This past week, concerned parents, celebrities, and organizations have been hosting Healthy Home Parties during Healthy Child Healthy World‘s 2012 Healthy Child Party Week and posting stories and pictures to the Healthy Child Facebook page to celebrate. Healthy Home Magazine wanted to join in the fun, so we decided to host a virtual Healthy Child Party for the rest of the month, with videos, stories, giveaways and more!
If you have visited Healthy Home Magazine before, then you probably know that Erin, our Editor, is very passionate about helping families to rid their homes of toxins in order to support their children’s health. While her own family has always tried to live a healthy lifestyle, this “non-toxic passion” was truly ignited in 2009 when her daughter Kaitlyn was diagnosed with “severe and chronic respiratory distress” as a newborn that did not significantly improve even after 9 grueling months of medical testing, hospitalizations and interventions. When Erin went searching for answers beyond traditional medicine, she found Healthy Child Healthy World. Just when she needed them. Her eyes were opened to the toxins that were lurking right under her nose – right in her own home! Her family followed Healthy Child Healthy World’s Five Easy Steps to rid their home of chemical and environmental toxins and withing 3 days Kaitlyn was breathing normally – and thankfully has been ever since. This experience inspired Erin to help other families find the resources they need, to advocate for change, and to give our kids…and our kids’ kids…a fighting chance at surviving the toxic soup that they are inheriting in the world around them.
It is because of the tireless work of organizations like Healthy Child Healthy World, Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, Washington Toxics Coalition, Moms Clean Air Force, The Lead Safe America Foundation, Safer States and countless others that today’s families now have the information we need to make informed decisions for the health of our families at our fingertips. If you are inspired or helped by any of these organizations, please take the time to tell them and/or make a donation so they may continue their important work on behalf of our families – and be there for us when we need them. No child should have to suffer because of toxins found in everyday products. But these toxins hide in plain sight if we don’t know what to look for.
To help uncover these hidden toxins, for the next 21 days, Healthy Home Magazine will host a Virtual Healthy Home Party aimed at encouraging families to “Wake Up” to the preventable threats to our childrens’s health. Please invite your friends and families to participate, and use the knowledge you gain to take action to improve your home, school and work environments. To make the party extra fun, Healthy Child Healthy World’s Trusted Partner Community is helping too – by offering product giveaways totaling over $1,000 worth of safer, healthier alternatives to the conventional products many of us use every day without knowing any better.
Here’s how the Virtual Healthy Child Party will work in 3 simple steps:
Step 1: Anyone who would like to participate should please watch the “Wake Up Story” video and familiarize yourself with Healthy Child Healthy World’s 5 Easy Steps below. The answers to many of the daily questions will be found within those two resources.
Step 2: Each day from May 11-31, 2012, we will post a video, story, recipe, tip, product review or other resource to help families identify and start to make the changes necessary to reduce exposure to toxins in our homes.
Step 3: At the end of each day’s Healthy Child Party post, we’ll include a “conversation starter” question for you to answer in the comments section at the bottom of the post. Our goal is to drive awareness and encourage great conversation, so please be sure and reply to each others’ comments, ask questions, and share about the party! See below for details about the giveaways and other useful information.
Thank you for participating in our party! All giveaways are now closed, but please continue the conversation!
Day 1: Wake Up! Prize: Nordic Naturals Berries. Winner: Kia
Day 2: Be Wise With Plastics! Prize: Klean Kanteen 12 Oz + sippy adaptor & sports top. Winner: Angela H.
Day 3: Host a Party! Prize: Healthy Child Party Kit. Winner: Betsy
Day 4: Non-Toxic Safety Proofing! Prize: Rhoosting Baby Safety Kit. Winner: Wendy
Day 5: Non-Toxic Laundry! Prize: Prize: EcoStore USA Pure Oxygen Whitener. Winner: Angela A.
Day 6: Clean Up Indoor Air! Prize: Healthy Child Healthy World Book. Winner: Angela L.
Day 7: Spit That Out! Prize: Spit That Out! book. Winner: Angela H.
Day 8: Relieve Pain Naturally! Prize: Topricin Jr. Winner: Wendy
Day 9: Safe and Healthy Sleep! Prize: Naturepedic Organic Toddler Pillow. Winner: Michelle S.
Day 10: Take Action! Prize: Gift Bag. Winner: Jackie
Day 11: Clean up the Floor! Prize: Bona Hard Wood Floor Mop Motion. Winner: Sandy
Day 12: Make Your Own Cleaners! Prize: Gift Bag. Winner: Wendy
Day 13: DIY Baby Care Recipes! Prize: Gift Bag. Winner: Kia
Day 14: Go Non-Toxic at Bath Time with Dolphin Organics! Prize: Gift Bucket filled with Dolphin Baby Bath Products. Winner: Meg
Day 15: Clean Well on the Go! Prize: CleanWell Sanitizer Set. Winner: Kia
Day 16: Be Aware of Lead! Prize: Gift Bag. Winner: Angela H
Day 17: Outsmart Pesky Germs! Prize: CleanWell Disinfectant Set. Winner: Kia
Day 18: Skin Care as Health Care! Prize: Episencial 3 Step System. Winner: Courtney F
Day 19: Mom on a Mission! Prize: Mom on a Mission T-Shirt. Winner: Angela L.
