Alex & Phil is a Swedish family-run business that sells children’s on-the-go snacks and meals, with a strong focus on nutrition, sustainability, and social responsibility. How can it get better than this? These are all core values of our family! It is rare nowadays to meet products that check all these boxes. The company has a background story many of us would identify with. It was funded by Jenny, a new mother who wanted to celebrate her children, Alex and Phil that is. She also wanted to build a business funded on strong core values: transparency, social responsibility, and more. I recommend to read the full story because it’s really exciting – an example of how things should be run. The business makes 10 clear promises to their customers.

The first thing you are going to love it’s how practical and “mom’s bag-friendly” the packaging is. It’s a squeeze pouch that fits all ages: you can squeeze it in a container and spoon-feed your baby, or you can hand it to your older child for a fuss-free quick snack. Next, the taste: we tried 3 smoothies (yes, I did too, I’m a serious tester). We didn’t like the orange one (yellow cap) because we found it too sour for our palate, but the other two (red and green caps) were yummy. After the first taste, my children jumped in excitement every time I pulled the smoothies out of my bag. What do Alex&Phil smoothies contain? The first thing I noticed was how clear and honest the ingredients’ list was, with the exact percentage of every ingredient. And they are all organic! To be precise, they abide to regulations even stricter than the basic organic EU requirements. The smoothies contain fruit and quinoa, a famous superfood. Their products are all lactose- and gluten-free, making them hypoallergenic.

Then there’s the corporate social responsibility bit, starting from the environment. I was so impressed when I read what lengths this business goes to cancel their impact on the environment. Alex&Phil tracks the climate impact of production and transportation, and strives to be climate neutral. They ship by land and sea to limit the emissions of their deliveries. Like this wasn’t enough, Alex&Phil has started a foundation that works in partnership with SOS Children’s Villages Sweden. Part of their sales – regardless of profits – goes to support the charity’s activities in vulnerable communities, especially in Central Africa. With each product you buy, you actively contribute to support relief activities.

Alex&Phil products are marketed internationally. Where to find them in Finland? K-group shops and Prisma sell them or you can buy them from their the online store. Their online store has currently a promotion granting free home delivery! I am truly impressed by these products and what this family business has achieved. It is extremely rare to find a combination of all these good qualities in products and businesses. I am excited I have found them and will surely continue to support them.

We were sent some smoothies to test by Alex&Phil. Opinions are mine and sincere. Read about my values here.

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We are not the “greenest” family but we have embarked on a journey of small changes, and improved our lifestyle targeting sustainability and ethical consumer choices over the years. We used to produce a lot of waste, we struggled to change our diet, and we chose comfort over sustainability more times than we care to admit to. If you feel you’d like to make moderate changes and do not know where to start from, this post is for you. If you commit to challenge one habit every month you’ll be in a completely different place a year from now!

#1: Use reusable shopping bags

Reusable bags are easy to find nowadays. Commit to use only them. I keep mine in the car trunk to make sure I remember them when I go shopping. An additional tip is to keep a couple of compactly folded plastic bags in your purse.
There’s another trick in my hat to minimise plastic consumption while shopping: I keep a small container filled with small plastic bags for veggies and fruits in my handbag. Wherever allowed, I put veggies on the scale with no container and stick the label directly on them. Otherwise, I use my own bags and avoid getting new ones. Whenever you visit a store and you are offered a plastic bag, consider if you really need it or you can shove things in your handbag.

#2: Switch to the menstrual cup and reusable pads

This section is women only. Years ago I stopped using disposable pads during my period. It was a game changer in terms of user experience, economic convenience, and sustainability. I have written about my experience with the menstrual cup here. In addition, I use reusable pads. You do not need both, but an additional layer makes me feel more comfortable. Use this online calculator to check how much money and waste you are going to save by leaving disposable pads or tampons behind.

