Being green is a state of mind. It’s about developing green habits and modeling them for your kids. But if you really want to make sure the earth’s resources are around long after you’re gone, you’re going to have to be more proactive than that. You’ll need to seek out ways to teach your child what “green” means as well as the actual ins and outs of being green.
Slimmed down to its essentials, going green is about making mindful choices all the time. You’re peeling a carrot. Do you throw away the peel, or compost it? You’ve finished a box of cereal. Do you smash it and throw it away, or cut it up and use it to make a cake board or a sign?
The Three R’s of Being Green
Is there a way to simplify these choices, to be more mindful as we go about our busy lives and daily tasks? There is. Just think of the three R’s. Reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Reduce
“Reduce” is about using fewer resources. If your children are brushing their teeth, for instance, they don’t have to leave the water running the entire time. They need to wet the brush before they begin, and they need to rinse their mouths and brushes when they’re done. Turning off the faucet in between is a green way of saving water, a most precious resource.
Reuse
“Reuse” is about finding another, green use for an item one would normally consider ready for the trash can. Your child may have eaten the contents of that tub of rice pudding, but can he do something with that plastic tub? Maybe he can use it to sprout seeds for transplanting into a backyard garden. Or perhaps it can be used for storing craft items, buttons, or to hold nails of a certain size.
Recycle
“Recycle” is about ensuring that all waste is sorted and sent to a recycling plant, where it can be used to make something new. Instead of putting that plastic bottle into a wastebasket, teach your child to stow it alongside other empty plastic bottles to be recycled and made into some other item. In so doing, your child is learning how to reduce the amount of waste he produces and contributing to a greener way to reuse the materials that went into that bottle’s manufacture.
How can you make children understand how these green concepts play out? You might suggest your kids time their showers, for example, and keep them to ten minutes max. When your children ask why, explain that shorter showers means using less water. Shorter showers also means using less fuel, since it takes fuel to heat the shower water. Therefore, a shorter shower saves both water and fuel, basic resources in short supply, worthy of conservation.
What does conservation mean, exactly? Well, in the world of being green, it means considering ourselves as stewards of the earth. We have to be careful to use as few resources as possible, so there will still be some left over for the people who will be here when we are gone. Being green is an act of altruism. It’s doing a kindness for which you receive nothing in return. Because ultimately, you’re paying that kindness to people who aren’t here yet—you’re paying that kindness to the future.
Here’s a list of ten green ways you can teach your children to reduce, reuse, and recycle:
- Have kids turn off the lights whenever they leave a room.
- Teach kids to turn off the water when they’re brushing their teeth.
- When the weather’s nice, suggest that kids walk or ride their bikes to where they’re going instead of going by car or bus. Not only will they avoid using gas, they’ll get fresh air, sunshine, and exercise to boot!
- Teach kids to unplug computers and appliances when not in use and whenever possible, in order to avoid wasting vampire power.
- Save the seeds from the self-pollinating vegetables you eat such as peppers, tomatoes, beans, and peas, and use them to plant a vegetable garden with your child.
- Together, make a compost bin. Then use it! There is nothing like seeing your own beautiful, rich compost created out of nothing more than vegetable peels and coffee grounds. Your kids will be astonished at what can be done with kitchen waste.
- Teach children to always think before throwing things away: can I use this again?
- Cultivate a love for shopping in secondhand stores. Teens will actually enjoy the excitement of finding vintage clothing for cheap. For younger children, make it into a treasure hunt.
- Have your children donate their clothing when they outgrow them. Let them take part in bringing the clothes to a homeless shelter, to the Salvation Army, or to be sold on consignment at a secondhand store (use the money to buy “new” secondhand clothing).
- Have your children put out a bucket to catch rainwater. Use it to water plants or as a hair rinse—rainwater is softer than tap water, so it works better at cleaning your hair and makes your hair softer, too. The best part? It’s free.
Think of yourself as a teacher to your child. Show them the recycling symbols on the bottoms of such items as glass bottles and plastic containers. Teach your child the meaning of the various symbols. Test whether they’ve absorbed the knowledge by having them tell you the meaning of symbols on items to be disposed of. This is something a preschooler may find delightful, because it’s a kind of reading, so it’s grownup stuff.
During vacations, bring your children to a recycling center or plant. This teaches kids in a more tangible manner what happens to the items they’ve been sorting for recycling. For sure, no kid that visits a recycling center will ever recklessly toss a bottle into a generic garbage can ever again.
On sunny days, show your children how the sun can light up the house with no need for electric lighting. There are times of the day when the sun is brightest, for instance, in the late afternoon. Throw those curtains open and let the sunshine in at those times. Explain what you’re doing and why.
Do your children have lots of toys they’ve outgrown or now find boring? Have them organize a toy swap. They’ll get rid of what they no longer use. Someone else will get the use of that perfectly good item. Plus, there will be fun new toys to play with!
Being green is ultimately a habit to cultivate. If it’s part of your life, it will be part of your child’s life. The earlier you and they begin, the more likely that being green will become a lifelong habit for your child and your entire family.
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About Varda Epstein
Varda Meyers Epstein serves as editor in chief of Kars4Kids Parenting. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Varda is the mother of 12 children and is also a grandmother of 12. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Learning Site, The eLearning Site, and Internet4Classrooms.