Plastic Water Bottles, Kids Parties, And Being Different

My kids don't drink out of plastic water bottles. That's not to say that they have never done so, or that they never will again. It's just that early in this year, as my awareness grew to the problems at hand, we decided to get them some stainless steel bottles that were small and had cute little designs on them. They took them to school and not only did they like them, but most of their friends liked them so much that they asked their parents for them, and as a result, the water bottles coming into the classroom are much less than they used to be.

While this works most of the time, we generally fill the bottles up and bring them with us and our kids think nothing of drinking clean LA tap water, it's not foolproof. Take last Thursday.

I went to a party with my daughter at one of her friends house. As is usually the case, I had my backpack and had packed her water bottle for her along with some other things like a cool little plastic set of cutlery she likes which she can use when she has cake if she wants to.

We got there and she started running around with her friends and having a good time. She's 4 so we're still at the point where parents stay, so I sat down and started talking to a few of the other folks I knew there. About 5 minutes later, she came over and asked for some water so I pulled out her bottle, handed it to her, she took a big swig and off she went.

Another 5 minutes or so passed and again, she asked for water, but this time, she didn't want her cool bottle. Instead she pointed to the crate of small water bottles that all the other kids were grabbing from.

Now i know what you are thinking, that my heart sank, that i took her home, that i couldn't bring myself to do it. But actually, quite to the contrary, I reached over, grabbed her one, cracked it open, and gave it to her, much to the shock of some of the folks who know me fairly well and what i've been up to.

Don't get me wrong, it bugs me to have her drinking from plastic, health implications not being my only concern, but that said, life is not an all or nothing game. Even at 4 she gets that drinking out of steel is smarter than plastic (and cooler) but at the same time, she wants to be like her friends. At school she has made that happen, at home parties it can be another story.

Why am i writing this. Partly because it pains me to add a plastic water bottle to the basement, but moreso to throw the idea out there that we all need to do the best we can and recognize that an occasional slip up doesn't nullify everything else we are doing. Life is about steps and as long as the overall path leads forward, we're on the right track.

Allright, jumping down off my soapbox. I've got clean up duty down in the basement, and then I need to play subliminal anti plastic cds in my daughters room for a few hours (I kid).

Dave