Enid Blyton - sexist, classist and racist!?

My daughter and I have been reading Enid Blyton books together - namely the Secret Seven and the Famous Five. I was the one who bought them for her remembering how much I loved these books when I was growing up.

Well, it looks like my daughter has also fallen in love with the books. She loves the adventures of the Seven and the Five! Every day she asks me to read "one more chapter" and the books have become the ultimate bargaining tool - eg:

Me: "Please turn off the TV, you've watched enough TV today."
Dear Daughter: "Okay, but you have to read me one more chapter of the Secret Seven/Famous Five!"



You know, I love that she's so enthusiastic about these books and at first I was really looking forward to rereading them...but reading them with adult eyes, I've become aware of how sexist, classist and racist these books are! Some examples just using the Famous Five series:

George (who doesn't want to be a girl), "flushed with pride" when her father tells her "Why you'd make a great boy!" (the ultimate of compliments).

"Now that we have money, you can go to a real school!" George's mother exclaims referring to the fact that George will now leave the village school to attend boarding school with Anne.

"she was as black as a nigger"...referring to George being dirty.

Okay, so yes, I admit that I had gotten the older versions of the books (the result of still buying all my books second hand) and all the Enid Blyton books that I have were published in the early to mid 50s. I now know that latter versions of the books have been changed to soften its sexist/classist/racist tones.

Having said that, I still have to say that the stories really do appeal to my daughter and I don't have the heart to take them away from her (especially as she doesn't like most books). My first instinct when I read them out to her was to "censor" my reading and just omit or replace phrases/paragraphs. And I have to admit, for the more blatent ones (I could not bring myself to say "nigger"), I still do.

However, in the latest book we're reading, I am now trying to use these sexist/classist/racist incidents as conversation points afterwards - trying to explain the historical attitudes and asking her opinion on these. See, I've realised that part of media literacy is to be able to read critically. To be able to do that, my children *need* to discuss books in greater depth. Me censoring these books completely was not allowing them to have these conversations. And with Enid Blyton books being so obviously sexist/classist/racist its been a great jumping off point in critical reading rather than the more subtle books.

I have been surprised how much my daughter (6 and a half years old) has been able to deconstruct the messages by herself once we started talking about it. She talks about how silly George is in thinking that only boys are brave. How "bossy" Peter is and that maybe its because he didn't know Janet (his sister) could be as clever as him if only the writer had written about that.

Anyway, so that's my take and that's how I'm approaching it at the moment. Have you ever re-read books from your childhood and been surprised at the messages that "you never got" when you were younger?

Oh and in the spirit of "balance" does anyone have any recommendations for adventure books with strong, clever girls who were happy to be girls?

Earth Hour - the social aspect

Tomorrow at 8:30 pm (28 March) is Earth Hour.



Actually for us, Earth Hour is more like "Earth Night". We also do it a little early so the kids can participate. We turn off all of our electricity (except for fridge) at around 7:30pm and it stays off until the next morning.

Now I know that there are many who see Earth Hour as just a token effort in addressing climate change. To be honest, I can see their point. Turning off electricity for 1 hour, while it may reduce emissions for that hour, its all for nothing if you crank it up the preceding and following hour(s) so you can "finish" or get done everything you would normally do.

But I don't think the actual activity of Earth Hour is to reduce emissions - that's the long term goal. Earth Hour was first conceived in Thailand but did not get mass participation until the entire city of Sydney, Australia took it on in 2007. The purpose of Earth Hour from the start was to raise awareness of climate change (not to solve climate change in itself).

In 2007 (my first Earth Hour), I remember that after turning off everything, I realised for the first time how many power points I left turned on... it took me several weeks before I turned them all back on again and I became increasingly aware of the importance to remember to turn off power points.

But perhaps the most important thing that I realised during Earth Hour was how distracting all of that stuff is and how much it detracts from my time from my family. Without the clock (seemingly benign) reminding me how many hours I have left till bedtime, the TV, the computer etc etc, the only thing left to do was to sit around by candlelight and actually *talk* to each other. And it really does mean talking... as opposed to commenting. I say that because its not until you have everything off that you realise that you don't have the news/the net/DVD/radio to act as the "conversation cover" - so that when content changes from one to the other much of the conversation is actually commentary on the content or even the content changes.

