The Loonie Bin Wins Every Time

I contribute to green house gases. This fact occurred to me yesterday after an exhausting hour of tallying up daycare expenses. It wasn't too hard to find and gather all the receipts. For the most part every receipt contained the words Walmart or Dollarama in blazing letters across the header. Receipt after receipt one thing became apparent - I single handily supported the gross domestic product of China last year.

I am curious how much petroleum was emitted not only in the production, but transport of these many small plastic items I depend upon for my lively hood. My daycare carbon footprint is far bigger than that left behind by my fuzzy boots, I am certain.

As I look around my house I wonder why it is I can't see mounds of plastic junk in every nook and cranny. If the receipts are accurate my house should contain approximately $890.00 worth of Dollarama merchandise and at least another $1208.00 of offerings courtesy of the Walton family. Hmmm....so where is all this stuff? Oh yeah, it's hanging from my walls in the vibrant craft clad decor of the playroom, stuffed in my craft closet and cubbie baskets. Bibs, construction paper, alphabet borders, books, toys, balls, and even kiddie-sized lawn chairs that sit in the reading nook are evident everywhere.

We should play a game with our daycare parents to convey to them exactly how much of that money they hand over to us goes right back to their child. For one year keep all those dried up bits of Play-doh. Put all the bits in a big old jar, seal it and then provide a ballot bin at your front door. Have parent guess how many tubs of Play-Doh are in the jar. I think they would be shocked to know that last year I forked over $87.00 for formable germ traps that end up as crusty and dry as the snot under their childrens' noses. $87.00 - that's $7.25 a month! Wow, who knew?

I won't even get started on the amount of money I spent at Walmart for copy paper and online for printer toner. It is enough money to make me nauseous just thinking about it. Great, kill trees AND contribute to global warming. It seems I can't win.

Perhaps I will start a new niche market for daycare - organic crafts and activities. We could play kick the tightly rolled up diaper or get naked and finger paint each other rather than paper. Instead of Play-doh we will eat pizza every single day and the kids can use the dough first and then bake its remnants. Or maybe we could all go out and beg the neighbours to provide us with small pieces of charred wood from their fireplaces to use as sidewalk chalk. We could be little environmentalists.

And the parent who wins the count the Play-doh contest? Next year they get to do my taxes for me. It would not only be a lesson but save me the aggravation and guilt at killing the planet while caring for their kids. I can't win. If I cease my frequent Dollarama trips some poor mom in China won't be able to put food on the table for her kids next week.

I guess that kick the loaded diaper is out. Back to beading and Play-doh and plastic building blocks. It's a good thing too. I didn't really want to clean up after five finger painted kids anyway.



For concerns, advice or suggestions I welcome your email at judytrickett@yahoo.ca