Tips for Raising Eco Friendly Kids

Raising eco friendly children involved being an eco friendly and environmentally conscious parent.

Some of the ways to get kids to become more environmentally conscious about the impact their actions have on the planet is to incorporate eco friendly habits into daily living. 

1. Teach children about recycling and make sure they recycle.
2. Show them about ways to save energy.
3. Make sure they learn how to reduce and reuse water by turning off water when it is not in use and save running water.
4. Teach them to turn out lights. Have them remind you to turn out the lights.
5. Get them to be more eco friendly at school.
6. Have them learn how to pack a no trash lunch and bring reusable utensils
7. Learn to say "No" to buying water bottles. Use reusable bottles.
8. Get them involved with a school recycling program.
9. Make sure the family brings reusable shopping bags when shopping. Buy products in containers that can be recycled.
10. Have them help grow a family garden
11. Hold recycling or swapping parties to recycle toys, books, clothes and costumes.
12. Get them reading about being more eco friendly.

Even young children can learn how to recycle, turn off lights and water to save energy.

Children can become more eco friendly by learning how to save energy by powering down appliances, using power strips and reusable batteries. 

Teach children to

1. Power down appliances like computers when not in use.
2. Plug cell phones and electronic game chargers into a power strip. Then power down the power strip whenever the electronics are not in use.
3. Adjust the thermostat. Turn heaters down at least two degrees in the winter and turn air conditioners up at least two degrees in the summer.
4. Wash laundry in cold water.

Unplugging devices, washing in cold water and lowering and raising the thermostat can help save a lot of energy. These simple action can make a big difference by saving energy, saving money and reducing the impact on the planet.

One key way to raise more eco friendly children is to teach them to use water wisely by watching the amount of water used. Fixing leaks, turning it off when it is not needed and limiting the amount of water used for showering or washing a car can make a big difference.

• Turn off the water in between when washing your hands. 
• Turn off the water when brushing your teeth.
• Save water in a container while waiting for the water to heat up in the sink or the shower. Use the saved water to water plants or for cleaning dishes. 
• Rinse dishes off while the food is still fresh. It will take more water if the food dries out.
• Run only wash full loads of laundry or dishes.
• Decrease the amount of time in the shower, so everyone takes a shorter shower.
• Don't use the toilet as a wastebasket. Flush only after using the toilet.
• Fix faucet leaks.
• Water plants during the morning or evening, when it is cooler. Avoid watering during the hottest part of the day. It will be lost to evaporation.

There are many ways that energy can be saved with lights and appliances.

1. Turn out the lights when they are not in use, whenever you leave a room.
2. Post signs near light switches to remind people to turn off the lights.
3. Replace standard light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL).
4. Buy energy-saving lights. 
5. Power off electrical appliances when not in use.

Even young children can help by reminding older siblings and parents to turn out the lights.

There are many ways for kids to be more eco friendly at school, from the school and lunch supplies that they buy to recycling school materials.

• Ride the bus to school.
• Cover books with recycled materials like brown bags, tin-foil or even tyvek envelopes.
• Use recycled paper and recycled notebooks.
• Use recycled or refillable pencils.
• Recycle school papers at school and at home.
• Participate in school-wide recycling activities.
• Pack lunch in a reusable lunch box or lunch bag.
• Take a reusable water bottle
• Pack no waste lunches
• Encourage teachers to turn off lights.

Another fun way to get kids to be more eco friendly it to organize a book, toys. clothes or costume swapping event. This encourages children to reuse their books, toys and clothes. It is particularly popular with parents around Halloween to be able to get new Halloween costumes.

According to Nubius Organics the average "brown bag" lunch can create between 4–8 ounces of garbage everyday. Over a school year's time, this can add up to 100 pounds of trash.

Preparing a No Trash Lunch or a No Waste Lunch involves eliminating disposable paper and plastic packaging, utensils and wrappings.

1. Start with a reusable lunch bag, not a brown paper throw-away.
2. Pack food in reusable containers - sandwich containers, sandwich wraps, fruit containers, snack containers.
3. Make your own applesauce, yogurt and fruit containers. Buy the largest containers available and package them into reusable single sized containers.
4. Use cloth napkins in place of paper.
5. Pack reusable utensils.
6. Bring drinks in reusable water bottles.

Getting children involved in starting or participating in their school's recycling program is a great way to help them learn about volunteering and helping out in the community.

If their school doesn't have a recycling program, getting started can be pretty simple.

1. Find out who else is interested in doing recycling (teachers, parents, custodians, administrators and other children).
2. Organize a team, establish a club and/or get student government involved that includes students, teachers, parents and administrators.
3. Decide what can be recycled, where it can be recycled and where recyclables can be stored on campus.
4. Get recycling containers. You may need a container for every classroom.
5. Make sure kids and teachers know about using the recycling containers.
6. Figure out how the recyclables will be picked up. This will likely involve the custodial staff, students and possibly some parents.
7. Once a critical amount is reached, take the recyclables into the recycling center.
8. If the club gets money back for recycling, they need to decide what to do with the money. Perhaps finding a local cause that could use extra funds.
9. Recruit new students for the following year.

By recycling at school there is likely to be a lot less garbage going into the dumpsters which will made the adminstration and the school board happy. 

One of the easiest ways to get kids involved in being more eco friendly is getting them to bring along the reusable shopping bags every time the family goes shopping.

The family can also bring reusable produce bags to cut down on plastic.

When shopping look for containers and packaging that can be recycled or reused.

Image © Kirsti A. Dyer

A fun way to get kids more aware of the planet and where food comes from is to get them involved in planting their own garden.

Since most children and teens like eating pizza, plant a garden that grows pizza ingredients.

By planting fresh tomatoes, peppers, squash and herbs like oregano, basil and parsley you will be able to harvest and cook up a garden fresh pizza.

A Three Sisters Garden is another children-friendly gardenwhere kids can learn about how the Native Americans used companion gardening to grow crops.

They may also find growning a wildlife garden to attract different forms of wildlife a fun nature experience.

Image by barry.pousman