#3: Get rid of stuff

You don’t have to go full-way minimalist, but a severe round of decluttering can help a lot. Months ago my husband and I took on the herculean task of decluttering our house. You wouldn’t believe how many cubic meters of space we freed. I thought I was smarter than our moms who have 30 year old things stored free of purpose, yet I was baffled by how much useless junk I had kept. The amount of stuff we own is directly proportional to decades of consumerism brainwashing. I highly recommend to do the same and free space in your house. Then stop and reflect in your shopping habits, otherwise you will not be any wiser in 6 months.

#4: Shop second-hand or responsibly

Shopping second-hand items is popular in Finland (check out my FIN-ENG vocabulary). I have taken on to shop most of my own clothes in second hand shops because the local offer is wide – I am aware I could not do the same in Italy. Nowadays thanks to Ebay and Marketplace, used items are easy to find. I think second-hand is especially smart when it comes to children’s accessories and clothes, as typically you need them for a short period of time. Over the years I have formed a complex ring of hands-me-down with friends. Then there’s always the option of borrowing instead of buying. We have completely lost that habit, haven’t we. If you live near Helsinki, be aware libraries lend plenty of objects. Contribute to a circular economy.
Following up on decluttering, commit to quality over quantity. I know ethical brands are more expensive, but do you really need five shirts that will lose dye or go out of trend in a year or can you buy one good quality and durable shirt instead? Build a personal list of favourite ethical brands and commit to support them. Learn to wait and save, remind yourself of why you are doing it. 

#5: Cut on online shopping

I have written in the past about the risks of online shopping. Retailers always swing the same bate in front of our eyes to make us forget about hidden costs: convenience. It’s so damn hard to resist the urge to buy if our object of desire is one click and a free delivery away. This is something we are still working on as a family. My aim is to walk into physical shops as much as I can. What helps: setting a monthly budget for online shopping, keeping grocery lists for different stores or categories (I recommend the app Wunderlist), and in general accepting that convenience is not a good guiding light for an ethical and sustainable lifestyle.

#6: Plan all meals

In our family, we have virtually no leftovers. We have cut the food we throw in the trash to almost zero. The main reason is that I sit down before our weekly grocery shopping round and carefully plan the week meals. I enter the store knowing exactly what I need and how much of it. Regular family life helps in planning a week ahead, we rarely have surprises in our schedule. Wasting food may still happens, but it’s an exception as it should be.

#7: Bring your own container

There are many occasions where we are invited to use single-use items that we could replace with reusable ones. An example from my routine: I used to get coffee from the work cafeteria in a disposable mug, until I took on the habit to take my travel mug along and fill that instead. I know more and more cafe chains are cutting on plastic cups, yet bringing your own container is way more impactful. About 16 billion disposable coffee cups go to waste every year. That’s a staggering figure! Similarly, use reusable containers to store or bring along food. Please ban straws forever from your household. Some stores allow customers to refill detergent bottles or even water bottles: use that option if you can. For worldwide figures on plastic waste, check out this fact sheet.

#8: Use cloth napkins

I was raised in a household using cloth napkins, but I realised as an adult this is not the standard way. Several families use kitchen paper or single-use napkins at every meal. Don’t! Purchase cloth napkins and wash them regularly. Beside being a sustainable choice, it’s a simple way to cut a useless expense from your family budget. I don’t wash them after every meal, usually I change them once a week or so (depending on how dirty they get). 
Another small habit you can change is to bring your own cutlery to picnics or trips, as opposed to using plastic.

#9: Ban liquid hands soap

Soap bars are (1) cheaper, (2) way more durable, and (3) produce less plastic waste than liquid hands soap. The liquid soap fever started when the fear of soap bars being unsanitary spread. That myth has been discredited by several scientific studies, but the convenience of pressing a finger on a dispenser made the habit stick.
I should mention that liquid soap is not a soap bar in liquid form. Liquid soap is full of chemicals, while soap bars are mostly fat (not necessarily animal fat). Even liquid soap production requires more energy and produces more waste. This is a small yet very impactful habit you can change in your household!

