Rachel: Welcome, Jean, of The Artful Parent. It was so fun to meet you at Mayfair after following your blog for some time. Tell us about yourself and your family!
Jean: Art is a big part of our life and has been since I started a toddler art group when my oldest daughter, Maia, turned one. We try to make art a regular part of our day through planned and spontaneous art projects, ready access to a variety of art materials, and an artful approach to life in general. Maia’s almost five now and I also have a 9 month old.
Rachel: My children are older (sniff, sniff), which has made giving them “ready access to a variety of art materials” pretty doable. In fact, last summer your blog inspired me to create an art center for them, which I shared here as a series of posts “Creating an Art Studio for a Young Child.” If you could see that table today… it is absolutely covered with paper! We haven’t worked much on keeping it tidy. Anyhoo, what I want to do is thank you for encouraging all of us to be better moms. What drives you to blog?
Jean: I blog for so many reasons – reasons which have changed since I started 2 ½ years ago, and reasons which change depending on how I feel when I’m asked. Ultimately, though, I think it comes down to community. I love the community of people who comment, read, and give feedback on The Artful Parent. I write knowing that what I share is used and appreciated. And, likewise, I get so many ideas from them and other bloggers!
Also, as a stay-at-home mom, I feel like I’m in a vacuum sometimes. What do we do all day? At the end of the day what is there to show for it? And who cares? Blogging both helps me connect with others, but it also gives me a voice and a place to say, This is what we did. Maybe it was only a few minutes of our day, but we did this. And people might comment which effectively says, “we see you,” “we hear you,” and “thanks for sharing.” It keeps me going.
Rachel: Thanks, Jean. Here’s a question – do you consider yourself an “alternative” parent?
Jean: I think “alternative” is so subjective. Sometimes I feel pretty alternative – I make (or have made) my own lotion, deodorant, green cleaners, laundry detergent, diapers, clothes, bread, kefir, granola, etc. I garden and compost. I’m an attachment parenting, co-sleeping, baby-wearing mama who let my daughter wean herself when she was ready.
In some places I would probably be super alternative! But here in Asheville, that is small potatoes. These are all decisions that each family has to make for themselves. And it’s easy to fall into the guilt trap. I used cloth diapers with my first daughter and fully intended to with my second. I even went crazy making my own! But after a couple of months, I was really stressing out trying to keep up with the laundry and decided to scale back to paper diapers for now. I feel a lot of guilt about that, but that’s where we are right now.
Rachel: Living sustainably is definitely a journey, and no two are alike. You know I’ve been selling organic, non-toxic mattresses for 3 years now and only just purchased healthy twin mattresses for my kids (and passed on the conventional ones via Craigslist which I figure prevents 2 more toxic mattresses from being manufactured). We do what we can do. What motivates you to “go green”?
Jean: Having a family has been my biggest motivator to be “green.” I want a healthy planet of course, but what really drives me is keeping my children healthy and minimizing their exposure to pesticides and toxic chemicals. And trying to wrap my head around what the world could be like when they are having kids of their own.
As for something that has helped me go green, I’d say the web, although the volume of information can be overwhelming! I especially love the Environmental Working Group’s website, and all the great information they have to share to help keep us safe from toxins in our environment. I keep a copy of their Clean Fifteen/Dirty Dozen list of produce on my fridge and refer to their Skin Deep website for information about the best choices in skin products such as sunscreen.
Rachel: Yep, all great resources that I have used myself! Thanks again for stopping by to talk, Jean. We all look forward to more creative fun from The Artful Parent in the years to come!
**If you are a Mommy Blogger who would like to be featured at Euphoria Blog, please email me at rachel {*~at} euphoria baby {dot} com. I look forward to getting to know you!***
