Playground Legend

Something weird can happen when you find out that your are expecting a baby.

Okay, a lot of weird things happen. Yes.  But, many- not all- newly pregnant mom’s start to have a lot of questions and concerns about what is in make up.  Shampoo.  Deodorant.  Cleaning supplies.  Food.

Fortunately for me, after years of gardening, I already knew our food system was… a little scary.  So, I made changes to the food we purchase and consume well before the little plus sign showed up.  

And, once you dabble into the whole “chemicals in food” thing, you are just a hop, skip and a jump away from “chemicals in cleaning and beauty supplies.” So, I had also been a fan of natural cleaning products for years and went as far as not just finding alternatives, but eliminating, some personal care products.  

I cared about these things not just because of the chemicals, but also for the sustainability factors.  So, as a new mom I did my best to live my values: I bought cloth diapers, I registered for a little steamer to create my own purees, and I even picked out wooden toys.

But, then one day I was video taping Theo giggle.  

He was about 9 months old and so freaking cute with his little laugh.  We were getting ready for the bath and he was in a new outfit.  It was early December and I had just purchased a new winter wardrobe for my growing boy.  I had been in awe (and a little jealous) how I could buy Theo a whole new season’s worth of clothes for $200.

Cute clothes too!

He was in a little hooded sweatshirt and it made me smile so much seeing a little baby in a little hoodie.  How do they make big human things so tiny?

But, in that thought, my eyes glanced at the printed words on the sweatshirt.  My smile turned to a frown.  

It read, “Playground Legend.”

The phrase was- at first- funny because Adam had a joke with his mom about how she “gave birth to a legend.”  But, looking at it again, I couldn’t help but wonder, no longer about how, but who made this sweatshirt?

Freshman year of college, our bookstore came under a little fire from some of the student body.  There were claims that the apparel was made in “sweat shops.”  They were loud for a few weeks and then it fizzled out.  Being from a suburban bubble, I didn’t pay that much attention or get involved.  Or, really know what a sweat shop was.

As I got a little older and my bubble began to burst about the world, I learned that much of our clothes are made in developing countries.  And, because they don’t have regulations set up for child labor restrictions, there may be young children working in these factories that produce clothes.

Much of my twenties, I chose the ignorance is bliss route when it came to this.  Pushing any thought of how my clothes were made out of my mind, I shopped- and shopped hard- without a care.

But, now, looking at my son… I saw someone else’s.

A little boy.  Ten maybe.  Does he even know what a playground is?  Does he know what “play” is?  Is he screen printing these words onto a teeny-tiny sweatshirt?

I felt a pit grow in my stomach.  

The clothes were so cheap and I had tried to sewing before.  Clothes had always been exciting to me and there was a time that I tried to dive into what this passion of mine really looked like… so I tried to learn to sew.  

It was so hard and time consuming.  It required a lot of brain power and focus.  How much money was this young boy really making?

Curious to know if my imagination and Google searches were being extreme, I went to a friend of mine who knows a lot about the scientific realities-good and bad- of things like vaccines and if we can really support to feed the world’s population in thirty years; but, also has a humanitarian heart.

I asked her if it was really that bad.  Are there really kids working?  For basically… nothing?

She said yes, but because of the state of their country’s economics… it just is what it is.  It’s a job and that is how childhood is there.  Without it, their families wouldn’t get out of poverty and, ultimately, their country wouldn’t thrive.

She said it in a breezy fashion.  It just is what it is.  And, I suppose I understood the logic.  There was child labor and awful working conditions in the Industrial Revolution in America.  

But still, her answer didn’t sit well with me.

So, I kept looking into it.

Thanks to a recommendation from a friend who was frequently sharing “ethically made” finds from skirts to shoes, I watched the Netflix documentary, The True Cost.

And, I cried my eyes out.

The documentary is so well done.  I took away two big parts of the story:

1. The environmental impact that fashion has on the planet.  Between waste accumulation and water consumption and contamination, it is the second largest polluter of the world.
2. The April 2013 building collapse in Bangladesh.  This building, by all intents and purposes, was a sweat shop.

 The bubble from my freshman year of college finally burst and I couldn’t look away.  

This building, with poor working conditions and stuffed with too many under paid workers, had a structural failure and floor after floor collapsed.  Over 1100 people died.  Many of them women.  

In the days that would follow the collapse, many were thought to missing as workers searched through the wreckage.  All the while, children stood in the blood soaked street outside what remained of the building hold photos of their mom’s.

In them, I saw Theo.  

Just like I saw them in his sweat shirt.

I would like to say I made a vow then to never have someone else blood on the clothes my family wears.  That we only buy things made in America or with organic fibers.  Or, that I do all this research all the time to find ethically made pieces.

I don’t.  My kids are in Target PJ’s on our Christmas card.

But, I now do do things I never thought I would do.

I shop resale.  A lot.  And, I love it.  Savannah has not had anything “new” outside of a pair of black leggings and those Christmas PJ’s in about a year.

I keep it simple when it comes to our clothes.  Investing in those brands that are practicing humanitarian values and not just purchasing things on a whim. (A constant work in progress… shopaholic habits do die hard.)  

I look to things that can cross genders easily like staples in grey’s or black’s so both kids can wear them.

And, I finally took some lessons and really learned to sew.

As we approach this indulgent season of the year, it is so easy to get carried away.  Cute Christmas graphic tee’s.  Fancy Christmas outfits your kids will wear once.  Trying to find the perfect New Year’s Eve Dress.  Silly socks for stockings.  

But, take a step back and think.  

Think about who made what you are about to purchase.  

Think about where it will go when you are done with it.

If you have trouble visualizing these things, think of a playground with two little boys on it… today and in the future.