#10: Save water

As obvious as it may sounds, save water. Be critical of your personal or household’s impact on water consumption. You can check how you are doing using this list and set on improving your habits. Even more important, teach your kids to do the same. Recently I have noticed how my kids empty their water glasses in the sink when they clean their spot at the dinner table. I’m planning a way to spare that water and use it to water my indoor plants. There’s always space to improve. Another way to save water, among other things, is to change your diet. Animal agriculture uses about one third of the world’s drinkable water. I am not advocating for you to go vegetarian, but cutting on meat consumption can help the planet a lot:  I have recently shared how I did it and I hope to inspire other meat-lovers to do the same.

Choose one habit and start today. Commit to change one habit every month and you’ll have tremendous impact. Do you have anything to add to my list? What works for your family? Comment down below and let me know.

The post 10 Small Lifestyle Changes To Live Greener – Sustainable Family Lifestyle appeared first on The Elephant Mum.

What is the menstrual cup?

The menstrual cup is a cup made of silicone or latex rubber that is inserted in the vaginal canal to catch and collect period blood. Its insertion is similar to the vaginal ring, if you have ever used it: you fold the cup, insert in a comfortable position, and release. To remove it, pinch its extension and delicately pull. The cup comes in two sizes available (pre- and post vaginal birth). If you have special conditions and want to know more, check out this FAQ section.

An affordable and sustainable option

You can estimate how much money and waste a menstrual cup will save by using this online calculator. A cup There’s no doubt that it’s convenient both in terms of money and eco-friendliness. The cup annihilates the waste you’d produce with pads or tampons. A cup costs around 15-20 euros and lasts for years – accounts here vary. Some guidelines says to replace every year, but that’s definitely too short. I have been using mine for 4 and counting!

Does it work?

Being it, well, a plug, it ends up working better than tampons and pads. I find it convenient especially at night, even during the days when the flood is intense. After years of leaking on the bedsheets almost every month, it was refreshing not to! Sometime, however, my cup does leak. It may be because it’s not well inserted or because it’s full, but few drops – no more than that – have skipped out. This is why I feel most comfortable to combine with the usage of washable pads. When I combine the two, I never have accidents.

Is it convenient?

Definitely. For example, using the cup allows me to go swim utterly worry-free. Whenever I pack for a trip, I don’t have to use any luggage space for tampons or pads. I have stopped worrying about having tampons in the house, I’m always equipped.
The cup can last up to 12 hours, so you do not have to regularly find a place to change it when you are out of the house. Personally, I need to lie down to change it. This is another reason why I chose to have the washable pads as a further insurance. On a long work day, I remove it and finish the day with the washable pad. However, in theory you should be able to change it my standing, whatever feels comfortable for you.

Is it comfortable to use?

Putting the cup in or pulling it out does not bother me. For a long time, I did not feel it at all. In recent years I occasionally feel some light discomfort – the kind you feel only when you start thinking about it, you know. On such days, I use the cup only during nighttime and the washable pads during the day.
Tampons felt uncomfortable and occasionally pads would give me a rash. Nothing of the sort ever happened with the cup!

Where can you find it

There are several producers selling menstrual cups. Two renowned and respectable brands are Mooncup and Lunette (the latter based in Finland, btw). Nowadays, you can find menstrual cups from plenty of retailers, like eco-friendly stores (ex. Ruohonjuuri), pharmacies, sometime hypermarkets. You can buy one also online (ex. Myllymuksut, Amazon).

The menstrual cup is a fantastic everyday asset for women. We do not need pads or tampons anymore! Did you know about the cup? If not, will you give it a try? If you have questions or remarks, let me know in the comments section below.

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Let’s start with my motives. The main one is sustainability. Mass meat production is responsible for plenty of environmental disasters: greenhouse gas emissions, destruction of land through grazing, excessive water consumption, the list goes on.

In 2017, over 15 thousands scientists worldwide signed the “Warning to Humanity“, which included a plead to reduce meat consumption.
The second motive was personal health. I wanted to reduce red meat especially and, in general, monitor and control how much meat I was eating. In addition, I wanted to trick myself into introducing new regular ingredients into my diet, as well as forcing my hand into eating more greens. The third reason was linked to the first two and it was to transition to quality over quantity. One current issue that worries me a lot is superbacteria:

By cutting my meat intake, I will have the same buying budget to spend on less, thus being able to make more conscious consumer choices. I can choose organic meat or meat produced under certain standards.

Now, what concretely helped me in changing my habits? I have to thank my health coach Stefania for the support (read her story here). First, she encouraged me to cut my meat intake to only 4 times a week. It may seem like a lot, but I quickly realised how far from my goal I was starting. I would eat processed meat in snacks or sandwiches; out of gluttony I would choose the meat option at the work cafeteria more often than not; meat would sneak in pasta sauces unnoticed. As soon as I introduced that upper bound, I realised how bad I was doing. After few successful weeks, Stefania reduced it to 3 times a week. However, at the point I had made the bigger step already. I had developed an eye for it and learned new recipes (the app Yummly saved me, seriously). Nowadays, I still have my limit of 3, yet I often end the week without reaching it.
Here’s some small tricks that helped me:

• I made sure my husband supported me from the start – the man never blinked when I served unfamiliar dishes and approached them with an open mind;
• I recorded my meat intake through the app Tally to make sure I was sticking to my goal;
• I took on to choose the vegetarian option whenever I ate out;
• I sticked to learn at least 2 new vegetarian recipes every week – some were enjoyed and became regular;
• I tried to add extra veggies and fruit whenever possible – for example nowadays I regularly top my risotto and my pizza with rucola;
• one of my worries was proteins – I included more legumes and I mixed some natural supplements (maca powder, flax seeds, …) into my dishes.

Now the million dollar question: do I feel differently? You know I am very skeptic of diets and I didn’t spare you my honest opinion in the past. However, I have experienced an interesting shift in well-being in the past weeks. It’s hard to attribute 100% of credit to the diet, but honestly it is the only major lifestyle change I have made beside going on short walks regularly. The first 2 weeks I was bloating with gas – sorry for the detail – but after that I started feeling lighter and definitely more energetic. My work stress usually gets to my belly, yet it never did since I changed my diet. I am not claiming you would experience the exact same, just observing a pleasant unexpected side effect I had.

I am very proud I have achieved at changing this habit and I feel rewarded by the positive effects. It didn’t happen in a day, but overall it was easier that I thought. I hope my modest experience will inspire others to make a similar transition. If I have succeeded, everyone can!

The post Going (Almost) Vegetarian | How I Slashed My Meat Intake appeared first on The Elephant Mum.

Someone in Finland decided to do something about it and WeFood was founded. Ran by Finn Church Aid (Kirkon Ulkomaanapu), WeFood is a grocery shop which opened last September in Kalasatama, Helsinki, and sells exclusively “rescued” food to end consumers. I went to visit the shop and met with Noora Pohjanheimo, Press Officer for WeFood. The shop is small and cute, and located in K1 floor of the recently built mall Redi, very convenient as it’s near the Kalasatama metro station. WeFood’s assortment varies from day to day. Noora explained that they have partners supplying them regularly, like Heinon Tukku and Apetit, and everyday the shop receives fruit, vegetables, and bread. The remaining assortment depends on exceptional donations. Once, a farmer contacted them to donate an a big unsold batch of beetroots. Another time, a supplier had to get rid of a batch of perfectly sane products with an outdated packaging after a rebranding.

When I visited, they were selling some veggies, herbs, spices and nuts, protein shakes, bread, and more. Noora told me they try to be consistent and update their social media channels (check out their Instagram and Facebook pages) to inform customers of what’s come in for the day. If you are afraid of wasting a trip, that’s where you need to look. Every product is sold for 50-70% off from retail price, a great deal for the end consumer. The products are perfectly healthy and edible, and the reasons for them to be discarded are usually small imperfections or slightly damaged packages.

