Sustainability in Language Kids Understand
Share
Author
david
Share
I grew up in a time before many people thought about sustainability. So as a kid, I was taught to consider the physical world completely in terms of what I wanted and how to get it. Early habits are hard to break. I have a different understanding now but I will admit that it is still a challenge for me to consistently maintain good sustainability practices as an adult. Teaching our kids the value of thinking and acting sustainably will give them a leg up in terms of acting sustainably throughout their lives.
Here are some ways to go about it. First, let’s discuss what sustainability is about—and these are simple concepts that you can use introduce in conversation with your kids. I think there are two important parts to sustainability.
First is about having resources available for the future. This is still ultimately a me-focused approach, even though it’s oriented to humanity as a whole, but it’s an important truth. Further, it affects the wellbeing of kids very directly and, as we sadly know, it is a serious matter that we have to be intentional about if resources are going to be available.
Second, sustainability concerns the relationship we have to our physical home, the earth, a relationship that can be healthy and can allow both the earth and ourselves to thrive but only if we care about it and care in an active, practical way.
So let’s focus on activities.
Doing things, of course, is a language kids understand. One focus is to introduce experiences that teach kids how nature works. Raising a garden together is a good way to do this. Another is to take walks in the woods or other natural places—with a little bit of information about how plants and animal live there, for example, about how the changing seasons affect life in that place.
And then there are educational centers you can go to—museums of course, but you can also get creative. For instance, many recycling centers welcome visitors and they are great places to learn about the cycles of nature.
Home projects can also be fun and instructional. Try cooking a zero-waste meal with your child or make something useful out of natural fibers.
Of course making your home sustainable in terms of conserving energy and water use, recycling, reusing items, and being careful about not buying too much stuff that isn’t really needed give your kid a good model for applying sustainability principles in a routine way.
There are lots of other things you can do too to teach your kids about sustainability in a language they will understand. Here are some good posts with further ideas:
