Dollers, not sense @ Austin Green Event for Kids

Yesterday I pulled something really really creepy out of my washing machine. It was a “sustainable doll” that my son made at the Austin Green Event for Kids non-event. He’d thrown it into his clothes hamper had I’d washed it – the doll’s fabric had bled dye on his previously usable clothes.

While my kids enjoyed the craftiness of making a doll from scraps, kids are always re-discovering uses for materials anyway. While I was looking at the dye running off the wet doll, I realized that no modern American child is going to choose this toy over their other choices just because it was made with recyclables. The idea of greening our children by substituting a rag doll for Barbie is naive.

Let’s not dumb down our children’s ability to green their play. Let’s find some real ways to create fun and teach sustainability. Let’s ask THEM what makes sense.