Going Green as a Family
Today I am so pleased to have Honey from Honey’s Life discussing going green with kids. She goes through some great questions to discuss as a family on making better decisions and ones that will help us all reduce our carbon footprint!
Going green is simple and easy to do with children
As a family we have supported recycling, buying used/second hand, local & from cottage industry vs big business and deciding if an item is a want or a need.
My name is Honey and I blog at Honey’s Life, about homeschooling, family life and green living and we’ve taught our children ways to reduce their carbon footprint using their fingers as a reminder.
Thumbs up
- Is this made somewhere I can walk to? Bike to? Drive to? Or would I have to take a boat or plane to see it made?
- Is this a local product? Can I find a more local version or is the item made under fair trade agreements?
Pointer finger
- Will I be sad later for buying it?
- Will I be disappointed or ashamed of myself that I bought it?
Middle finger
- Was someone or the world hurt to make this?
- Does it support hate, violence or crime in any way, shape or form.
Ring finger
- Will buying this make my other things sad because they can do the same thing?
- I commit to keeping the product for a long time and/or will rehome it to another person that can use it as soon as possible.
Pinky finger
- I promise that using it will make the world a better place and here are 2 reasons why.
- I promise the use of this will make the world a better place and here are 3 reasons why and here are the 2 alternatives I thought of to using this and why I think this purchase will be better.
I hear your doubts. But it really IS possible! My youngest, Sunshine, at 3, tickled us all when I found out she was going through her Mamal’s house and checking the bottom of items for the words “Made In China” (we will not buy items from China due to environmental and political practices we disagree with). She cleared an entire shelf of stuff.
I’ve also found that looking for those three little words prevents meltdowns and the give mes. My oldest are 15 and 13 so they’ve always been a big advocate for their 6 year old sister and have shared the dangers of plastic, metals (cadmium is often in children’s jewelry like what you’ll find in vending machine toys or in 100 cent stores.) and practices that make the world ill. We have always walked through the toy department and if they see something they’d like to have they’ll look to see where it was made. We as a family have demonstrated that while we would like to have something we use those 5 little reminders each digit offers so that we can reduce our carbon footprint.
~Honey
Be sure to check out more posts from the Ultimate Earth Day Education Guide!
Kara is an author and advocate for positive, grace-filled parenting. She is homeschooler to her 6 children living on a farm in New England. She believes in creative educational approaches to help kids dive deeper into a rich learning experience and has her degree in Secondary Education & Adolescent Childhood Development. She is passionate about connecting with and helping other parents on their journey to raise awesome kids!
Great post! My son is too young for this, but I’ll keep the tips in mind for later. We do try to buy second hand toys and pretty green ones especially if they are new. I worked with an ngo that conducted a seminar where we tested various toys for all sorts of chemicals and the results were horrible. I like to think that Europe is pretty good at monitoring things like that (I love in Holland) …. But apparently also need a lot of improvement, too.
I thought it was a great way to talk about it as a family too! Europe is a lot better than the states and I really like that they strive to continue to do better in those regards. Too many dangerous and unnecessary chemicals and products worldwide, so definitely an important topic even very young. My daughter is just now verbal so we are starting to talk about it a bit more even though she doesn’t understand it all.
I love this! What a great way to educate the kids on what is important AND remind the adults not to make easy/cheap purchases without thought. Thanks!
I loved that it was all-encompassing too. It’s too easy to teach our children and forget to remind ourselves to make conscious decisions.
great tips on teaching kids to think before they buy something! we also have a 24 hour rule…where you have to wait 24 hours after deciding you want to buy something before you can actually buy it. it has saved us a ton of trash and money!
That is a really great rule to have! Plus it teaches the value of patience as well which I love.
Wow! This is a really powerful exercise, and although I’m always asking my kids to think about the impact their actions have on the earth, I haven’t gone this deeply into it! I’m definitely going to share with them–they’ll love the “5 fingers” part, too!
We love that part too! Honey did a great job elaborating, but also making it simple and impactful for kids.
Awwww. This is such an adorable approach to teaching kids about how to eb a better consumer. Amazing! Thank you!
I was telling my husband about it yesterday and how it was such a great addition to this series and he really liked it too. It’s so visual since it includes the promises with pinky finger and hate with middle finger. So easy to remember!
What great ideas! Stopping by from the MKB Blog Hop.
Thank you and thanks for stopping by!
This is actually a great post! I will actually be using this technique for myself!.I never would have thought that the tool to becoming more green would be right on my own hand!
Keep the creative and helpful posts!
Thanks for stopping by and for your comment! Many times the best tools for remembering are the simplest 🙂