Climate change is a huge topic today. As parents, how do we talk to our kids about climate change, without terrifying them? And how do we manage the changes we need to make without depriving our children of essentials or damaging them physically, mentally or emotionally? Learning how to include green practices in our parenting is a difficult but necessary task.
Green parenting is not something you do once or twice a day.
Green parenting implies that you are trying to implement as many zero-waste practices as you can into your daily routine. But why do we go to the effort?
Our planet is in huge danger. The climate is changing. Our resources are scarce. The ocean is full of plastics. We hear about it all the time. We watch documentaries pointing to how grave the situation is. Yet, not many of us do not manage to find the time and restructure our lives in order to start acting more responsibly to our environment.
When it comes to big changes such as this one, I find it easier to implement it in a group. And the moment I understood that I could do much more for the environment, I knew that I wanted my entire family to be included in it. Not because I doubted that I will stick to my new ecological rules but because I wanted us to motivate each other to do even better in the green zone.
The results are visible every day – not just when it comes to our environment but also when it comes to our kids’ green worldviews. Here’s what we’ve learned.
Reducing the use of plastics is easier than people usually think.
Symbolically, we started using fewer plastics by getting a metal lunch container for our little ones.
As we identified the situation, we understood that we use lots of cosmetics in plastic packaging, so we decided to work on that. Replacing liquid soap and body wash with hard soap was easy. Solid shampoos and solid body lotions wrapped in a recycled paper also came as refreshing.
We find many refillable products as well. We even found wooden cotton buds and wooden toothbrushes. My kids also love the fact that we are always having some new and unusual product and I use their thrill to educate them about how these products are saving the Earth.
Now, I would love to say that we are fully plastic-free but we still have a huge challenge to overcome – plastic toys. We are slowly getting over it and my kids already understand why plastic toys are not that great after all but I wish I started talking to them earlier about this.
The earlier you start accustoming them to greener options, the more success you will be able to achieve.
DIY cleaning products often work better than store-bought ones.
Even something as boring as scrubbing the toilet can be awesome once you decide to go green. The recipe I’ve been using for a while now for scrubbing everything around the house has only two ingredients – baking soda and vinegar (I buy vinegar as a refill in a glass bottle, of course). It’s not just efficient but also makes me feel safer knowing that my kids are not exposed to any toxic chemicals found in store-bought cleaning products.
Nothing replaces direct touch with nature.
It’s not all that easy achieving green parenting principles when you are living in a city. Sure, you can make more eco-friendly choices, and you understand very well why you are doing it, but your child may have issues understanding it immediately.
It is important to take them to parks nearby regularly and to the countryside whenever you can. It is also important to show them both what is still beautiful in nature and what are the human-caused malpractices they should never make.
How can you make changes quickly?
Here are also some fast tips to help you and your family kick off your green story.
- Teach your kids the importance of cycling.
- Use public transportation whenever you can – it’s greener, and many kids are fascinated by this very experience.
- Don’t waste water – teach your kids that they should stop the water while brushing their teeth. Little things count and motivate!
- Reuse old materials (clothes, newspapers etc) for crafts. It’s one of the best ways to subtly teach your kids that things can have multiple purposes.
- Get a few reusable tote bags instead of using plastic bags for shopping. Of course, if you find one for your little angel, that’s even better.
- Go digital. Reading online and on e-readers saves hundreds of thousands of trees. Go for it, and encourage your kids to take that path as well.
Don’t get discouraged at the size of the problem.
There are so many other ecological challenges for us to conquer in order to meet all the green parenting goals we have set. So far, we’re taking lots of pride in our results – our kids even keep coming up with their own ideas on how to go greener. And we’ll tackle them one at a time. Every little bit counts.
Do you have any additional green practices you would like the world to know about? The comment space is all yours and thanks in advance!
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