Nowadays, we should all be well aware that we need to start respecting our world. It’s start with parents and adult setting a good example. The children are the ones who will be inheriting this planet, and well be responsible for teaching the next generation. We need to teach kids how to respect the environment.
Teaching Kids to Respect the Environment
Grow a Garden
Learning about where your food comes from, and how to grow your own food can be a great educational tool. Many children miss out on this important piece of information. Gardening can teach kids about changing season and cycles of nature, what goes into food production, how soil repairs itself, and how gardening is beneficial to the environment. Learning about how weather affects your garden and plants can help children learn how to respect the earth.
Starting a compost pile for your garden is really easy too. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need expensive equipment – you only need a shovel. Simply dig a bit of a hole, start throwing your organic garbage into it, turn it every now and then with a shovel, and let the worms do the work! Your can throw in things like fruit and veggie waste, egg shells, coffee grounds, old cereals… You can find a huge list of compostable items here!
Responsible Camping
When you take your kids camping you get to teach them about nature and the world outside. Teaching them about being responsible when camping like how to extinguish a campfire properly, and that you should always pick up your trash will be a lesson they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. Always leave nature the way you found it and if you come across garbage, point it out to your children and tell them how litter negatively effects the environment.
Bird Watching
This can be as simple as putting up a bird feeder and watching for feathery visitors. Your child may even have a hidden love for bird watching and identification, and want to learn more about different species. You can find info online so you can identify bird calls and find a good field guide so you can help your kids find all species in your area. You can also teach them about migration patterns, different habitats, and endangered species.
Natural Foods
Instill a love for natural foods in your children by eating more fruits, veggies, beans, and legumes. This is a great way to teach your kids to appreciate all the gifts that nature has to offer. This may inspire your kids to want to support small farms and farmers markets that help bring us these foods in a sustainable way.
Explore Environmental Careers
If you have factories or plants in your area, see if they offer tours. While on the tours, make sure to ask what kind of environmental protection measures they have in places. Ideally they will have things like filters on smoke stacks, or proper disposal techniques for chemical waste. Learning about careers in the environmental field could inspire your child to go into one of them.