The original idea came from Denmark, where three twin shops have been successfully running for years. The Finnish store is open daily for long hours and mainly ran by volunteers. Everyone can offer their time, even if they are not fluent in Finnish. The minimum required commitment is to do 3 turns of 4 hours in a month. Personally, I find it an excellent way to train Finnish language skills while doing something meaningful. There are several volunteering opportunities, beside serving at the counter. They need volunteer drivers to pick up donations, volunteers to handle the assortment in the shop, and even an helping hand with social media. The volume of the business and its original nature were the biggest challenges, Noora shared. The store is open for 12 hours during weekdays and planning shifts of numerous volunteers is demanding.

Beside saving food from the trash bin, Finn Church Aid plans to use the profits from the shop to do further good and fund their development projects in Finland as well as other countries. For examples Finn Church Aid runs projects to support language learning of asylum seekers in Finland, to rebuild Syrian schools and to fight hunger in South Sudan.

The fact that profits will be aimed at charity work makes it even better. It’s a win-win concept: it’s a great deal for the consumer, it tackles a huge social problem, and it further serves vulnerable people. I truly recommend everyone to buy a metro ticket and go check out this new fantastic store. If you want to give your contribution and volunteer, get in touch with wefood[ at ]kirkonulkomaanapu.fi. I was very impressed with what Noora and her teammates have set up. It’s inspiring to witness how they decided to take action and do something about a crippling social issue.

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Few weeks ago I got in touch with the Finnish division of Oatly, a Swedish company that pioneered oat-based drinks back in the 90s. The core of their mission is sustainability which, as my followers know well by now, is a sexy concept for me. I had tried and liked some of their products in the past, but more recently I noticed their beyond-funny ads campaign for their newly launched vegan ice creams.

Pic from http://picbear.online/tag/oatbased

They got me curious and I visited their office in Helsinki to hear more about their work and plan something together. I came out of that friendly meeting wondering, are they for real? I have written about how food producers are making life hell for consumers like me, who want to keep an eye on sustainability. Even “Made in Finland” or “organic” labels may not be enough to ensure environment- and civil-right-friendly sourcing. But then, Oatly. Their website is heaven for label-nerds like me. For each product, they list all ingredients and suppliers, with links to respective webpages. They have high standards of sustainability suppliers have to comply with. They even have explanatory sections were they detail their production choices (for instance when they opt not to label something as organic).

Ok, they are unrealistically transparent. Surely their products must taste bad. Or do they? I got sent a wide selection of their products and now I’ll force all of you to hear my opinions. My family and I decided to use the Oatly delicacies for a summer picnic in our favourite beach, Oittaa.

All our picnic food had been cooked with Oatly products: we had mashed potatoes with sage and Creamy Oat Fraiche; veggies with Oat spread; carrot almond cake made with Oatgurt and Oat drink, topped with vanilla sauce; a couple of Oatly ice creams; Chocolate Oat drinks for the kids and Cold brew latte for us adults.

E enjoying the mashed potatoes and the veggies with Oat spread.

We officially love Oatly ice creams. Our top favs: vanilla and chocolate.

Final touch with the chocolate oat drink and the cake topped with vanilla sauce.

We loved all of it. We are not a vegan, not even a vegetarian family, but we are happy to replace some of our meat and milk products with more sustainable and transparent products. We make a point of “rewarding” companies we appreciate.

We liked all the ice creams flavours, the least in our preference being the double fudge chocolate which we found too sweet. Vanilla was our favourite: simple but rich and intense.

The biggest positive surprises were the cold-brewed latte and the oat spread. The latte has now become a regular treat for me. Not only taste is excellent, but I went lurking into a grocery store to find that the sugar content of Oatly latte is about 30% lower than other popular brands. More points for Oatly. I find the oat spread very close to Philadelphia cheese. I successfully used the oat spread as replacement for soft cheese in omelettes and in the icing for a birthday cake.

