Empower your kids to go green
August 17, 2009 by Jennifer
Handing over some major power is one good way to get a kid to do something, and it’s no different with green living. The kid with green power is going to be more involved, more in control, and thus likely more on board than the kid who just gets lectured about green living. Following are some ways to empower your kids in their efforts to live green.
Assign labels to smaller kids: Normally labeling kids is lame, but assigning them to be on light patrol, recycling king duty, or giving them another cool eco-label is fun and makes their job of keeping it green more important. Tell them it’s their job to make sure lights aren’t left on or that paper makes it into the right recycling bin. Little ones might like a button they can wear that proclaims their title for everyone to see.
Recruit older kids to teach the little ones: Note what an awesome job your older child does with recycling or turning the water off, then let him teach a younger sibling how.
Put the power in their hands: A book like The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth gives kids specific kid-friendly tools they need to become eco-friendly.
When greening get them involved: Kids can help you sort toxic plastics out of the kitchen, they can learn to compost or cook organic dishes, and they can help choose products to donate to charities. It can take a little longer with kids helping, but that’s how they learn.
Help them with green issues that matter to them: It’s all good and fine to discuss solar power or hybrids, but the issues that affect kids more are things like green toys, organic clothing, eco schools, and organic cooking projects. Make sure the green issues you’re discussing with the kids matter to them and affect their lives.
Don’t put them down, even if they’re wrong: My son has some pretty funky ideas about green topics. He’s only eight and while he gets the basics he’s also been known to give some fairly odd lectures about green living to his pals or staff at his school. BUT he means well, so I try to be patient, sometimes correct him nicely, and remind myself that he’s little, he might get some facts wrong. Little kids don’t need lectures about the fine details of green living, they’ll learn in time, and if you come down on them, they might drop it all together.
Hook them up with online tools: There are some online resources that are better than others for kids. Sites that are less fluff, more action oriented include:
Walk the walk: Kids are some of the best mimics on earth. You being green, talking green, and acting green is one of the biggest ways to empower kids because it sets a priority that green means something to your family. My son is way proud when he catches something I miss – i.e. lights left on or recyclable items in the trash. He fixes the problem without any coaching. He wasn’t born this way. He’s been included in the green conversation for years and has heard me talk about why it matters to us and the planet. Look at your own actions, see what you could be doing greener and then tell your kids about your plans to change.
Great post again, very inspiring, i think when you have little people it makes you realise that they have a whole future ahead that you want to be healthier and greener than we have had, and these days its even easier than ever to be greener. I look forward to practicing this with my son as he gets a little older, but already at aged 2 he knows to put veggie peelings in for the rabbit and that his cardboard raisin box goes in the recycling so hopefully he’s on the right tracks!
My kids love recycling and reusing. It gives them a real sense of doing something important when you break it down into smaller, easy to understand concepts when they ask ‘why?’
Like my 4 year old knows recycling is miking new things from used ones.
The 7 year old knows recycling keeps the Earth clean.
The nearly 3 year old doesn’t care. He’s currently saving the planet from laundry soap suds by running nekkid.
We just launched a website for a kid`s green, arty and eco-friendly party.
While designing tote bags or backpacks, kids learn about our environment. By this means kids can reduce the use of plastic bags (when they go shopping with their mom for example) by using their own tote bags.
The parties are held at a healthy, green restaurant which serves organic food and drinks. We would like to offer parents the unique possibility to hold an environmental friendly party and skip all those plastic toys and snacks full of preservatives.
I hope, green parents will be happy about this chance. Feel free to check out the website and tell me what you think about the idea!