Raising Eco-Warriors: 5 Environmental Lessons

Man is continuously in search of places where he can build huge buildings. If he doesn’t find any empty or plain land, he goes and cuts trees. Nature is the most precious and valuable gift to us from God to live our life here on the earth. We need to protect this nature and save our environment. However, we do not value this gift. 

Just stop whatever you are doing at this minute and look outside the window. It may be outside your office window or your train/vehicle window or your house window. Just look outside. What can you see? 

Huge buildings, dust, smoke, and maybe a couple of trees that are almost dead. Am I right? 

We live in a world of concrete jungles.

Today at least there is a little greenery around us. Unfortunately, soon this greenery will also disappear.

Source: Pexels

We depend on nature for our existence; it (or a great part of it on earth) forms the "niche" where we live. If that is disturbed or destroyed, then we will suffer as a consequence. We are already facing many climatic problems like climate change, disasters, global warming, water shortage, etc which live dramatically. 

We can't keep being selfish and taking from our planet without giving back or everything will disappear. Hence, we need to fulfill our duties and do our bit to save our nature. Each of us has to save nature in our own way. We need to teach our children, the future generation, to save our nature.

Teaching your kids life lessons is not always the easiest thing to do. It seems to be even harder when the outcomes of the lessons conflict with their interests. However, it is best to teach them at a young age.

5 Ways We Can Teach Our Children To Protect The Nature And Save Our Environment

How can we teach our kids to press CTRL + S on nature? It isn't difficult. Through simple ways, we can create a sense of responsibility within the minds of our children. In current times, it is very important to protect and save our nature. 

Here are 5 ways we can teach our children to safeguard and respect nature.

1) Planting trees

First and foremost, we should make our children understand the importance of trees. Along with this, we should also encourage our children to plant more trees. Trees are vital to our survival. Let your child understand that trees give us so many things that help to sustain life. They give us oxygen, store carbon, and stabilize the soil. Additionally, they also provide a home for wildlife animals and birds. 

Did You Know:  Children who play outside more likely to protect nature as adults. 

Along with this, trees provide us with materials for tools and shelter. Trees also give us vegetables and fruit. Unfortunately, greed has made man cut down so many trees. Hence, it is necessary to teach children that if humans keep cutting trees, we may have to live on processed foods. We won't have oxygen to breathe. 

As a result, all of this will cause our health to deteriorate. Without trees, life on earth may come to an end. Therefore, teach your child why it is necessary to plant trees and take care of them. Through this, children learn about different types of plants and trees. Moreover, they will also raise awareness about tree plantation among their friends or classmates. 

They also learn various skills on how to plant and care for a garden. Kids find delight and enjoy spending time doing something creative. This is a good learning experience and it will keep them away from their devices. Lastly, with all this, they begin to appreciate nature and protect and save our environment.

Source: Pexels

2) Saving Water

We should teach our kids, to stop wastage of water. We need water to survive. Everything from our food, crops, livestock, plants, trees, birds, animals to even the industries need water. Water is a scarce resource. While 71% of our earth is covered in water, only 3% of it is freshwater. Out of that 3%, only 1% is available to us for consumption. The remaining 2% is locked in glaciers and ice caps.

There are many places on earth without any kind of water supply. People living in these areas have to walk miles to just get a bucket of drinking water.

Unfortunately, our kids live in the cities and fail to understand these struggles. Children usually keep the tap running when they brush their teeth, have a bath, or use the toilet. A lot of water is wasted when the tap is kept running. Failing to conserve and save water now will pose a huge threat to our future generations. 

Hence we should teach our kids how valuable water is and how to save it. Teach your child about the importance of saving water by using books, videos, or websites. 

Apart from this, some simple tasks can help you to train your child to save water.

• Imbibe in your kids the values to save water not only at home but also in school and public places. 
• If they have extra water left in their bottles, let them use it to water the roadside plants rather than just throwing it away. 
• Ask them to turn off the tap when they are brushing their teeth.
• Encourage them to notify about leaking taps.
• Ask your kids to take shorter or quick showers. 
• Tell kids not to fill their water cups to the brim. Rather, let them fill half a cup and refill it if they need more.
• Let them drink water when they feel thirsty instead of juice. Did you know, it takes 200 liters of water to make one glass of orange juice?
• Discourage your kids from playing with water guns or spilling water on each other.

Also, talk to them and inform them about the different methods of water conservation. When you inculcate such values in your child, you are raising a responsible adult. Additionally, your child will correct others who waste water and raise awareness.