Home office + Oatly latte = a good day.

The Oatgurt and the Oat drink didn’t pass my test though. I am used to eat yogurt every morning and I found the taste of Oatgurt too far from the regular to be able to appreciate it. However, I used it successfully in my yogurt dry cake. Same goes for the regular oat drink, but also in this case I found it to be a perfectly satisfactory replacement of milk in shakes, porridge, and baking.

Overall, we sincerely found Oatly products so close to our family values, that we have started regularly replacing some milk products with them.

R and daddy enjoy the picnic food.

As an additional bonus, their labels are simply hilarious. You can have a sample of their unique sense of humour by watching their Oatly TV.

Oatly is a Swedish brand, but they sell internationally. You can find them in Finland, UK, USA, and many other locations. If you, like me, want to make a more conscious choice with your family shopping, give Oatly a chance. They truly deserve it!
Have you tried their oat-based products? Leave me your comments down below and let me know if there is some space for Swedish oat in your heart.

I was sent some products by Oatly to review. Opinions are mine and sincere. Read more about my work values here.

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It’s common knowledge that insects are food in many Asian countries. Nutritional properties of insects have been widely studied, and their sustainable life-cycle has been praised. Many say it’s one of the foods of the future, one of the few alternatives that can feed the dramatically growing world population.

I’ve been wondering about sustainability of our family diet for some time already. I am not happy with our current food suppliers but struggle to find alternatives. I have two issues with meat: I’m afraid of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and I dislike the awful conditions slaughter animals are forced to live in. I try to buy organic meat whenever possible but selection is limited and it’s not easy to find in shops. To the day, I haven’t discovered any feasible alternative supply channel for our meat products, despite the fact we are living closer to the countryside than the capital city centre. I’ve started replacing meat with legumes, eggs, and nutritious vegetarian alternatives whenever possible. We eat meat as a main course once or twice a week for dinner or during weekends.

Could insects replace some of the meat we eat? And in view of the future population growth, should I introduce them to our diet now that my kids are small, so that they will not develop any disgust to the idea?
Cricket powder is said to contain up to six times more proteins than meat. Studies have shown that also iron, magnesium, and calcium contents are generally higher than in meat. If you compare nutritional content, the price for insect powder is actually lower than meat (I see from Amazon the average price is 80 euros / kilo).
I’ll be honest, the only way I can think of eating insects is in powder, mixed to other food. I cannot go past disgust if I see whole insects in my food. One of my New Year’s resolutions is now to try insect powder and see if it can become part of our regular diet. I’ll keep you posted on how my experiment goes!

Have you ever tried insects as food? Would you include them in your family diet? Let me know in the comments.

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I would like to start my reflection by stressing one simple truth which we tend to overlook. Big businesses don’t care about you. The illusion of service-centred businesses is that they operate for our individual good. They don’t. They are businesses, they aim to make a profit and grow. It’s extremely important that we don’t allow an excellent customer service to fog the fact we are merely trading goods. Modern business masks this ugly truth through building feelings inside us. The impression of belonging to a community, loyalty towards brands, inspirational storytelling (social impact, innovation, “I came to US with 2 dollars in my pocket and a wish to change the world, now I’m a billionaire”, you name it). I know, I sound so communist right now. I’m not exempt from the charm of online shopping, nor emotion-based business tricks. I like to play that game, but I want all players to know the rules. Having said that, let’s dig into the negative effects online shopping can have.

