| Christi Family is a blog and local family resource for Corpus Christi and surrounding areas of the coastal bend.Created by a family of five, we blog about everything that matters to us. We invite you to read about our journey as we catalogue our thoughts about Family Matters, Fun Matters, Home Matters, Faith Matters, School Matters, and other things that Just Matter (at least to us). We’re exploring Corpus Christi and are providing you with what we find. Whether you’re looking for local resources, wanting to find local events geared just for families, or are wanting a quick reference guide on everything local, this might just be the place for you and yours. We’re filling our pages with resources for mom’s, kids, visitors, newbies, and families in general. As we continue our adventures in life, we’ll also continue our exploration of what we can do with this site and hopefully you'll benefit! Our focus is family, it’s that simple. You won’t find business meetings listed on our calendars, instead you’ll see calendars for families, toddlers, or just parents. It’s your choice! Join the fun! Let us know what you’d like to see or what you think we should explore! We’ll share our thoughts! |
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Adopt a Beach Lessons Learned 09/26/2009 11:14 PM
Today was the 'Adopt-a-Beach' day across the state of Texas. This program was the fall event for the state. Volunteers from all over Texas took time to clean up our Gulf beaches in an effort to protect our environment and make them more enjoyable. This year, we decided that this would be a great opportunity to teach our kids about the conservation of our environment, littering and the effects it has on marine life, and also a little about geography. Below is what my little ones learned. What did we as parents learn? Well, simply put, kids care.
Having to tell a six and seven year old that they have to wake up early the next day to pick up trash was something we thought would not go over well. After all, how many kids their age really enjoy doing their chores or picking up anything? Add to that the agony of waking up extra early on a Saturday morning, you would think that you would end up with grouchy children and a very long day for the parent.
Well, not today, this morning, having hopped out of bed and waking up dad, the children exclaimed that they 'were ready to go.' They said goodbye to mom and their slightly sick little sister, armed themselves with their caps and closed toed shoes, and headed off with dad for an hour ride to Malaquite Beach on the Padre Island National Seashore. There they met up with several hundred other volunteers made up of boys scouts, cub scouts, groups that came in buses from San Antonio, students from Northshore Indpendent School District, some from Corpus Christi Independent School District, and other citizens of Texas looking to lend a hand. They were there for the Texas 'Adopt-a-Beach' Program which runs every Spring and Fall.
Photo by Allen Schlimper
Our children, Paul and Clara, and my husband, Allen, joined thousands of other Texans who headed to the gulf at various sites across the state to clean up our beaches. Upon arrival at the beach, the National Park Service issued them each a supply bag of a water container for keeping hydrated, plastic gloves, trash bags, and 'caution' tape used to flag items on the beach that were considered biohazardous materials and dangerous. With their sunscreen and supplies in hand, they scoured Malaquite Beach and spent over two and a half hours picking up trash that was either thrown or washed up there. Three large garbage bags later, a little hot, and slightly wet (they're children afterall), I found they had so much to tell me about their volunteer trip to Malaquite Beach
Among the items they found, were:
Photo by Allen Schlimper
- Plastic caps and rings from soda and water bottles
- Miscellaneous broken plastic pieces of various items
- Wood planks, many with nails on them
- Curling ribbon (the kind on balloons or gifts)
- Fishing lures
- A very large amount of cigarette butts
- All kinds of rope
- Plastic Bags
Unusual items they found, were:
- A car bumper
- A small light bulb
Among the dangerous and scary items found, were:
- Several syringes
At the end of their clean up efforts and ready for a break, the children enjoyed hot dogs, chips, cookies, and drinks provided by the National Park Service and they came home feeling satisfied and happy.
When I asked them what they learned, they replied:
'We learned that littering is very bad and you should never do it because it hurts our environment. We learned that trash thrown in our rivers, lakes, and oceans ends up on our beaches in the gulf. We learned that marine animals like turtles can get killed or hurt with these plastic rings and trash we found. We learned that it was good to help the environment.'
When I asked them how they felt about what they did today:
They smiled and said 'really good' and 'great'.
As homeschoolers, we felt the lessons they learned were incredibly valuable. As parents, we are very proud of them. As citizens, we felt it to be a necessary act for our community and the health of our environment. Even though it is still too early to tell how much trash was picked up today by all the volunteers, it's not too late to get your homeschooler or child involved. The 2010 Spring clean up will be happening on April 24rth throughout Corpus Christi and along the gulf of Texas, visit the Texas General Land Office for more information and to get your family registered.
