Friday, May 4, 2012

Black and White: Part Two

This is starting to become a theme with Porter, seeing the world as either one thing or another.  Black or white.  It must be the age, this inability to see the shades of gray in every situation. 

In any case, his school has lately been espousing the virtues of "going green."  Earth Day was a celebration there, and the message made a big impact on all of the kids.  The environmental message is a fantastic one, and something we strive towards at home as well.  Although in more subtle (and probably unnoticed by my kids most of the time) ways. 

His teacher talked to them about not driving your car when you could walk or ride your bike.  So he came home and really wanted me to abstain from driving for the whole next day.  He patiently explained to me how it would be good for the environment.  And he's right I suppose.  But it took me awhile to explain to him that there is no way he can ride his bike 7 miles home on a busy highway right now.  And that there is no bus that can take Molly to dance class.  And that doesn't mean we don't care about the environment, but we can certainly try harder in other areas.

Then this morning, he came down to breakfast, and told me he was "going green with his underwear."  When I raised my eyebrows, he said he had not put on the pair that I had gotten out that morning.  He was still wearing the ones from yesterday so I didn't have to waste water to wash them. 

So I guess, even if we have to drive our car pretty much every day, at least we're doing our part with dirty underwear.  Every little bit counts, right?

3 comments:

  1. Tommy had a similar module in school. For about a week afterward, he decided that drying his hands after washing was not green. Holding on to a wet, slippery, little hand while navigating an airport doesn't really do much good.

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    1. That's too funny. At least he was still washing them!

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  2. Oh, and Tommy wants to ride his bike to school, too. It's only about 2 miles for us, but there are no sidewalks on the 5 and 6 lane, 50 mile per hour roads we would be biking along. Not sure what I'll do if he wants to start recycling his underpants.

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