When: Monday morning
Mission: Dress and feed 2 little girls
Difficulty: **
Bonus challenge: Has Mummy gone to work yet?
“DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!”
That’s the alarm that tells me it’s time to shorten my shower (even more). Finally, it will save water… it’s good for the environment after all… By the way… if I peed in the shower, it would save me one more flush… an idea to be explored… but right now, no time! I have to help the girls to get dressed, prepare their breakfast and their lunch, take them to school.
Of course, the clothes carefully chosen and prepared the day before by mum are no longer suitable… it seems that pink went out of fashion during the night… “Let’s see dad, today you have to wear green, it’s the green attitude” Even if I don’t know anything about fashion for 10 year old girls, I have to admit that I like this “green attitude”, as long as it lasts? As for the youngest, she would prefer to go for a walk in a swimming costume: “Let’s put more heating on if you don’t want me to catch a cold”, she says with a big smile. Not too “green” the little one…?
After long negotiations, an appropriate outfit for the season will be put on and the heating thermostat will continue to be set at 21°, guaranteeing a pleasant atmosphere at a lower cost. Next challenge: breakfast. It has to be healthy and balanced, but also tasty… not easy to get a little girl to eat (seasonal) fruit who, if she had her way, would eat only industrial chocolate-hazelnut spread, straight from the spoon, without even bothering to go through the “toast” stage… well, at the same time, it’s true that when it comes to seasonal fruit in the winter, the choice is not huge. Especially if you want to be careful with your carbon footprint and avoid exotic fruits imported by plane… in short, a little yoghurt from the market, some oatmeal, an apple cut into pieces with a pretty “smiley” made with honey…? For the drinks, the older one will have a tea, the younger one a hot chocolate… no need to consume too much energy, the microwave and the electric kettle are much more efficient and much less energy-consuming than the electric plates… Local: check! Low pollution: check! Healthy: check! Delicious: check! too proud?
And now, the take-away snack… “But Daddy… at school, everyone gets money to buy something at the local supermarket! Lunchboxes are so lame!” It’s true that it would be easy… but I have to remain intransigent! Industrial fats, over-packaging (and therefore plastics and waste galore!), flavour enhancers: the “green attitude” takes its toll… so it’ll be a homemade sandwich, in a reusable box (and not in a Zyploc). Mum made cookies the day before, so let’s hope that helps to get rid of the cheesiness ?
All that’s left is to go to school…
“It’s raining! I’d push my new eco-friendliness a bit more, but 4 kilometres on foot or by bike to go to school in the rain would be a bit much. “Besides, there are all the girlfriends on the bus and I even thought I heard that a certain young man who was “too cute” had recently moved into the neighbourhood… there’s nothing like public transport to get to know each other better, is there?
A big hug for the little one, a choreographed pat for the big one, and off they went… Quick, do the dishes before I get to work too… but be careful! Doing the dishes by hand is fine, but leaving the water running all the time, no! You don’t need to use gallons of water to get clean dishes, especially if it’s only 3 cups and 2 plates. And if I only licked them, it would save a lot of money…
Finally, it’s not so complicated to act in a sustainable way on a daily basis… and then, being an eco-conscious dad, frankly, is cool?
