Toxins In Toys

Two years ago in November, I wrote an article and posted it to my blog. It was the very first post and the reason I created this blog. Its called "Article on Toys, Lead, and Plastics" and you can find it here. I had been reading different things on the internet and kept coming across terms - BPA, phthalates, lead, and more - and was getting confused as to what all of the issues were, what was safe, and what was not. I knew that there were things in my home that could be unsafe, but couldn't figure out where to start looking for them.

One day I had a friend over visiting and she asked me if I had done anything about making changes in my home. I replied with "No, I haven't. Its all too confusing, have you?" She responded that yes, they had made some changes as far as buying safer pots and pans and eliminating some plastics from kitchen use. This inspired me to sit down and begin to figure it all out. I thought, "If she thinks this is important enough to try and figure it out and make her home safer for her family... I should too!" The article I posted back then was the beginning of our family's journey towards a safer healthier home. (Its not perfect, I misspelled phthalates in the whole article, and have learned even more about the issues since then, but it was a start and probably still worth your time to read.)

We've come a long way these past two years and have slowly made numerous changes in our home. I've become much more aware of toxins and where they hide and have been working on eliminating them. We are picky about toys and items that come into our home and try to make wise choices. I still feel overwhelmed at times and don't know how to completely eliminate certain things or am limited by cost. (I can't afford a brand new organic mattress, only organic clothing and all organic food for example.) Many of the changes I've made in our home and the research I've done, I post about here on my blog: the water filtration series, information about cloth training pants, staying healthy during pregnancy, product reviews and more.

Why do I do this? My kids. I absolutely love being a mom and am passionate about making my home as safe as I possibly can for my family. I can't change everything all at once, but I can keep learning, keep researching, keep trying and creating a safer healthier home in the process. Although there are some things that are out of my control, there are many things that I can change and steps I can take.

This month I'm going to be focusing my blogging on some of the potential toxins that can be found in toys and how this affects choices our family makes. We'll talk about lead, where it can be found, what phthalates are, and more. I will also be posting some reviews of natural toy companies throughout the month along with some giveaways and discount codes. Keep reading... hopefully some of it is helpful to you. Feel free to ask questions as we go and I will do my best to share with you what I've learned.