Environmental impact

Free returns, fast deliveries, and any customer-centred policy translate into more CO2 emissions. E-commerces have also a financial motivation to reduce fuel consumption and they fund a lot of research on it, but the overall trend is worrying. This short video by University of California gives a complete yet simple overview of the situation:

User-based price

When you buy at physical shops, the price tag is democratic: everyone pays what’s written on that. This doesn’t necessarily happen with online shopping. It’s no news that airline ticket online shops exploit your cache (sort of your browser history) to squeeze as much money as possible from you. Have you ever noticed that when looking for a second or third time for a plane ticket in a short time, price sometime increases in time? If you’d switch to another browser you’d see the original price still there. It’s all part of their smart scheme. The same thing already happens with online shopping. Online retailers potentially can use any scrap of information they have about you to make you spend as much as possible. Price variations are also used to test how much consumers are willing to pay for certain items. There’s an individual dimension (they want to maximise how much you single user spend) and a collective one (how to maximise spending of aggregated groups of users). Are you willing to may more, without transparency on what more is?

Manipulative online assortment

To be fair, manipulative assortment happens also in physical stores. There’s a whole area of research about how to psychologically condition customers to spend more time in shops and to buy more. Here’s a video by Business Insider which will walk you through the well-known approaches of retailers to maximise sales through assortment:

Now imagine for a moment how powerful online shops can be on this. They literally have the capability to optimise the presentation of items based on you, single user. They literally can build the perfect shop for you. If already now we overbuy, based on collective and approximate models, what will become of us through online shopping?

Data collection

There’s a mad fever about collecting user data. Physical shops collect some data, but are limited to aggregate levels of information (like total sales per item), and to the limited subgroup of customers with a fidelity card. E-commerce can see everything about you. They can track what you click on, how you move through their website, how long you pause on items, and so on. They may even use your address to derive information about you as a customer: if many users have bought certain items in your area, they’ll recommend it to you. If you live in a well-off block, they’ll try to make you pay more for what you buy. Believe me, possibilities are endless. The entire world has been collecting data or developed ways to collect it about everything for the past 30 years. The only crucial piece online retailers miss is your complete shopping history. Don’t give it to them.

In conclusion, I want you to be aware that online retailers try to buy you with the promise of comfort and stress-free shopping. That’s all true, but it comes with a cost and I want everyone to be aware of it. I indulge in online shopping myself, but I’m careful not to make it my regular and only way to shop. I appreciate the service, but I don’t want to be blinded by it.
I’m very open and curious to read comments on this post. Were you aware of all these risks? Do you still feel online shopping is the best choice for your family? I’m eager to hear from you. Thanks for reading!

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So I’m here talking to you, policy-makers, politicians, and anyone who has a tiny bit of power to change things. Even office admin leads, I say. And I’m talking to all of you parents, so you start pressuring to get what you deserve from your city council or governments.
Let’s talk motivation first:

• if you make parents happy, people will be more keen on making kids,
• if you accept the private lives of parents, you motivate them as people and workers.

Beside that, opening public spaces for parents and kids, may attract new flows of tourism or, in case of some professional events, a bigger and more diverse audience. I would have not had kids in Italy, honestly. The facilities are not sufficient and I am no martyr. Here, I dream of a big family. From my personal experience, I can say the environment and general atmosphere can make a big difference.

Mothers: underserved since the dawn of times.

How to reach the goal? Even cheap solutions can make a difference. Now, I talk from experience here. I have worked as conference planner during my time in academia and even on a tiny budget I could build up practical solutions to allow parents to attend. Here’s some easy and cheap changes I am hoping for:

• for any public office or space to have a breastfeeding safe space, a nappy-change room, and some facilities to feed small children (microwave, highchair, …). Public offices, libraries, and son on;
• for professional events to invest part of the budget into facilitating parents of young children to take part. A children care room in the conference facility, grants to allow the children or another carer to travel along with the guest;
• for public transportation to allow parents to move easily. Low or absent fares, appropriate spaces for strollers;
• for museums to facilitate visitors with children: stroller-friendly itineraries, childcare rooms, low family fares, kids’ pitstops with small puzzles or colouring pages.

The main idea must be let’s facilitate parents and make things easier for them. Many of the above suggestions are services I daily benefit from. They make me feel appreciated as a parent and as a member of society. I hope things will soon move in this direction everywhere in Europe.
How’s the situation where you live? Leave a comment and let me know what you’d like to see more of in your town.

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