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By Mom Unplugged, April 29, 2007 9:27 am

I heard an interesting story on NPR Weekend Edition Sunday this morning. The FCC has recently issued a report regarding the effects of TV violence on children.

The finding: Surprise!!! TV Violence is bad! It can lead to increased aggression in children. Who knew? The FCC would like congress to come up with a definition of “harmful violence” and issue guidelines for regulating such TV shows.

Defining “harmful” vs. “non-harmful” violence seems a daunting enough task however, as you might imagine, Congress will also be faced with a whole host of Constitutional, free speech issues. Plus there is the more technical question of how to regulate something that can be watched anywhere at anytime thanks to the latest technology.

The NPR story, Breaking Down the FCC Report on TV Violence is a really interesting summary of the FCC report and its recommendations. If you have four spare minutes in your day, listen to it.

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By Mom Unplugged, April 26, 2007 8:52 am

I hope TV Turn-Off Week is going well for you and your families. Is it quieter around the house? Are the kids playing more, reading more…maybe even listening more?

According to Shari Barkin, a pediatrician at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, in Nashville, Tennessee, better listening may be one of the first things parents notice after several TV-free days. She also says that “when children are exposed to fewer stimuli — eliminating the noise and distraction that comes with TV — the easier it is to stay focused on the task at hand.”

For more on TV, kids, and TV Turn-Off Week, including the reaction of a 10 year-old, please read the transcript or listen to the recording of an NPR story that was on Morning Edition this morning: TV-Turnoff Week: Helping Parents Pull the Plug.

Don’t forget to join our TV Turn-Off Week Blog Challenge, it is not too late! Click here for more info.

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By Mom Unplugged, April 22, 2007 10:54 am

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day seems like a great day for my final gDiapers, flushable diapers, post. In case you haven’t been enthusiastically following this series of posts (why wouldn’t you??), click on the “Great Diaper Challenge” label in the right sidebar to read about our experiences using flushable diapers.

FINAL UPDATE: The baby’s diaper rash cleared up and we returned to the gDiapers. They are great, but for my very sensitive-bottomed baby (I can’t even use any brand of wipes, just a wet washcloth), we needed to add an extra morning and an extra afternoon change to our schedule. At night I use a disposable because I know her bottom can handle it for that long. In my opinion, two extra changes per day is a small price to pay for helping the environment!

My biggest worry was the flushing issue. But, so far, so good. All the poopy ones have flushed without problem. My compost pile is enjoying the added nitrogen from the wet gDiapers. My septic tank has not overflowed into my yard. My plumber remains unbothered by any agitated calls for help from me. All is well with the world.

ABOUT gDIAPERS:
gDiapers seems to be a very friendly company with lots of support options. The starter kit instructions list an “800″ number where they say they will happily talk you through an actual diapering! There is also a helpful Yahoo User Group of 816 “gMums” and Dads at www.flushability.com. Jason Graham-Nye, the CEO of gDiapers, has an amusing blog gDiapers: the early years, where you can get the latest news. Incidentally, Jason somehow “found” me (isn’t the internet amazing?) and left a very nice comment to my first post - True Confessions.

According to Jason, you can also read about gDiapers in John Kerry & Teresa Heinz Kerry’s book This Moment on Earth: Today’s New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future. I have not read it yet, but it is on my list. (Maybe next week when I do less blogging for The TV Turn-Off Week Blog Challenge?)

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTS:
I will close this post with some disposable diaper facts from the gDiapers website:

• “A disposable diaper takes 500 years to biodegrade”
• “Last year alone, 18-23 billion diapers went into landfills across America. That works out to be approximately 38,000 every minute and adds up to about 3.5 million tons of waste.”
• “Conventional disposable diapers are the third largest contributors to landfills in the world and yet only five percent of the population uses them.

If you are currently using cloth diapers, I think you will LOVE these! If you are using disposables there will be a slightly bigger learning curve with a few extra diaper steps (see my “technical” post). But it is worth it.

Try these diapers. You might like them, and I promise that you will feel good about using them! Click here to find out availability in your area, or here to order online.