Brining up eco-conscious children

Bringing up eco-conscious kids is not an uphill task. It is all about inculcating green habits in your kids on a daily basis. Of course, you need to first adopt these habits in your daily life. Thereafter, you can start telling your children why you do things in a particular manner and the consequences of living irresponsibly.

Explain the long-term effects of pollution on the planet Earth to your children. Elaborate on concepts like global warming and the greenhouse effect. Then, get your child to follow a few simple steps, such as saving on paper. Some other steps that you can follow are as follows:

Start a recycling task

Sit down with your child on a Sunday and make a list of things that are recyclable and those that can’t be recycled on either side of the page. Paste the sheets on the fridge and use them as a point of reference not only for your child but for yourself as well!

Basically, introduce the idea of the 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Arts and Crafts

Encourage your child to collect notebooks that were just used for practicing Maths or as rough sheets, and make a collage out of them. You can also use the pages from wall calendars that you don’t need anymore. It’s a nice idea to recycle a large cardboard box and decorate it with your children; tell them that this is where all their odds and ends as well as left-over papers should go. It will help them procure paper from the box for their next artistic endeavors. And make sure that you remind them to use both sides of the paper!

An Ecological Summer

Get them outside the house and give them a first-hand experience of nature. There are summer camps conducting trekking and camping for children. If  such summer activities are going on in your city, encourage your kids to join there. Children often learn a lot more when they go through an experience as a group.

You could also take your kids to the nearest national park, recreational park or to the outskirts. These are nice places to go  for bird-watching, among others. Don’t forget to carry a pair of binoculars!

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