Tips on Raising Eco-Conscious Kids
As parents, we know that protecting our children’s future is an important matter. One way we can help protect our children is to preserve the environment around them. With pollution, climate change, and health issues on the rise, teaching our children to be eco-conscious is important for our children’s future.
One of the most important ways to teach your child to care about the environment around them is to practice what you preach. If you want your children to make eco-friendly decisions, let them see you making choices that they can learn from. Here are some ways you can incorporate eco-friendly changes into your routine:
Recycle and Upcycle
You can start by looking in your area and see if you have recycle pick up or an area where you can drop off your recyclables. Let your kids see you recycle your everyday supplies like plastics and cardboard. You can also do this by upcycling items around your house. Upcycling is reusing items in your home in a creative way. Turn upcycling into a fun art and craft lesson for your kids! You can use simple items you use every day like turning cans from vegetables into vases for flowers or a vibrantly colored wind chimes!
Gardening
Gardening is an extraordinary learning opportunity and a great way to bond with your children over a useful hobby! Gardening has so many eco-friendly benefits such as producing clean air, growing your own food which reduces your carbon footprint, and adding nutrients into your soil. Make gardening fun by letting your kids pick out what fruits and vegetables they want to grow!
Cut Down on Plastic
Saying “No” to straws and using reusable shopping bags and water bottles are easy ways to cut down on plastic in your everyday life. Take the kids shopping to pick out their own water bottle they can be excited to use instead of using one time use bottles. Plastic is filling up the oceans and waterways causing many problems for animals and the environment. Show your kids they can make a difference in their everyday choices.
Volunteer
Spend some time with your children giving back to your environment by cleaning up. There are many clean up events that go on near Earth Day, check with your city to see if there are any you would be able to participate in! It is a great way to teach your kids to give back to their community and to take pride in your neighborhood by keeping it clean!
Switch to Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
Many cleaning products that are used in our homes today have many chemicals that can be harmful to the environment around us. Have your kids go shopping with you and talk to them about the products you choose to use to clean your home and how those products effect the environment around them.
It is important for our children to know about the environment around them and how best to take care of it. Just being mindful of the choices we make in our own lives can have a transformative effect on the decisions our children choose to make in their future. If we want to teach them to become eco-friendly, start while they are young and show them how.
So, what ways do you teach your children to be eco-conscious? Don’t forget those moments of teaching can also be creating fun memories your children will carry on with them.