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September 7, 2006 GreenHouse 
A few months ago I was bewailing the lack of good online resources for parents interested in getting their kids in touch with the outdoors. There are tons of websites if you want to find out about cool green gadgets to buy, green vacations to go on, green causes to support, green organizations working for solutions, and green celebrities of various types, but very little on how, exactly, parents can work to foster a love of nature in their kids. So, you know me. I decided to make one. At the moment it is nothing particularly exciting and I expect it will grow at a glacial pace, given the other commitments I've already made. But I wanted to let you all know about it in case any of you would like to be involved. Some of you already have been writing posts on your own blogs on your own Green Toddler-type initiatives. If you think you can write one post per month minimum on a similar topic and feel that you have a glaring lack of environmental expertise, do I have the blogging opportunity for you! What I want are bloggers from a variety of different bioregions (both in terms of geography and in terms of urban/suburban/rural) who either have kids or plan to. Examples of topics include gardening with kids, birdwatching, learning about insects or animals, geology (rocks), any kinds of plants or fungi, in terms of any sort of location from curbs or abandoned lots or sidwalks to state or national parks. You could, for example, write a series of posts about letting your toddler muck around with a potted cactus on the apartment window ledge, or learn about insects from the creepy crawlies in the kitchen, or examining the different kinds of stones in the back garden--all kinds of things. Anything that appeals to your imagination, is doable from where you live, involves the non-human environment, and is neither didactic (preachy) nor expensive. The basic idea is: go out with kids (or in some cases, stay in), have fun, write about it. Or you can go check it out and let me know what you think. Posted by Andrea at September 7, 2006 2:26 PM under The Green Toddler EMAIL this entry (comments fields are below this section) Comments I'm in if you'll have me! :D Maybe this is the kick in the pants I need to get writing more! I can tell you that we are hoping to set up a mini greenhouse in the basement this fall/winter and trying to grow some veggies...I could do segments on that. Among other things... Posted by: Tanya at September 7, 2006 8:16 AM
just wanted to let you know the new site seems likea great idea, but it isnt showing up propersly in mozilla. I love beanie baby and lurk here often, even though I am one of those mentioned in your recent post who isnt a parent, diabetic, little, canadian or anything else directly related to the content here. Frances is adorable. Posted by: curiousgyrl at September 7, 2006 9:25 AM
It shows up the same in Netscape and Firefox, it looks like this: http://www.prematureoptimism.com/blog/images/thegreenhousenetscape.bmp Sorry about the pic quality, it would probably look better if you downloaded it. I just don't feel like dealing with illustrator to make a gif. Posted by: Brenda at September 7, 2006 10:57 AM
I love this, Andrea!! I just posted on dotmoms about my feelings about zoos and trying to balance them out with a more, hmm, spontaneous nature...also, just wrote an article for a local paper about nature activities (in my area) for toddlers. So, I am really excited to read more and get some new ideas, etc! Posted by: sarah (citizenbeta) at September 7, 2006 12:15 PM
Thanks, Sarah. :) Tanya, absolutely. Email me. Brenda, curiousgyrl, and associated emailers: thanks for the tip. Very annoying, but good to know. I'll work on fixing that. And curiousgyrl, thanks for delurking. :) Posted by: Andrea at September 7, 2006 2:07 PM
great idea, though perhaps you've noticed, my writing sucks. still, we are trying to figure out the bio region here (ie. why do we have green tomatos in september?!) so if i'm able put together anything reasonable to print alongside your stuff, I will send it along. Posted by: Bridget at September 8, 2006 10:27 AM
I'm in the process of setting up my blog now, so I'm not ready to volunteer myself just yet, but I would like to in the future. Would you be willing to hold a spot for me and my 2 y.o.? Also, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but in Firefox, the site is still showing up wonky. I'll go fiddle with it again. Posted by: Amy P. at September 11, 2006 6:31 PM
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