During Earth Hour, the kids and I talked about stuff that's important to us without the distraction of everything else by candlelight. It truly makes for a very special night.

In 2007, my daughter asked if we could have Earth Hour more regularly and for awhile there, we did it once a month. We've fallen out of that habit in recent times, but I think once we are in our own place again, it would be something we may have to reinstitute again. Its a wonderful way to truly connect.

Anyway, what do you think of Earth Hour? Do you do anything special?

Helping my daughter learn how to read

My daughter needs a little bit of extra help in reading. In short, she doesn't like it. She loves crafts, swimming, maths and games (in that order). In an effort to help her learn how to read, here are a few more "creative" things we are currently doing to help her read.

A "letters and sounds" journal. Basically I pick two combined sounds (eg "sh" or "th" for her once a fortnight. She then fills up a couple of pages in her journal with pictures (drawn or from magazines) with objects that have these sounds in it. This is a crafty project for her and she is more receptive then to looking at things and trying to determine whether they "fit" in her theme page.

Another thing is that my daughter really responds well to games, so I made this simple game she and her brother can play:



Object of the game is to get to the bookworm's graduation cap. When they land on a blue square, they must pick the blue card and read the word on that card (by themselves). Landing on a yellow card means that the everyone reads the word on that card and they have to say a word that rhymes with that word. Landing on a red card means that me (as "game card person") AND the player read the card quietly and the player then has to act out the word with the other players trying to guess what the word is. Along the way, they can collect "give me a hint" cards, "pass this task on to another player" cards and "pick another task" cards.

I made the blue cards contain most of the pre-primer sight words with some primer words, the yellow cards contain mostly primer sight words with some Grade 1 words and the red cards contain mostly Grade 1 words with some Grade 2 and 3 action words. (For those not sure what I'm talking about, read about Dolch Words here.)

There are no penalties if they get the words wrong :). Both of my kids have really responded well to this game (and its really just another way of doing flash cards) and have asked to play it at least 3 times a week since I made it last month so I'm happy.

I should probably note that I do read to and with my daughter and son everyday (2 books each) but this is just other stuff we do.

Do you have any tips, activities that you do to help your children read?

Slave-free Easter Eggs

In my last post, Melissa asked me if Chocolatier's Easter Eggs use cocoa beans harvested by child-slaves. Chocolatier is an Australian private company and according to the Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand, they have released Fairtrade Certified milk and dark chocolate Easter Eggs. So YES, some Easter Eggs from Chocolatier are slave-free!

Just make sure you see the Fairtrade logo! Companies are releasing Fairtrade accredited products all the time (which is great) but this doesn't mean all of their products are Fairtrade.

The only safe guarantee are those Easter eggs that are Fairtrade certified or certified organic by Australian standards (which includes compliance with human rights law - ie no slavery).

So here's my list of Fairtrade certified Easter eggs (links provided where possible):

Chocolatier Fairtrade chocolates - available in David Jones and selected Woolworths and Safeway stores.
Heritage Fine Chocolates - available in their store in Melbourne.
Scarborough Fair - available in Coles and Target
Oxfam Easter Eggs (the 20 small eggs in a bag is my favourite!)- available at Oxfam shops as well as online.
The Trading Circle - available in their Melbourne shop: 261 Victoria Street, Abbotsford.

So that's it! If you know of any more fairtrade Easter eggs, then let me know!

As a non-Christian, I don't celebrate Easter but I *do* love my chocolate and its great to know that there are now more options than before to support companies who have made an effort to provide us with slave-free chocolate.

And for a little reminder as to why I don't buy slave chocolate, here's the video that changed my consumption habits:

Video made by Cody Maasen who was a highschool student at the time - shown here with permission from Cody)

List of related posts on this issue:

Jamie Oliver and chickens...but what about chocolate?
Updating my list of slave-free chocolate in Australia

Harmony Day dress!

