Parents’ major concern is for their kids to be successful and happy in the future but what they do not think about is how the kids will be able to live if the pollution and environmental problems continue to increase. A good thing is that people now are more aware of these problems and kids should too. Teaching kids to practice sustainable habits is crucial since this will ensure that they will continue to make better decisions for the planet as they get older
You might me asking how is this going to happen while kids spend their whole time on their mobiles. Here are 5 tips that will help you, as a parent:
1- Raise Environmental Awareness Among Kids
Raising environmental awareness among your kids is the first step toward encouraging them to practice sustainable habits. Your kids need to know first what an environmental problem is and how it affects the planet.
In this, the kids will know why recycling and practicing sustainable habits are important. As a parent, you can use many educational methods to increase awareness among your kids such as reading environmental books, watching movies, and doing some science experiments with them.
2- Let Them Spend More Time In Nature
According to several studies, the kids spending time in nature will be a caring adult for the environment. In addition to that, it is a great way to have a healthy lifestyle, gain vitamin D, connect with nature, and appreciate it. Many activities can be done outdoor such as walking and biking.
3- Encourage Them To Volunteer
Encourage your kids to volunteer in environmental activities such as cleaning a beach, planting trees, creating a local community with their neighborhood to clean the area, or participating in an eco-friendly club in their school. The kids will feel more responsible and proud for the impact they can make on the earth in addition to having a lot of friends with similar interests.
4- Explain For Them The Three R’s (Recycle, Reduce, Reuse)
It is initial for our kids to understand the process of sustainable habits. The elements that are referred to as the ‘3 R’s’ are Recycle, Reduce and Reuse
a. Recycle:
Kids at the beginning need to understand what recycling is and why it is important, the best way can be to take them to a recycling center, kids will see where recycled things go, what happens to them, and how dangerous it is for the environment not to recycle. In addition, you can use flashcards on the wall to show what the recycling symbols mean or label the recycling bins so that the process of separating rubbish is easier.
b. Reduce:
To maintain a sustainable life, you should teach your kids to go for products with no or very little packaging and to avoid single-use products such as plastic bags, toys, straws, plastic bottles, and many more, encourage them instead to go for alternative reusable ones such as reusable bottles, lunchboxes, recycled pencils…
Another thing to encourage your kids to do is to buy sustainable clothes. In addition to that, teach your kids to turn off the lights while leaving the rooms, turn off the tap while brushing their teeth.
c. Reuse:
Reuse is a part of reducing consumption. You can create with your kids a lot of crafts from materials you don’t need anymore such as newspapers, clothes, toilet paper rolls, also you can teach your kids to create their colors from old markers for example. As mentioned before and in addition to helping them choose all reusable and recyclable materials, you can help them donate what they don’t need anymore such as toys, books, clothes.
5- Teach Them To Support Local Farmers
Introduce your kids to organic food and seasonal fruits and vegetables. Explain to them how importing food damage the domestic environment and, it’s better to get the food fresh from local farms.
Helping your kids to have a sustainable lifestyle is essential for their future, but it is not enough. Your Kids consider you, as a parent, their role model, you inspire them with your actions, and because of that, you should make sure that your actions match what you teach your kids about.