An Inspiring Parent Shares Her Story

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Healthy Child

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Emily Hulling, mom and author of the blog Recovering Gavin, writes almost every day about her experience parenting and caring for a son with autism. Through her blog, Emily hopes to connect with other parents experiencing the same struggles and triumphs as her family.

Emily’s heartfelt response to our book, Healthy Child Healthy World, taken from Recovering Gavin, inspired and motivated all of us to continue our fight to protect children's health.

I just finished reading (devouring) Healthy Child Healthy World by Christopher Gavigan. I can’t even remember where I first heard about this book, but I picked it up and read it in three days. It is FULL of information on raising children in a healthier, greener, safer environment at home. It’s one of those books that I totally recommend but I can’t even begin to explain it. There was almost too much information and I know I shouldn’t have read it so fast, but I couldn’t put it down.

I found myself shaking my head and was astounded at the the chemicals the FDA allows into almost everything in our homes. Here’s one brief example. In Europe, there are 1,100 chemicals banned from cosmetics. In the US, 9. Yes, you read that right. 9. That was just one statistic and there are tons more scattered throughout the book. Sickening, right?

At times it can be very overwhelming because it seems like we just can’t win. There is crap in EVERYTHING. We shouldn’t drink tap water because the of the chemicals and lead; we shouldn’t drink bottled water because of the high levels of BPA. So, what DO we do?

This book not only pointed out the startling truth about our environment (within the home), but it gave great tips and alternatives. Each chapter is dedicated to a different area of your life or home (preparing for baby, cleaning products, food, beauty products, toys/clothing, lawn/garden care, water/air, and home improvements). Another awesome thing about this book is that there is a 28 page resource section at the back that lists hundreds of products and web sites.

I went from being completely overwhelmed to feeling empowered because there is a lot more we CAN do personally within our home. If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll know I’m not really into being “greener” but being SAFER for our family. I firmly believe Gavin’s autism was triggered by environmental factors and I am on a mission to rid my home of as much of those toxins as I possibly can. You have to start small and not try to tackle everything at once. I’ve slowly been phasing out the plastic in our home. My kids now eat their meals on my Corelle dishes (hardly breakable), we only use glass Pyrex leftover containers, we are drinking up the last of our bottled water to be replaced with a water filter, my Dyson ROCKS (with life-time HEPA filter), and I’ve cut down on the chemicals around the house by making my own (safe) dishwasher detergent, all-purpose cleaner, and laundry soap. (I’ll post my recipes soon after I’m done tweaking them!)

Thank you so much to Emily and all of our supporters for sharing your stories and feedback with us.