3) Reusing and Recycling

Introduce your children to the three R's- Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. At their age, it is difficult for kids to understand the value of things. They are quite careless while handling things. They break and lose their things very easily, At times, we fail as parents because we give our child whatever they ask for, no matter the cost. As a result, many children grow up to be spoilt brats.

We should teach our kids the importance of reusing and recycling old things. Help them understand the value of all that they possess. Additionally, teach them to be inventive and recycle their old toys or books. Similarly, help them make creative things like a bird feeder, flower pot, photo frame, piggy bank box, etc. from old plastic bottles or cardboard boxes.

Source: Wikipedia Commons

Additionally, children may also donate their old toys and clothes to someone who cannot afford it. This way we teach our kids to share things. We should teach our kids to use paper wisely. We can save trees from being cut down by using less paper. They can also recycle their old school books by giving them to the recycling center. 

If you are a parent who is constantly worried about your child stuck to their gadgets, this is a great way to keep them busy. Teaching them to recycle old things and make something innovative and creative out of it will keep them engrossed for a long time.

4) Saving energy

Electricity has become a necessity in our lives. In today's times, our lives rely so much on electricity. However, many kids fail to understand its importance. Very often we find children using electricity unnecessarily. They switch on the lights and fans in all rooms. Similarly, along with the air conditioner being on, the windows and doors are kept open.

As a teacher, I have frequently observed that children do not switch off the light, fan, or other appliances running on electricity before leaving the room. This is not their fault as they somewhere don't understand the consequences of their actions. 

Therefore, it becomes the responsibility of parents to help their children understand the importance and principles of saving energy. Firstly, explain to them what electricity is in simple ways by showing them how household electrical things work.  This is the first step towards creating awareness in your child.

Next, we should teach our kids to save electricity and switch off the electric appliance when they are not required. Additionally, teach them to UNPLUG unused appliances. Even when powered off, plugged-in appliances use electricity. 

Source: Creative Commons

Similarly, teach your child to use alternate forms of energy to save electricity. For eg. ask them to choose between a broom and a vacuum cleaner to clean the house. Another great way to encourage children to save energy is by posing challenges. Have simple household energy-saving challenges to impart better energy-saving habits. 

Here are some simple examples of how you can teach children to save energy and protect nature and the environment:

• Go for a walk instead of playing video games
• Challenge them to an hour of watching TV followed by an hour of reading.
• Make a chart and keep a track of how your child saves or wastes electricity. 
• Have a no-electricity hour for the whole family.
• Involve them in DIY projects.
• Keep a count of how many times your child switches off any electrical appliance when not in use.
• Use a rewards system to encourage your child to conserve energy.

Apart from this, make it a family goal to conserve electricity. Such simple activities help to get the family closer.

5) Spreading awareness

Kids learn from each other just as much as they learn from their elders. So when your child takes initiative to save the environment with their simple acts, other kids also start following them. Teach your child to politely correct someone who is being wasteful.

We should also encourage our kids to spread awareness about saving nature. Children can spread awareness through posters and small acts. Additionally, get them involved in various after school activities or school clubs that are focused on protecting nature. Take your child along with you to various cleanliness drives or tree plantation drives. 

Similarly, you can encourage your child to spread awareness in your neighborhood. Stand by your child and motivate them when they take a stand to protect nature.

Conclusion

We need to teach our kids different ways in which they can contribute to saving the environment. Kids observe adults and learn from us. Therefore, we equally must practice what we preach. 

Nature is like our home. We keep our homes clean and beautiful so we can live healthfully, happily and creatively. The same with nature, we must respect nature and protect her with the same care that we give to our homes and personal hygiene.

Key Takeaways

1. Our nature is threatened today due to overconsumption, population explosion, and pollution.
2. As responsible citizens, we need to take steps to protect and preserve our nature and our environment.
3. Similarly, we must also teach our kids right from a young age to protect our environment.
4. Help your children to understand the importance of trees and water resources.
5. Teach them what would happen if all these energy resources and our nature were extinct.
6. Educate them about the threat that our environment faces.
7. Help your child save energy by giving them simple tasks and challenges.
8. Additionally, inspire your children to reuse or recycle their old belongings.
9. Encourage them to spread awareness about protecting nature among their friends and in your neighborhood.

Through simple tasks, we can empower the next generation to be environment saviors. Therefore, let us take a pledge to educate and encourage our children to protect and save our environment.

Share Your Thoughts

How would you teach your children to protect nature and save the environment? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section.

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