How can we encourage our kids to do something for the Environment ?

One of the best delights of bringing up a child is to encourage them to become eco-conscious and adopt eco-friendly habits and tendencies. It is vital that parents and teachers begin to inculcate among children from a tender age to develop the feeling of environmental consciousness, and show love and care for the environment.

Towards this end, training them at a tender age on simple things of life can coax them to develop a fondness for the environment and its abundance of beauty, until it becomes a lifestyle habit for them, and a part of their evolution to adulthood.

Apart from environmental-friendly toys, there are many behavioural traits that can go a long way to coax children to love the environment and take play their roles to better care of it.

FACTORS THAT ENCOURAGE FEELINGS FOR ENVIRONMENT

Getting a child to become eco-conscious can be a little bit daunting at first, but with time, can be successfully ingrained. Some factors that encourage children to become eco-conscious includes:

• MORE OUTDOORS AMIDST NATURE: The best way to start with is to encourage a child to spend more time outdoors amidst nature’s surroundings. Places of outdoors that can instigate their love for nature include parks amidst greenery; hiking trails; outdoor camping; and such likes, all of which can be a delight when there is fair weather. This way, a child will develop a love for nature and begin to imbibe healthy respect for nature’s bounties, adopting worthy eco-conscious habits.
• ELECTRICITY CONSERVATION: Usage of less electricity should be imbibed among children. Quality habits like switching off lights /fans/air-conditioners/ TV / Computers, etc, when not using or leaving a room; adoption of eco-friendly lighting options; unplugging electronic products when not in use; and so on, all help save a lot of energy and conserve the eco-system, better.
• WATER SAVINGS: Water is a precious commodity for which children should begin to inculcate healthy respect from the beginning. Simple things like turning off water flow from taps when not in use; usage of less water during shower/bath or cleaning vehicles; tightening taps to cut-off dripping water-flow; installing low-flow faucets / low-flow aerators on taps; etc, can work wonders to save a great amount of water every day and every month. Rain-water conservation is another factor that children must learn and adapt later to save-up precious water.
• SHUN PLASTIC USAGE: Plastic items like plastic wraps, containers, water bottles, bags, etc, are polluting water sources and even land, causing immense harm to the ecology. Alternative options like re-usable / cloth bags; paper/steel bottles and utensils; etc, can be resorted to ELSE cleaning up plastic items and then reusing them again can help get rid of purchase of another set of plastic items. Finally, recycling plastic items at home or places where they are used, is another factor that children must learn and adapt later. This way, they can help plastic items from entering a landfill.
• TREE PLANTING: Trees are a nature’s delight, great for the environment and fresh oxygen and also for control of nature’s vagaries like floods, heavy rains, etc. To instil a love for trees, children should be encouraged to plant trees on their special occasions and also environmental celebratory days. This will not only instil in them, a love for the environment and why they need to be preserved and sustained for the sake of the environment.
• GARDENING: Another way of respecting nature’s greenery offerings is to encourage children to cultivate the habit of gardening. Through sustainable gardening, children can learn and appreciate the bounties of nature better. Factors like usage of manure, watering plants with recycled water; usage of biodegradable waste to the compost pit; etc, all helps them to appreciate the wonder of recycling.  They can also learn the benefit of growing plants to produce fruits, vegetables, etc.
• ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY TRANSPORT: Children should be taught from a young age to use environmentally friendly means of transport. Where it’s possible to avoid cars/autos, children should be encouraged to walk or ride a bike along bike-trials. This way, they will learn to save fuel and also protect the environment better while understanding walking or running or biking can be great boosters for sound health.
• FOOD CONSERVATION: Children should be encouraged to preserve food and beverages in the refrigerator or freezer, for that will encourage them to avoid throwing them away, especially in large quantities.
• TRASH CLEAN-UP: Doing a neighbourhood clean-up, like casting away litter/trash in litter-bins, collecting trash, deposit waste responsibly, etc, (all with rubber gloves), helps to inculcate a feeling of respect for outside surroundings, among children. Putting garbage lying around where it belongs, should also be encouraged.

The above are some of the ways through which children can be taught to respect their surroundings better, preserve the environment and grow-up as an eco-conscious child.

Leading Hyderabad based kid’s toy brand and children toymaker, ALPAKS, during a span of 21 years and still going strong, has developed hundreds of interactive toys for children – from clay to educational toys to innovative furniture that nurtures children’s innovative minds and fuels their curiosity to try out and experiment with various toys.

Made under strict quality-control, today’s ALPAKS toys like Magic-Mould, and other educational toys, all are widely used in schools and nursery centres across Hyderabad, and have been enormously successful in teaching children and young kids about the importance of environment and developing healthy environmental-friendly habits.

CONCLUSION

Children are the future and it is Children who will inherit the world after grown-ups are gone from planet EARTH. To help preserve the vibrancy and beauty of planet EARTH, appropriate environmental education and conservancy lifestyle should be disseminated among children, along with the message that if there is no proper environment sustainability, the environment will suffer, causing incalculable damage to planet EARTH in which they inhabit, in future.