch of migrating monarch butterflies clutched together on a tree on someone’s farm. We took lots and lots if hikes through state and national parks. Through all of this, she shared her deep love of nature! She also educated us about recycling! Even back in the the 70’s , she recognized the evils of plastic, and taught us how and why we should avoid it!
Thank you ,Mother for teaching us to respect our Mother Earth!!!
Your love has been passed down to your kids and grandkids! All 3 generations use Etee products!!❤️🌎 Happy Mother’s Day!
Comments
At the base of her influence, my mom has always taught me and my sisters to care for others and realise the consequences of our actions. Whether it’s affecting people or the world around us.
She allowed me to grow my own love for nature (she loves nature and shared her love with us). She did this, for instance, by letting me help gardening and even helping me get my own vegetable garden – I just loved to create and help things grow. She saw a small spark inside me and helped me to grow this spark.
But the most important way she has influenced me, is that she always supported me and always believed in me. She listens to my frustration about the unwillingness of people to do something and then inspires me to keep on fighting for what I believe in – which means trying to inspire others to think about their impact. She is open to my suggestions for improving her impact (very enthusiastically even) and shares her knowledge with me as sometimes I forget to look at the impact on my body instead of the world. She supports me even (sometimes especially) when people think I’m crazy for spending more money/time because it’s better for the environment and the think I’m going crazy. She gets enthusiastic with me, she loves finding new ways to decrease impact. She is my rock, my support and my inspiration. She showed me to be strong and follow my dreams and passions by turning them into goals and she raised a woman that believes she can make a change in this world ánd she gave me the tools to get up and do it. And the best thing is, I always have someone to share it with.
Taking the lead from the blog post, I’d like to highlight the influence of my wife, mother to our three kids, on me and our kids to help protect the planet for our kids and future generations. Melissa is a graphic designer and artist who is inspired by the beauty of nature and pursues sustainability in her business and craft. After we had kids, some of her creative energy has been funneled into a passion to make our household as sustainable as possible. Through many hours of researching, she had worked hard in particular to limit the amount of plastic we use. It started with replacing our use of plastic wrap with reusable beeswax wraps and then moved on to switching to bamboo toothbrushes and upcycling old fabric to make reusable produce bags. She’s recently gone to the point of making the laundry detergent and dish soap for our home using starting materials that come in cardboard packaging to avoid plastic packaging. She’s a rock star! It may seem ‘unromantic’ to others, but I have given her sustainable products (including those from Etee), as birthday or holiday gifts. She’s always delighted in them because it encourages her in mission and communicates that I support what she is doing. Our kids will no doubt grow up to think that living the way we do is ‘normal’ thanks to the path that Melissa has set. Finally, as biologist by profession, I am someone who loves nature and already values conservation (through the encouragement of my own mom), but Melissa’s enthusiasm and persistence inspire me to keep improving in the ways I can help protect our planet.
I have to say I was equally influenced by both my parents to care for nature and the environment, but my mom was the one who helped me find solutions to environmental problems, including living more sustainably. When I was a teen she bought me a book for kids about going green, which was a guide to how to live in a way that was conscious of our planet. Ever since I have considered myself to be an eco-conscious consumer. Thanks mom!
Even though her influence was ever present, I don’t think I always appreciated how much my mom cared about the environment. She worked with her league of women voters to write a green energy report. She helped set up composting in our school district and would help kids sort their lunches into compost, recycling, and trash. She would fight invasive species like buckthorn that took over local parks. Throughout all this, she never pressured us to follow her, but she led by example.
Mom has always taught me not to litter, that worked, I don’t. She showed me how to properly recycle and never throw batteries into the garbage, that worked, I don’t. She insisted that I respect nature and never hurt the wildlife, that worked, I don’t. I’ll never forget her lessons and I don’t have to think about it, just do things right. That worked, I DO!
My momma just generally loves nature! I love going on nature hikes with her. When she identifies plants or animals she gets so excited and it feels like she is introducing me to an old friend. “Oh… the trilliums came up this week… l👀k!”
If she’s not introducing me to nature she’s learning more about it. Her new project this year is a rain garden! That’s in addition to her compost pile, pollinators garden, and going out of her way to makes sure that we can recycle!
Besides all of the stuff that she does outside she also only buys biodegradable soap, and as close to packaging free items. She just discovered bees wax wraps and she might actually have lost her mind!
My mom is one of my biggest (and most modest) heroes! Her excitement for the environment is infectious. Our village is planning more gardens and because of her there are plants for pollinators in all of them (with no pesticides being sprayed!)!
My mother, Anne Cochran, raised us in the 60’s and 70’s and was an EarthMother before her time! She always had little nature/ science projects going. We made terrariums, and sprouted seeds, and raised tadpoles,(of course releasing them when they became frogs!) . We got up at night to watch meteor showers, and we rose before dawn to see a bunch of migrating monarch butterflies clutched together on a tree on someone’s farm. We took lots and lots if hikes through state and national parks. Through all of this, she shared her deep love of nature! She also educated us about recycling! Even back in the the 70’s , she recognized the evils of plastic, and taught us how and why we should avoid it!
Thank you ,Mother for teaching us to respect our Mother Earth!!!
Your love has been passed down to your kids and grandkids! All 3 generations use Etee products!!❤️🌎 Happy Mother’s Day!
My mother has taught me so much. While living in the Caribbean we were taught to grow our own foods. We had banana, grapefruit, breadfruit,mango tree and lots more. When we consumed these we would use the peelings/skin for compost or for feeding( the goats and pigs enjoyed them). She always taught use to use old clothing for dusting cloths instead of throwing them out or buying swifters.
As an immigrant, we were brought up with old school values & morals. Our mothers cooked from scratch, created vegetable gardens in the backyard, darned our clothes and thrifted whenever possible. Weekends were spent with family gatherings fit for a king. Nobody was left hungry & everyone had morsels to take home to savour at home. Life was simpler back then but so much better for us. As kids we didn’t appreciate being different but now we realize how much our parents sacrificed & being different isn’t that bad! Happy Mother’s Day to all those that give us life, values & kisses.
It has always been my mother & I against the world. Her strength, bravery, kindness, understanding and knack of making a penny into $10 has raised me into the person I am today. We are best friend til this day, she’s helped me be independent and patient but with the heart and roar of a lion. I love you mom!