Our environment is having a tough time right now, that we know for sure.
As Greta Thunberg has so aptly pointed out through her speeches, it is adults that need to be the ones who take the slack in these matters and take control so that a better future can be guaranteed for our children in later years.
Our children follow our behaviour and they see what we do in the world. If we want our children to grow up and be environmentally conscious people, there is a lot that we need to do to make sure that happens.
Being environmentally conscious alone as one person isn’t enough, we need to take control and spread the eco-friendly word around the world.
A great place to start is with ourselves and our own family.
If you want to be better for the world and pass that message down to your children, here are 4 super easy ways to do that.
Get them to help with eco-friendly household tasks
Recycling, composting, gardening, and eco-friendly cleaning are all tasks within the household that help us individually make a difference to the world.
A great way to introduce our children to eco-conscious before is to involve them with these everyday tasks. The more they become accustomed to these tasks, the easier it will be for them to take them with them throughout their life.
A lot of the things that we do that are harmful to the environment are simply bad habits, and so we can start our children off on the right foot by helping them to develop good habits from the get-go.
Read eco-friendly books to them
There are so many good and useful books out there written about sustainability and eco-friendly practices, and so many of them are written specifically with children in mind.
Reading these books either to or with them is a great way to introduce them to difficult topics and to help them learn about the planet and what’s happening on it.
These could be great Christmas presents this year, do you hear that Santa?
Don’t scare them, encourage them
It’s important to remember that some topics of the environment might be a little scary for children, especially if they are still very small.
Try and avoid topics that are too heavy early on, such as Seaworld, Dolphin culling and the choking of turtles…
Keep things light and positive focused so that they can see environmentally friendly ideals as something motivating and encouraging, rather than thinking that they have to worry and stress about the world and the environment at such a young age.
If they are scared, they are more likely to stick their heads in the sand and ignore the issues.
If they feel motivated, they are more likely to make positive changes throughout their lives.
That’s the outcome we want.
Model good behaviour yourself
Every good trend starts at home.
If we want our children to care about the environment and take steps to protect it, we need to do the exact same things.
Try and model good, eco-friendly behaviour at home as much as you can, and try to explain to your children consistently why are you doing it.
It can be a slow process and a learning curve, and that’s ok.
As long as we are making progress, we are on the right track.
