Raising Green Kids in a Not So Green World

Want to raise green kids?  I

t’s not always easy.  How do you raise an environmentally conscious child in today’s hectic world?  From simple sustainability lessons to teach kids about nature, here are a few tips on being green for kids.

How do I teach my child to be environmentally friendly?

Raising green kids isn’t an easy task in this throwaway, disposable society. As parents, we spend a lot of time teaching our children things we feel they will need to know when they get older. We teach them their colors and how to count and spell.

We teach them to say please and thank you and to always use good manners at the table. Maybe you teach them about God, how to be compassionate, and to take care of those people who are less fortunate than they are. But have you ever stopped to teach them how to care for our planet? Have you showed them how to reduce their impact on the environment to ensure that they have a beautiful place to live when they grow up?

Raising Green Kids in a Not So Green World

Small, everyday actions can make a big impact on how children live their lives as adults. Raising green kids isn’t easy but these eco friendly lessons for children are simple to teach and will go a long way towards ensuring the health of our planet in the future.

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Eco friendly families do not litter:

In absolutely no situation should people be throwing trash on the ground. This could include everything from throwing a straw wrapper out the car window or leaving your trash on the ground at the park. Teach children to pick up their own trash and maybe even don a pair of rubber gloves and pick up trash along the road occasionally.

Think twice before you buy something:

If you buy your child something every single time you walk into Target you are not only wasting a lot of money but you are contributing to their obsession with material goods. One of the biggest problems with our environment today is the over-consumption of STUFF.

Every single item that you purchase will eventually be one more item that ends up in a landfill. Teach your children to make smarter choices when it comes to purchases and save your money for special occasions. Raising green kids means setting a good example. Stop buying YOURSELF something every time you go out, too.

Teach them to love nature:

Spending time outside with your kids is a great way to get them to care for the environment around them. Get them out in the garden with you and show them how to grow their own food.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Take a nature walk and look at bugs and plants. Build a terrarium with them and teach them about the water cycle. Look for toads in the garden or build a toad house. If children spend time in nature they learn to appreciate it, and as a result will grow up to want to protect it.

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Show children how to reuse and recycle:

This is one of the most basic eco friendly lessons for children to learn. Teach them to reuse something instead of throwing it away. The most basic of these ideas could be to do crafts with items you have around the house like egg cartons, scraps of old material, or oatmeal containers. Let them be responsible for taking the recycling to the recycle bin.

Use old yogurt containers to start seeds for your garden. Tell them exactly WHY you are doing this. Children are smarter than we often give them credit for and simply telling them that our planet is running out of room to store trash will help them understand. Get your kids into some eco friendly crafts like this rainbow bottle cap magnet.

Teach your green kids to conserve resources:

Teach your children how to conserve our resources to help them reduce their carbon footprint. Turning off the water when they brush their teeth and putting on a sweater instead of turning up the heat are simple eco friendly lessons for children.

Another easy one to teach kids is to conserve gasoline! Make them walk to the neighborhood pool or their friend’s house if it is nearby and safe to do so. Walk your child to school or have them ride their bikes. This is not only good for our planet but good for their health, as well.