There are five ways even the smallest child can help to save our planet’s resources. Leading by example is the best way to teach your children about the importance of conservation, and the following are ways your whole family can get in on the act!
• Save water. Show your kids how to brush their teeth without leaving the water running full blast, and let smaller children share or take turns in a bathtub of water rather than draining and refilling the tub for each child. Alternately, teach them to take a quick shower to conserve water as well. They can help wash their own hair, and you can add silly foam soap to make getting clean in a hurry fun!
• Save electricity. Turn off lights when rooms are not in use
• Recycle. Small children can be in charge of stacking newspapers or magazines, while older siblings can rinse out metal and plastic containers and sort them for recycling. If you have curbside pickup in your area, take turns setting the bins out for collection, or make a family trip to your local recycling center. For a special treat, plant a tree together for Arbor Day!
• Eat Green. Pick a day of the week to give up meat and eat a salad instead. Keep a bowl of veggie sticks and dip in the fridge, and serve up breakfast for dinner. Eggs and pancakes with maple syrup will thrill most children to death, especially if you are a strict ‘cereal and toast in the morning’ type of family. Let your children help you cook, and enjoy your special meal!
• Volunteer. There are so projects for conservation that are in desperate need of helping hands! Volunteer as a family at non-profit events focusing on resource conservation and green living, and spread the word about water and energy conservation. Offer to water a neighbor’s lawn by hand if they are using automatic sprinkler systems, or pass out homemade canvas grocery carriers in front of a local supermarket to encourage people to ‘bag their own’.
Teaching your children about green living can be a rewarding experience for all of you! Once your children get excited about it, just watch them come up with ideas of their own to ‘save the planet’. Earth day might just be the best day of all fro your kids next year!
