Good habits are easy to form when the mind is young and impressionable, and that’s exactly why, it is best to introduce your little one to healthy habits at an early stage itself.
Educate
Educating your little one about the earth, its resources, pollution, global warming and other such important facts is the first step towards encouraging him to be more green. Start slow by asking him to finish all the food on his plate, using less of plastic straws and bags, using water consciously etc.
Do it Together
There’s a different kind of motivation that comes with doing things together, and if you and your little one join forces and take ‘green’ steps together, it can turn out to have a more powerful impact on your child’s mind. If there’s a tree planting project close by, get stuck in together. Making homemade cleaning products? Get your child to help along and explain why you’re doing it. Picking up the rubbish from a public park? Encourage your child to help you too!
Recycle
Switching to reusable containers and bags, and recycling waste is another great ‘green’ effort, and helping your child understand this can help. You can also consider putting on a child-friendly YouTube video that explains recycling, or grab a couple of books that help teach your little one to be more environmentally conscious.
Be a Role Model
When you take small steps such as using public transport to minimise air pollution, or turning off the lights and plug sockets when not in use, or making attempts to conserve water as much as you can, you are actually setting a good example and being a wonderful role model for your child. You’ll be surprised at how effortlessly your child picks up these green habits when you start doing them too.
Encourage Gardening
Gardening and spending more time outdoors, close to nature is another great way to introduce your little one to how much the earth benefits us, and how we too, need to take active steps to preserve it. When you make use of recycled waste to create manure and use it to grow plants, it can all be a very valuable lesson for children and can help them understand the concepts of recycling.
Try DIY
Do an upcycling project that needs you to use items that you would have usually thrown away, getting your child to try them out is a great way to help him understand how to reuse items and make the best out of waste, and at the same time, also make a conscious effort to reduce the use of such items that are not recyclable.
5 Comments on 6 Ways to Encourage your Children to be More ‘Green’
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It is so important to encourage kids to learn about being more eco-friendly. Education is key but so is including them in projects such as DIY where they can use about recycling and reusing.
These are all so, so important – especially to safeguard the planet for our children’s children’s sake!
These sound like some great tips to help your kids be more green. I definitely feel like a lot of the things we learn in childhood we take into adulthood.
Children really are like sponges, and are brilliant at learning from an early age. Some of which is habit forming. So this kind of encouragement is ideal for teaching them greener ways to help our planet.
This is so important. I actually think at times our youth is more clued up on these things than some of the older generations. I know my kids focus on it a lot in school which is great.