This Friday is Harmony Day...which also happens to be the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It is apt that a day where we reflect and celebrate Australia's culture diversity is linked to a day advocating the elimination of intolerance.

This is a fairly "new" day for us here in Australia. It only started in 1999 and was part of the Government's Diverse Australia Program. Perhaps, because it is so new, its really only celebrated in schools. Its a pity because I think this country of ours could benefit from a wider community celebration of such a day.

Anyway, to celebrate Harmony Day, my children's school has encouraged students to dress up in traditional cultural costumes. When I talked to my children about it, we ended up having a wonderful discussion on *their* cultural heritage. My children come from a mixture of Filipino, German and Dutch. And when they asked, "so what culture do I belong to?" I just said "Australian". :)

My son has not yet chosen what costume he wants to wear (which is typical of him) but my daughter pretty much decided right away that she wanted to wear German costume.

So I made her a drndl (can someone tell me how to say that word?):



Full skirt (circle skirt) was made out of a thrifted valance - $2.50
Bodice with lace up front and the apron was made out of a thrifted large skirt - $1
Frilly blouse was also thrifted - $2.50(this is a really good quality vintage blouse, so this was a HUGE bargain).



Anyway, so now I'm sitting here hoping my son makes up his mind today, or else on Friday I'm thinking of just letting him go to school with vegemite on his face a-la the Vegemite Kid. (hehe)



What's your culture heritage?

Sssssnake! My craft journal

Last week, Jess from Button Beauty gave me this altered journal:









I LOVE how she's started it off for me but still left me lots of pages to alter. I've decided that I will use the book to record all my crafty recipes. I can't wait!

I've also done some sewing and some more paper crafts but I have to go to work now, so I must end this post now. Will be back tomorrow with more stuff!

Hope you are all having a great day. :)

*My* climate change...

I really should be going to bed at this moment but I don't want to...why?? Because I'm loving the sound of rain outside. (yay!)

Photo by Droid.
Displayed here under a Creative Commons Generic Attribution Licence

Its been so long since its rained....early January was the last good rainfall. And while I am enjoying this rain, something has occurred to me. 5 years ago, I would not have classified what I'm listening to now as "rain". I would've classified it as a "light shower". See, its not heavy at all (according to "da BOM", we've only had 7 mm from 6pm to 11pm). The rains are now so few and far between that I have realised that I have already redefined how I perceive weather.

This is *my* climate change.

I can no longer remember what it felt like to run on soft, thick grass. The grass I know is sparse and brittle... or fake.

I remember when people would rather die than have fake grass on their lawns. Now, people proudly show off their new astro-turf.

I now look at those neighbours with green grass with suspicion... are they breaking water restrictions?

I can not remember the last time rain didn't leave dirt on my car. The dust is perpetually in the air, so that when it "rains", it rains mud.

I no longer pack away my summer and winter clothes at each change of season. The weather turns so quickly and dramatically - one day its 35 degrees (95 degrees Fahrenheit), the next day 18 (or 64 F). Today, I wore a singlet in the morning and a coat in the afternoon.

I have learnt to appreciate my health, my clothes and my house because they help me cope with dramatic weather changes.

I have learnt how to clean with little water. Conserving water is now second nature.

I have learnt to savor and appreciate any water falling out of the sky instead of cursing it.

This is *my* climate change. I am adjusting. I am adapting. But it still makes me feel sad.

emailing Cadbury Australia :)

Just thought I'd share the email I sent off to Cadbury Australia in case you may also want to email them as well:

***************************************************

Hello there,

I read with interest from greenbiz.com that Cadbury in the UK are now in the process of gaining Fairtrade accreditation for their Dairy Milk chocolate. I think this is a fantastic move and have already conveyed my congratulations to Cadbury UK.

As a mother to two young children, I have become increasingly concerned with child-slavery in the cocoa industry, It seems wrong to me that my children and I could enjoy chocolate that have an element of child abuse in its supply chain.

