kim through
   the looking glass

I remarked to my husband, Brad, a few weeks ago, and to a very good friend a few days ago, that it’s easy to ignore how wrong it is to live only in nuclear families - easy, that is, until you have kids.

Then it becomes painfully clear that the way we Westerners live is not quite right.

My friend and I were discussing how much easier it is when there’s even just ONE extra set of hands around. That if we lived in tribal communities, there would be not only a number of adults available all day and night, but also a large number of children of different ages - people for the young ones to play with and follow around. Mom would never be a lone caregiver.

Someone to hold the baby while you bathe or use the bathroom.

Someone to entertain the toddler while you’re nursing.

Someone to make dinner with - or to make dinner for you.

Western culture seems to value independence above all things. I believe that, while it’s important to be independent, it’s even more important to be interdependent. Relying on others isn’t a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength - of knowing and respecting your limits.

So I challenge you, readers: Support a new mom in your life!

What can you do to ease the burden? I’ve compiled a list of things that others have done for me (thanks, mom, friends, community and church women!) and things that I’d LOVE if people would do …

• Cook dinner for her family
• Bake cookies or muffins
• Listen to her complain about the sleep deprivation
• Do her dishes or clean her kitchen
• Sweep her house
• Clean her bathroom (man, if you can do this, you’re a superstar!)
• Take her other kid(s) to the park/for a walk for an hour so she can have time with the baby - and maybe even have a nap!
• Hold the baby while she spends some one-on-one time with her other kid(s)
• Pick up some groceries for her
• Mow her lawn or do some yardwork/gardening (in the winter, this would be replaced by shoveling)
• Listen to her brag about her children
• If you’re able, hold a FUSSY/CRYING baby while she takes a walk around the block
• Go over to her house and visit - but bring the snacks! Honestly, just having another person around makes the time pass easier

So, readers, what will you do for a new mom in your life?

Crystle lent me the book Diet For a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe. What an eye-opening book for sure! It discusses how many of our food resources are wasted in feed for our animals - especially beef.

After reading it, I’ve decided to challenge myself to make meat dishes only twice per week for the summer. This is a HUGE switch for us, as we currently eat a vegetarian meal maybe once or twice per week.

Really though, when it takes 2500 gallons of water to make just one pound of beef, and 7 pounds of grain (Lappe), does it make sense to comsume beef many times per week? Chicken is slightly less of an energy consumer, but still, compared to grain and vegetable sources of protein, it just doesn’t make sense (from the perspective of the planet anyways) to rely on animal sources of protein when plant sources are much more readily available and abundant.

Wish me luck on my new adventure!