One of the excuses that many people use for not going green is that it takes too much time. Who has time these days to recycle and reuse and grow their own garden? Well, you can find many ways to go green made easy when you do it as a family. Children of all ages can participate in going green at home in simple ways. If you start teaching them when they are young, they will be more likely to carry it forth into their adult years.
So, the key to going green as a family is to make it fun and to focus on activities that will let you have a good time together. Kids love having the attention of their parents and when you are teaching then how they can go green in their lives they will love the conversation that goes with it.
Here are some great ways that you can go green as a family:
Go Hiking
Take the kids on a nature hike. It is a great time to have some conversation about the animals that live in your area and their needs and safety. Talk about how you can make their homes better to live in by taking care of the environment. You can talk about the cleaning products you use and the chemicals that go into landfills. Even better, bring along a garbage bag and some gloves and let them help clean up the hiking trail. You'll be amazed to see how much garbage people pick up. Then you can take the recyclables to the recycling center when your hike is over.
Gardening
The younger kids are when you start them the more fun they get out of gardening. When you go green with a garden you have many opportunities to give each child attention and to help educate them. They can pick their own vegetables to be responsible for, weed their area, and fertilize it (with mulch from the compost!). Kids can feel like they are contributing towards the health of the Earth and they can learn and enjoy spending time with you.
Recycling
While it is obvious that recycling should be part of your efforts to go green at home, some people forget how much children can enjoy this activity. Think about the fun that they can have jumping up and down on cardboard boxes and plastic containers so that they will fit better into the recycling containers! They love this kind of thing and you can even make a game out of it.
What are some other easy ways to go green that you might get your kids to help with? What alternatives to going green would you recommend?
So, the key to going green as a family is to make it fun and to focus on activities that will let you have a good time together. Kids love having the attention of their parents and when you are teaching then how they can go green in their lives they will love the conversation that goes with it.
Here are some great ways that you can go green as a family:
Go Hiking
Take the kids on a nature hike. It is a great time to have some conversation about the animals that live in your area and their needs and safety. Talk about how you can make their homes better to live in by taking care of the environment. You can talk about the cleaning products you use and the chemicals that go into landfills. Even better, bring along a garbage bag and some gloves and let them help clean up the hiking trail. You'll be amazed to see how much garbage people pick up. Then you can take the recyclables to the recycling center when your hike is over.
Gardening
The younger kids are when you start them the more fun they get out of gardening. When you go green with a garden you have many opportunities to give each child attention and to help educate them. They can pick their own vegetables to be responsible for, weed their area, and fertilize it (with mulch from the compost!). Kids can feel like they are contributing towards the health of the Earth and they can learn and enjoy spending time with you.
Recycling
While it is obvious that recycling should be part of your efforts to go green at home, some people forget how much children can enjoy this activity. Think about the fun that they can have jumping up and down on cardboard boxes and plastic containers so that they will fit better into the recycling containers! They love this kind of thing and you can even make a game out of it.
What are some other easy ways to go green that you might get your kids to help with? What alternatives to going green would you recommend?