The eco-friendly home: how to teach your kids to go green?
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It’s no secret that families, especially big ones, create a lot of waste. From tossing out old leftovers to an overflow of empty plastic water bottles, keeping your home eco-friendly can be a difficult undertaking. If you’re looking to start developing greener habits in your home, the best place to start is by educating your children. Listed below are just a few ways you can teach your kids the importance of being more eco-friendly today and everyday.
Reward recycling
A great way to get your kids into the spirit of properly disposing of their waste is to always reward them when they recycle. Each time your child puts their plastic in a blue bin, give them 5 cents to teach them that recycling pays off. This will also help them learn the actual value of a bottle deposit. You can also add a bit extra to their allowance for what they recycle, or take them to the store with you as you deposit cans and bottles and give them a portion of the earnings.
Grow greens
Getting your kids excited about the environment at home is most easily achieved by having them actually taking the time to garden and grow. Whether you start a vegetable garden or have your little ones help create a bed of flowers for your front lawn, having them witness their plants transform from seeds to saplings is the perfect way to get them excited about taking care of our planet. Always be sure to include them throughout the entire process as their plants grow, this will better demonstrate to them both the beauty and balance of nature.
Go thrifting
Filling your home with fun used finds is a great way to teach your kids the impact thrifting has on the environment. Increasing the life of used products prolongs them from ending up in harmful landfills, and allows for you to find everything from unique decor to vintage clothing. Take your kids to a local consignment shop for the day or have them help you thrift online with sites like thredUP. Try making it a household commitment to get most if not all of your back-to-school styles thrifted this season. Being able to shop used online for unique name brands like Lularoe makes going eco-friendly both easy and fun for your whole family.
Teach conservation
When it comes to your water and electricity usage in the home, conservation can help play a big part in making it eco-friendler. A great way to conserve more energy and water in your household is to make a game out of timing out everyday tasks. From brushing teeth before bed to taking showers in the morning, you’d be surprised how much extra water your family might be wasting. Try getting a bit more stricter with how long you leave the tap running or the length of time you let your kids watch tv. Teaching conservation will without a doubt help your kids understand the meaning of waste not, want not.
Reuse
While your growing pile of junk mail might seem nothing more than an inconvenience now, the extra paper can always be used for endless crafting activities for your kids. Get creative with the items you can reuse at home to show your kids that saving the environment from your waste can be fun. Utilize old bottles to create outdoor bird feeders or even paint eggshells to glue into beautiful mosaics. The more out of the box the ideas you come up with, the more fun your kids will have.