Teaching our kids healthy habits

I read a post on facebook today that asked "What healthy habits did you learn from your mom?"  I thought, wow, I didn't learn any healthy habits from my mom!  My mom was a very young and single mother raising 3 kids with what she little she had and what little she knew about raising a family.

Yesterday I watched my 18 year old son create a bomb out of The Works Toilet Bowl Cleaner a plastic bottle and aluminum foil.  He brought it over to show me how a household cleaner can be so dangerous.  You see, we don't have any products in our home with harmful chemicals or ingredients in them.  Everything we use, from bath and body products, to laundry products, to skin care and cosmetics, to cleaning product are guaranteed to be safe for my family.  It is a normal way of life for our family.  I never really talked to my kids about how having harmful chemicals and toxins in our home can hurt us but they know!  They know because I take this issue seriously and I'm teaching them healthy habits.

I love my kids so much, I would do anything for them.  Most of us would do anything for our kids.  We even say we would die for them.  

I do research all the time on the harmful ingredients in our everyday necessities.  I get the facts, I share them with people and can't believe this issue isn't important enough for them to switch brands and try to create a safe and healthy home for their families.  The other day I received a forwarded email about the different causes of cancer.  The email came from a friend who knows the facts because I told her.  She's also a friend with a history of cancers in her family.  She's a friend with two young kids.  She knows the facts, ignores the facts, yet forwards emails like this to people.  She would do anything for her kids, except create a safe and healthy home for them.  I don't get it!

What about you?  What would you do for your children?  Would you die for them?  Here are some facts and statistics.  Read them, then tell me...what would you do for your kids?

Cancer in children has increased 400% the past 20 years.  It is currently the number one killer in children ages 7-9.  Asthma in children has increased 400% too!

1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will have cancer sometime in their life.

Quaternium 15 aka Q15 is a formaldehyde releaser and is know to cause skin problems like eczema and breathing problems like asthma.  Formaldehyde is a cheap preservative, and companies use it because it gives their products a longer shelf life.  It is in products like toothpaste, lotion, shampoo, cosmetics and other products, including baby shampoo.

1,4 dioxane is a known carcinogen, also in a lot of skin care products, bubble bath and baby shampoo and more.

We all know chemicals in the home can cause accidental poisonings.  In fact 89% of all poison exposures occur in the home...every 13 seconds poison control is called.

Household cleaners are the # 1 cause of poisoning of children. The top three culprits according to Poison Control: Household cleaners, bleach and medications.

The labeling laws aren't there to protect the consumers, they're there to protect the manufacturers.

20 years ago health issues like cancer, asthma, eczema, adhd, fibromyagia, MS and others were rare, yet today they are so common.  If we don't have these issues in our family we have someone close to us who does.

I'm curious, what will you do with this information?