Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Alternatives to Candy

[Tim Mensch (tim-coho-l]

Ann Zabaldo wrote:
> Acceptable alternative for candy...   ORIENTAL TRADING!  A catalog of epic
> amuonts of inexpensive toys.  orientaltrading.com
>   
Wonderful idea, but keep in mind the number of Made In China toys (and 
pet food products) pulled from the shelves recently for containing high 
levels of lead or other poisons--and those are branded toys made for big 
US corporations, not unbranded toys that would be much harder to 
identify and recall. And of course these toys are frequently made in 
sweat shops, which is why they're so cheap--though I know one can only 
support so many causes, so don't consider this a value judgment as much 
as an awareness-raising note.

For community kids we typically offer the unthinkable: Homemade treats 
that are whole grain and low in sugar (compared to candy, anyway). 
Knowing each other means trusting we're not going to be poisoning the 
kids, after all--and warm muffins can be quite a hit on a cold night. 
For other neighborhood kids we tend to just give them candy--as I was 
saying, there are only so many causes one can rearrange one's life 
around, and at least we can choose to give candies without trans fats to 
minimize the damage...

Tim

--
Tim Mensch

Currently at Wild Sage (Boulder, CO): http://www.wildsagecohousing.org

Founding member of Tumblerock, a Boulder, CO area community in its forming 
stages: http://tumblerock.org