Nature-friendly actions to teach your kids
Being environment-friendly became a trend in the past decade, but that’s perfect for our planet’s health. No matter how many people start protecting their environment every day, there are too many big industries that create huge damage. Therefore, it’s crucial to teach your kids to be nature-friendly and respect the environment from an early age. As parents, it’s our duty to educate our kids and to create new generations that will be responsible for their actions. Talking about actions, consider teaching your kids a couple of useful actions they can take around your neighborhood and in the nearby forest.
Plant a tree or do some gardening together
Planting trees is a fulfilling and nature-friendly activity that all family members will enjoy. Decide where is that you want to plant a tree, which tree is your favorite, and teach your kids how to do it. You can do it in your garden (if you have one) or go to the nearest river bank or park and plant the tree. Kids love to play with dirt, so when you tell them that they will get to plant a tree, they will be excited to do it and will want to plant a tree every weekend. While doing this activity with your children, make sure you explain to them how important what they’re doing is for the future of our planet.
Skip the car
Stop driving around your kids and let them use their feet if where they’re going is within walking distance. Walk with them. Teach them that there is nothing wrong with being outside and using your body to transport yourself from point A to point B. If you teach your children to walk and hike since they are very small, then they will understand why is walking so important for our health and harmless to the environment.
Spend time outdoors
Make sure you take your kids in the wilderness as often as possible. Plan hiking and mountain biking trips every chance you can, and if possible take them camping for a few days. As more time as they spend in the outdoors, more respectful they’ll become toward nature. Kids are like sponges, they absorb everything you teach them – so, teach them good! Every time you go hiking, make your kids exercise and give them short nature lesson about the trees and features that surround you. Building their muscles, collectin vitamin D from the sun, and having fun are some of the benefits for you and your kids.
Start recycling
Teach your kids how to recycle garbage. Don’t let them throw away plastic bottles; instead, teach them to reuse them and be creative. Teach them how to make toys from old plastic or simply reuse it around the garden. Teach them that most of the products we use come in nondegradable packs that we can’t just throw away, but we need to find a smart way to reuse them.
Be their example
As you already know, kids follow everything you do. Thanks to this ability, it shouldn’t be too hard to teach them to be nature-friendly and responsible for their actions. If you have small children it will even easier because they tend to copy grownups’ behavior and do all the things you’re doing. So if you’re walking on the beach with your kids and without saying a word you start collecting garbage from the ground and carry it to the closest trash bin, it’s more than likely that they will start doing the same thing.
The same rules apply to every environment
When telling your kids they need to be nature-friendly and that that’s the only right way to behave, make sure you explain to them that the entire world is just an extended part of your backyard, so they don’t think that everything outside of your fence is where they can throw garbage. It’s very important for them to understand that no matter where they’re at, there is a designated place for trash disposal. If not, make sure they always carry an empty plastic bag in their backpack just in case they need to store some trash they find on the way.
Nature-friendly kids are awesome to spend time with, but it all depends on you. In the end, it’s not only good for them to spend time in nature, but also for you. Learn how to manage your free time better and try to escape to the wilderness whenever you can. Respect nature and teach your kids to do so. Good luck!
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