I note that Cadbury Australia have some programs dealing with the problem of child-slavery in its supply chain. I am wondering if Cadbury Australia would consider going to the same lengths of addressing the problems by also seeking Fairtrade accreditation for its products? I think this is a fantastic opportunity for Cadbury Australia to align itself with a wonderful project.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Eilleen

***************************************
Related posts on this subject: Cadbury Dairy Milk to go Fairtrade!

If you want to congratulate Cadbury UK, you can let them know in their blog here: http://cadburydairymilk.typepad.com/

my first post!!.. and the rest of my blogosphere...

Not here obviously, but over at http://threethings-oxfamaustralia.blogspot.com/ . So yay, I'm now officially blogging for Oxfam. I'm quite excited about this blog - simply because I think it will be a "lighter" read about the little things we can do to make the world a better place. Currently talking music and communities over there but I know that the blog is in the process of finding its feet - would be interesting to see how that blog evolves. Feel free to comment over there on what you would like to see that blog do!

On that note, some of you may know I'm also blogging at SGF. There's been some great posts there about gardening and vegetable storage. I'm due to blog there soon (on Thursday, I think) and I need ideas on what to write about. Anyone have any ideas on what I should write about?

As for the rest of my blogosphere, I've noticed that Craftster.org's newest challenge is "Decorating with buttons". I'm wondering if I should enter this challenge. (Note to self: let button beauty know of this challenge).

Also, Becky (of Sew and Sew fame) has once again posted some great links for her Friday round-up (which I'm very late at reading).

On the joyful consumption front, Make Wealth History has once again posted a great article on "Which is the Most Ethical Supermarket"...pity they're not in the Australia (they're in the UK). I found their comments on Aldi (the only supermarket that is also here) interesting.

And finally, I just want to thank everybody who have visited this blog and those who have commented. I have truly enjoyed reading your thoughts and have been uplifted by your encouragement as I continue on this journey of learning how to craft and how to consume ethically. *MWAH*

2nd attempt at book binding - an altered journal

When I created my wallet, I ended up having to cut out all the pages in the book. Which meant that I now had a heap of paper sitting there. Since I really hate waste, I decided to turn the pages into a journal (which I think makes it into an altered journal). Here's the end result:



Front and back cover consists of about 10 pages glued and sewn together. Thread and wool to sew came from an op-shop. Then both "covers" were strengthened with Modge Podge (bought from Eckersley's - though now I find out you can actually make your own).

I used a coptic stitch for this journal. My second attempt at using this stitch. First time I sewed it too tight and the pages wouldn't close and when I turned the pages, they ripped. This time I sewed it just a bit too loose, but since the pages are not falling out, I decided I can live with a little bit of movement between pages. The tutorial I used is from this channel at Youtube. I used the hardcover tutorial, but I think I will watch his other tutorials because the part 1 and part 2 demo looked like it was more comprehensive.



I used 4 signatures, with 4 painted pages per signature. (How cool do I sound saying that?! hehe) A signature is basically a number of pages folded in half. My daughter and I had a wonderful time painting all the pages together. I used acrylic paint because...well that's what the woman at Eckersley's told me to use. (I told her I wanted to paint some book pages and then write on the pages with a pen and she said that acrylic paint would be better for that.) For the pages where my daughter and I got a bit enthusiastic and made it too "bumpy" I glued some see-through paper over the top so you can still see the paint but its a bit easier to write in.



I kept 2 of the original pages as back pages for the "cover". At the front is a call for membership for people who "..accept the supremacy of Reason" (note capital "R" for reason).



And this page presents a Bill to repeal the Blasphemy laws of the UK. Incidentally, the book says that the Bill was rejected by the House of Commons in 1889... I wonder if Blasphemy laws have since been repealed or whether its still a crime to blaspheme??

Anyway, I will be giving this journal to a workmate of mine who is studying law... I think she'll get a kick out of the pages I've kept. :)

My daughter wants to make another book, so I'm off now to do that with her.

Hope you are all having a wonderful day!

more vinyl record crafting...

