Unintended Consequences
We all know of some. And they become a bit more notable when the consequence is of much larger impact (consequence) than the original one you were hoping for. A classic one is Australia importing cane toads to try to control an invasive beetle, only for the cane toads to become an even bigger problem themselves. I think it became very clear to us that parenting a toddler was rife with them. Well, here’s where I plan to document the ones I notice moving forward (toddler or not).
- Bought a Japanese-style doorway curtain (it’s like 2/3 the height of the door and has a slit in the middle) to block an annoying hallway light that shines right into my face when I’m lying in bed. That winter, we noticed that it trapped the heat in our bedroom really nicely, which was likely a huge win for us (in terms of comfort, energy bill, or both!).
- Bought some “Oat Crunch Cinnamon” Cheerios b/c I was looking for a cereal item to buy and they had some labeling on them that made them seem healthy at first glance. Realized after buying that it has a ton of sugar (boo!). Later on, realized it was an actual source of fiber the toddler might eat (yay!). But then Anna told me that she no longer eats normal cheerios after eating these sugary cheerios (boo! and also the unintended consequence). And I just compared the regular and oat crunch cinnamon nutrition facts and they have identical amounts of fiber; so the net result was that I just ended up increasing the toddlers sugar intake buy panic-buying a new grocery item (booooooooo!).