Day 20: Eat Healthy! Plum Organics Prize Pack. Winner: Sandy
Day 21: Stay Safe in the Summer Sun! Prize: Dolphin Organics Sunscreen & Bucket Hat. Winner: Andrea
Congratulations to all of our Virtual Healthy Child Prize winners!
Wake Up Story video:
So what can you do? Healthy Child Healthy World has made that answer a bit more palatable by breaking it down into 5 Easy Steps:
Step 1: Avoid Pesticides
Pesticides have been linked to a range of health problems, including asthma, hyperactivity and behavior problems, cancer, learning disabilities, reproductive disorders and compromised brain development. Non-toxic solutions are safer and just as effective!
Step 2: Use Non-Toxic Products
Many chemicals used in conventional cleaning products, personal care products and furnishings are linked to negative health impacts. Often, what’s in them ends up in you. Fortunately, there are many safer alternatives!
Step 3: Clean Up Indoor Air
People in the U.S. spend about 90 percent of their time indoors. It might seem safer and cleaner, but indoor air is typically more polluted than outdoor air. Luckily, it’s typically very easy to improve indoor air quality!
Step 4: Eat Healthy
Today’s modern diet is grown, processed and packaged using toxic materials. Pesticides, bacteria, industrial chemicals and food additives all find their way into children’s foods, often at levels that can be harmful for them. Shifting to healthier foods is easy, and can even save you money!
Step 5: Be Wise With Plastics
Plastics are everywhere. In most cases, they are affordable and convenient. But increasingly, scientists are finding that the hidden cost may be our health. Many common plastics release harmful chemicals into what we eat, drink and breathe.
Additional Resources from Healthy Child Healthy World:
Party Participation, Giveaway Rules and Eligibility:
We’d like to invite you to follow Healthy Home Magazine on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and to subscribe to our email updates so that you don’t miss out on any of the opportunities to participate in the conversation and win great prizes, too!
You are also welcome to post comments throughout the event on Healthy Home Magazine and Healthy Child Healthy World‘s Facebook pages to keep the conversation going and growing! Throughout the event we’ll be featuring some of Healthy Child Healthy World’s Trusted Partners who have offered to sponsor a giveaway to help promote the event and help get their safer products into the hands of families to try (and hopefully fall in love with). Participants are encouraged to comment as often as you’d like. However for the giveaways, just one comment per post will be counted as your daily entry, for a maximum of 21 entries per person over the course of the event.
FAQ:
Q: So does that mean if I don’t find our about the event until the 5th day…or 10th…or 21st…I can go back to the previous posts and my comments will still count toward the giveaways?
A: Yes it does. We don’t believe in penalizing anyone for missing a few days of the party! The only deadline in this event is to have all your comments posted by 11:59pm PST on May 31st to have those comments count as entries for the giveaways. All giveaway winners will be selected at random after the end of the party.
Q: Can I win more than one prize?
A: Yes you can! Each entry will be assigned a number and if random.org selects your number, you will win the corresponding prize.
Additional Details and Eligibility:
- You must be 18 to enter.
- Enter by adding a comment addressing the question in the blog post for that daily giveaway
- One entry per person per day (additional comments are welcomed and encouraged, but will not be considered as giveaway entries)
- All giveaways are open for entries thru 11:59pm PST May 31st
- Prizes ship to the continental U.S. and Canada some may ship to Canada. Read each posting carefully. If you cannot accept a prize, it may be offered to another entrant, at the product-partner’s discretion. No alternative prize/s will be offered.
- Winners announced publicly on the individual blog posts. Winners will be notified by e-mail no later than June 4, 2012. Winners’ shipping address will be provided to the corresponding prize sponsor, who is fully responsible for shipping prizes to winners. Winner must reply to the prize-partners notification within 7 days, and must be able to accept shipment in the continental U.S. (in some cases Canada) or the prize will be forfeited and a new winner will be selected.
- Healthy Home Magazine and Healthy Child Healthy World are not responsible for email notifications that aren’t received, lost or damaged prizes. Once a winner has been chosen, questions about prizes should be directed to the prize sponsor.
- Prize sponsors have the right to exchange prizes for items of similar value, should the promoted prize become unavailable.
Related Articles:
- Please Vote for Healthy Home Magazine in Circle of Moms’ Top 25 Eco-Friendly Moms Contest!
- Keep Toxins Out of Your Body with the 3 Points of Entry (Healthy Home Magazine)
- Making a Safer Bed on Any Budget (Healthy Home Magazine)
- Taking Action for Toxic Free Kids (Healthy Home Magazine)
- Green Moms Unite to Talk About Toxic Chemicals (Groovy Green Livin)
- Join the Safe Chemicals Brigade on May 22, 2012 (Safer Chemicals Healthy Families)
we think our dog died of cancer from pesticide exposure and do not use pesticides at all. It makes me very upset to think our children are playing in parks and in are ownbackyards and are being exposed to these chemicals. This is a very powerful video of the consequences of exposure will defintley have to share with our friends and family.