I have always thought that the true way to change the world is through parenting. And a blunt failure of today's society is the lack of an ecological conscience that conceives the planet not as a property but as a loan; a "matica" that must be sown, cared for and watered so that it can bring "fruits" to future generations.
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In this sense, I try to teach my children the importance of caring for and loving public and outdoor spaces as they belong to all the inhabitants of the planet and we all have the right to enjoy them in optimal conditions.
However, you cannot love what you do not know and that is why it is so important to me that my children spend enough time outdoors, running, playing with dirt, water, stones, shovels, flowers. For this reason, I share here some ideas of activities that we can do to "cultivate in them" that love for the environment and some "measures" to recycle at home and thus take care of the planet.
🍃Loving green
Once a week, or every fortnight, take a family walk to the mountains, the lake, the beach, an open park or any place where children can run freely and enjoy nature.
Introduce children to the games of our childhood: write with a stick in the wet earth, "fight with swords" using twigs from the trees, collect pebbles and paint them, make a "magic potion" with the flowers that have fallen to the ground. and water. Any alternative that helps them develop an affectionate relationship with the environment is valid.
Explain that flowers, trees, and plants are living beings that need our care and affection. For example, when my six-year-old daughter sees a beautiful flower and asks me if she can pluck it, I explain that not because the flower feels and when we pluck it we take its life.
🍃Do outdoor activities.
Beyond the fact of walking, let's look for activities that we like to do on a daily basis but taking advantage of the benefits that the environment offers us. For example, if our children like books, let's take some stories, a blanket and read in the park or in the mountains. We can also have a picnic, improvise a soccer game or ride a bike.
🍃Recycling at home
Create a corner to place ecological waste such as paper rolls, egg cartons, plastic containers, tetra pack containers, old clothes, cans. Later, some of these materials can be used to make crafts or give them a new use.
Create a garden or if you do not have the space, plant at least one matica to teach our children the value of responsibility: take care of it, water it, put it in the sun. Children have a greater sensitivity than adults and a much purer connection with nature. That is why they will enjoy these types of activities without problems.
We all remember when as children we made a germinator with beans and cotton grains in a container of compotes at school. Now that we are parents we can invite our children to make a simple “compost” with fruit and vegetable shells, fruit seeds and egg shells. When we make purchases we carry ecological bags (paper or cloth) to avoid plastic ones. When I lived in Europe this was the rule. I don't see why we can't incorporate it into our daily habits regardless of where we live.
For the children's lunch boxes, let's avoid buying juices or waters in plastic containers, making (if possible) our own juices and using the dishes we have at home.
Reading is undoubtedly a wonderful tool to support those teachings that we offer our children. Sometimes if they listen to, read or look at a story, it is easier for them to understand it. Thus, there are a wide variety of titles in which the protagonist is the environment or nature. "The generous tree", by Shel Silverstein, for example, is a great alternative because it tells the relationship of a child and his favorite tree and how it is generous even when it has nothing else to give (it is available as an audio story on YouTube) .
Another option is Margaret Wise Brown's "Sleep, My Angel" which, although it is a kind of lullaby, illustrates, both in words and images, the beautiful changes of the landscape through the four seasons.