My daughter was sick yesterday and so I didn't go to work. She's okay - she slept a lot during the day. Anyway, I took the time at home to do some very quick crafts while my daughter slept.

I had bought some vinyl records (large ones) at the Op Shop in Chapman for a dollar each and decided to make boxes out of the covers. My craft materials are getting out of hand and I need some more storage containers.



It was quite easy to do and took about 15 mins per box to make. Basically I separated the front and back of the cover, then cut up each half as per below:



Just make sure that the top box is a slightly larger than the bottom box (mine were 1/2 a centimetre larger than the bottom boxes).

And ta da! I now have some very nice boxes to keep my craft bits and pieces.

Oh and what did I do with the records? Melted them into bowls, of course (yet another easy craft with the oven doing most of the trick).

Cadbury Dairy Milk to go Fairtrade!!

The press release (from the UK) just says that Cadbury UK plans to gain Fairtrade accreditation by the end of summer 2009 (which I assume is the Northern Hemisphere summer).

I have blogged before that Cadbury was one of the chocolate brands that use cocoa harvested by child-slaves BUT that they are also a company that have programs in place to address child abuse in their supply chain. It looks like those programs (combined with consumer demand) have made an impact and they have decided to now enter into the Fairtrade accreditation process.

And in the spirit of how ethical companies act, Cadbury have decided to blog about their Fairtrade accreditation project here: http://cadburydairymilk.typepad.com/. Incidentally, they will be webcasting live tonight so people can ask them questions... unfortunately, its on at midnight Australian Eastern Standard Time. If I manage to stay up tonight, I'll see if I can join in the webcast and I'll blog about it.

I'll also be updating my list of slave-free chocolates to reflect the latest news!

WELL DONE CADBURY!!!

Thank you to Cameron from Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand for giving me the heads-up on this development.

EDITED to CORRECT: This is Cadbury in the UK and Ireland who are going to do this NOT Cadbury Australia. Now, I know that chocolate and child-slavery documentaries have been widely broadcasted in the UK and Europe so perhaps that is a factor in Cadbury UK and Ireland's decision to go Fairtrade. Maybe its time WE here in Australia also ask that Cadbury Australia also change their chocolate over. If you live Australia (or buy Cadbury chocolate made in Australia), you might want to write to Cadbury Australia to let them know that you would also like to see Cadbury Australia go Fairtrade. :) Here is the link to contact Cadbury Australia: http://www.cadbury.com.au/About-Cadbury/Contact-Us.aspx

Check out my new wallet!!

I had a wonderful day at Button Beauty's abode today. Great company, great coffee, and crafting - what else can a person want? So today, I made myself a new wallet:

Outside of my wallet - small hardcover pocket book

And inside the wallet

Materials are:

1. Old book from YMCA Garage sale (isn't the author's name great?!)
2. Fabric scraps - the side panels are actually the left over fabric from a gorgeous dress that Button Beauty made.
3. Thread and twine from Op shop
4. Button and elastic from Button Beauty's stash :P (Thanks Jess! Thanks too for sewing that elastic on.)
5. Beads from an old necklace gifted to my daughter and re-gifted to me.

Total cost... about 60c... and about 10 hours of my time. :P

The tutorial that I used is from here: http://www.curbly.com/Chrisjob/posts/4164-Curbly-Video-Podcast-How-to-Make-a-Handbag-out-of-a-Recycled-Book-. The big difference is that I didn't use handles and instead sewed a button on (note for those who decide on a button enclosure, don't sew the button tight or you'll find it really hard to put the elastic over it).

On that note, have you ever noticed how "How to" videos seem to make it look easy? Well, I can tell you now that this wasn't easy for me... plus I tried to be clever by attempting a zip enclosure at first (but got the wrong type of zip) and then I realised that when it comes to waiting for glue to dry, I have the patience of a gnat. Still I'm happy with how this has ended up.

I'm now thinking of what else I can do with the rest of my hardbacks... I'm thinking of maybe doing an altered book... but like I said, I have the patience of a gnat so I'll have to think of that project a bit more carefully. (I hate starting things and not finishing it).