What Is Sustainability For Children?
Helping children to understand concepts like sustainability is an incredibly important part of a child’s education and can help instil a sense of responsibility when it comes to the acts that can be taken to help our planet. Explaining that the small acts that we take to help improve sustainable development can help the plants, trees and animals on earth survive and thrive in their natural environments can help to develop a child’s relationship with the natural world. Kids can understand a lot more than we give them credit for, and properly explaining sustainability to our children and letting them know how their actions have an impact on the world will instil a sense of responsibility that will carry through their entire life! Properly explaining sustainability to our children is an amazing way to educate them about the issues of the world while setting goals that they can meet that solve these problems, giving them a sense of pride in the things they do to help when it comes to sustainability!
Why Should We Explain Sustainability to Our Children?
Sustainability is quite a new topic of discussion, with parents only properly learning now of the importance that this concept plays in creating a better future for generations to come. The issues surrounding sustainability have come from a lack of understanding of sustainable development in the past and when looking to the future, it is important that generations to come have a full grasp of what this concept entails.
How Can We Teach Sustainability to Our Children?
Teaching sustainability to our children is incredibly important and starting the development from the early stages in their lives will enforce good habits and help them to associate sustainable living as the normal way of life. The following are just a few ways that we can teach sustainability to our children in a fun and informative way!
Read Storybooks With Environmental Themes
Children understand best through visual and auditory learning when they are younger and storybooks are therefore a fantastic way to educate and teach sustainability to our children! Reading fun, interesting and informative storybooks that expose children to visuals on the best ways to live a sustainable life will help them to associate sustainability and the environment with fun! Developing an interest in sustainability from a young age will equip them with the knowledge and the desire to improve the way they live their lives and help the plants, trees and animals that live in the natural world!
Discuss Sustainability At Home
Discussing the advantages of sustainability and what sustainability means to your family will show children that it is a topic that can and should be discussed in day to day life. Getting them acquainted with ideas and thoughts around what sustainability is and how to achieve a sustainable life will ensure that they are familiar with all of the best practices and things that they themselves can do to help protect the planet, giving them a sense of accomplishment when they achieve certain tasks. Talking about and teaching sustainability to our children at home is a very important part of them having a good relationship and understanding of the concept.
Spend More Time in Nature
Children like to associate what they do with something that they can see, touch, feel and even smell! Spending more time with your children in nature can help them associate the sustainable actions that they take at home with the environment and help the natural world to thrive. Showing them why they need to be sustainable and help their family with certain tasks and chores will help them to associate these things with helping to save the environment that they love so much. Playing games outdoors and exploring the world around them will help them to better understand sustainability! Teaching sustainability to our children in this way not only helps them better comprehend the concept but also instils a love of the outdoors.
Create a Veggie Garden
Children are all about seeing the results of their hard work paying off and a veggie garden is a great way to show a child that sustainability can be beneficial to them not just in the long term but also in the short term! Teaching and showing children how plants grow into the vegetables we eat and allowing them to help through the process will equip them with the skills and the confidence when it comes to growing their own food products! It also teaches them to not waste food, as they can see and understand how long it takes for a tomato or an apple to grow!
Use Sustainable Products
The benefits of sustainable products and having them around children is that it shows them that they can have all the necessary and fun things that they want and there is a way to have all of this while still being sustainable. Explaining to them what a sustainable product is and helping them to understand why they are better than other products will instill a desire for these kinds of things as opposed to other non-sustainable items!
What are The Benefits of Teaching Sustainability to Our Children?
The benefits of sustainability and teaching sustainability to our children are that they become aware of the products and systems in place around them and can make informed decisions about the items that they choose to use and things that they do, both now and in the future! Through developing this sense of awareness around sustainability, you can ensure that they are going to grow up to be members of society who not only take note of the practices and products that they use and surround themselves with but that they can inform others about this too! Creating a society that is more sustainable and more environmentally friendly has to start from early development and instilling a sense of responsibility and equipping our children with vital knowledge around sustainable development will help to create a better tomorrow!
