5 Everyday eco-friendly habits for kids to imbibe

We may be deeply concerned about ecological damage and climate change. But if we teach our kids about facts and figures without connecting things with real life, they will grow up treating ecology as an essay or debate topic, not as something living around us.  

Here are the 5 very simple but environment-friendly habits you can instil in your child as a step towards creating an ecologically aware citizen.   

Encourage wastage reduction and reuse  
Explain why it’s wise to switch off lights, fan and air conditioner when exiting a room. Emphasise that water conservation is easy if they turn off faucets when brushing and reduce the time for showers. The resources they are conserving today, would serve them tomorrow. Get kids to reuse plastic containers and bottles. Selling old plastic and newspaper for recycling is another good move. On the personal front, introduce kids to the joy of giving. If they donate old clothes to needy kids, they will contribute to recycling in a direct way.   

Get them hooked to recycled art and crafts  
Cereal boxes, cardboard packing boxes, old towels and sweaters – all make excellent material for fun DIY sessions – and produce eco-friendly products. Discouraging buying new plastic products at the drop of a hat should not seem harsh, it should come across as a chance to tingle their creative bone.  

Help kids discover seeds  
Children are naturally intrigued by outdoors and nature, and love to spend time there. This may not be so easy anymore in the post pandemic world. But you still consume fruits and pulses that have seeds. Show your kids how putting a few seeds in a bit of soil in old containers can be the beginning of a miniature garden. Cultivating a love for things that grow will make kids want to protect our green cover.  

Teach the value of sunlight and air  
We talk often of eco-friendly buildings. Get kids into the habit of valuing daytime. Let them open windows and work in the sunlight, instead of using lights during day. Fresh air is a better idea than running the air conditioner 24x7. Set the example, kids would follow you.  

Motivate them to walk, cycle and use public transport  
Our children are growing up under an increasingly thick cover of carbon. Discourage them from taking the car to school or college. If they can walk or cycle, good. For a longer distance, encourage public transport or car pool.