Going green has to be a way of living, and that means it is the family as a whole, you and your kids need to learn what living a healthier, more eco-friendly lifestyle is all about, and why it is important. In order to make it a little easier for you, I have separated out by school age, how you can start your kids on the process to becoming an eco-child. Since learning to be eco-conscious is fun, your kids won‘t even know the difference, because they will be having so much of it while their learning about it. And like I have re-iterated throughout my site, the sooner you start introducing an eco-friendly mind set in your children, it is likely that they will keep this mind set throughout their entire lives.

Here are some tips to guide your kids into “eco-children” from infant through high school:

Eco-baby

Baby skin: Protecting your baby’s skin is simply common sense. Babies are so sensitive and are affected deeper by toxins and germs. Everything that touches their skin should be Organic and gentle. Wash your baby with only warm water in the beginning, and move on to healthy Organic products as baby grows.

Diapers: When choosing to go cloth, disposable or flushable, remember to keep the environment at the top of the list with whatever choice you go with, since the average baby goes through about 5,000 diapers. (Organic) Cloth diapers can be less convenient, but way better for baby’s skin, the environment, and budget friendly. If you find the laundering process of cloth diapers is too frustrating, then think about subscribing to a local diaper service, which is still way less expensive than buying disposable diapers (I paid $55 a month). Ingredients in disposable diapers range from chlorine bleach, to moisture absorbing gels, all of which are terribly bad for babies fragile skin. On top of that, the plastic outer covering on the diapers are not reusable and are a huge threat to our landfills (2% of total). If you need to use disposables, look for ones made from recycled materials and don’t contain perfumes, gels, or dyes. Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent 30% of non-biodegradable waste.  Home-washing cloth diapers has only 53% of the ecological footprint of disposables.  So moms, dads, choose to be an eco-parent and avoid disposable diapers at all costs! Eco friendly diapers

Avoid Toxins: Many infant and children’s toys nowadays contain Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is also referred to as vinyl. This contains toxic chemicals that leak from the products they are in. Just think how horrible that is for your baby if she is chewing on it. Protect your baby as she grows by looking for the number 3 or a V on the toys and products, as that signifies that PVC is present. You can also log on to www.pvcfree.org for more information. Breastfeeding: If you want your child to be green through and through, breast feed her. Did you know that feeding a baby formula will cost you about 2,000 USD annually3? Not only is formula feeding not nearly as nutritious for babies (New York hospitals are no longer giving samples out to moms to promote breastfeeding) it is horrible for the environment. All the cans and packaging that end up in the garbage; all the bottles, nipples, gadgets, etc., all in our landfills. And moms are usually too proud to use “hand me down” bottles, so it just doubles and triples our amount of waste! So if you don‘t want to feel the burden of being a un-environmentally friendly, then breast feed your baby. I recently read an article released by the FDA, about a baby formula recall!!! It said that the formula could “present a serious risk to the infant's respiratory system and throat.”4 Case and point, avoid formula. Of course there is the occasional case where the mother is unable to breastfeed for medical reasons. You have the option to look at Organic baby formulas like Horizon Organics, or Baby’s Only Organic formula. Another option is Finding a human milk donor, that may sound gross to you, but it is a lot safer than formula as it comes from another mommy and not from a lab! You can find one at hmbana.org

Eco-toddler through preschool

H20: Teach your children how important water is, and how to conserve it. When washing hands, to keep the water at a small stream, when taking a bath, only fill the tub up enough to get the job done, and let your child know why you are conserving water.

Save Energy: I am a big pusher of natural light, and I think you should be too! Teach your kids to always turn off the lights when they are in a room and not using it, or when they are leaving the room. Encourage always leaving the lights off during the day and using the natural light from the outdoors if they need light.

Recycle: Teach your kids how important Recycling is. Make special bins in the house, one for cardboard/paper, one for plastic, and one for glass. Have your kid/s help you make a label for the bins so that they are special to them. Then make it part of their routine (or a chore they are rewarded for) where the help sort out the recycling, make it a game, and then help put it out on the day the recycle truck is to come along and pick it up. Another facet of recycling for kids is to “think about the box”. Since so many toys out there are filled with toxins, why no just use old boxes as toys! Bored kids will turn a plain box in to all sorts of creations, like cars, castles or a table for a tea party.

Eco-mama budget tip: Get other moms into re-using by starting a toy library. Gather up the like minded moms you know and ask them to contribute used toys their kids are tired of or aren’t using anymore and start a collection. This toy library is basically the same principle as a book library and will give your kids and other kids access to more toys than you could afford to buy, and you will be alleviating the strain of unwanted toys ending up in landfills. In addition to this concept, if you or any other moms do have unwanted toys, rather than throwing them away, give them to local dentist and doctors offices, hospitals or thrift shops.

Avoid Toxins: Be sure to replace any cleaners, anti-bacterial soaps, shampoos, and anything that touches your kids skin. Replace them with Organic or non-toxic products to ensure your children’s safety. (Hand Sanitizers contain a chemical called triethanolamine, that can cause damage to kidney and liver, and it has high amounts of alcohol.  Replace them with non-toxic alternatives found at health food stores!) And to go an extra mile, look into an Organic mattress or a natural rubber moisture barrier you can slip over your existing mattress. You may not know this but there are toxic chemicals in mass-produced mattresses that could cause harm to your kids.

Nourishing Food: By taking your kids to the farmers market or local farm, you are teacher her to pick out good nourishing food throughout her life. Teach your kids how to compost from this age, that food waste is not garbage it can be made in to something nourishing, make it a family composting venture. (refer to my composting article on this site).

Transportation: Walk or bike whenever possible (Invest in a bike trailer and/or trailer bike to make trips easier.) Plan out your weekly menu and shopping needs, buy in bulk, and go to the store once to cut back on multiple trips.

Eco 5 through 8 year olds

H2O: At this age dental hygiene is very important, and so is the water they use to keep up with it. When they are brushing their teeth, teach to turn the water off when it is not needed. When taking a shower, to be conscious of not messing around and focus getting clean because every second the water is on counts!

Save Energy: Walk, Bike or put your kids on the bus, your are saving the environment every time you avoid getting in your car. Have your kids unplug all electronics at night. Television, Video Games, Computers; make sure they understand that even if they aren’t using them, just by being plugged in they are wasting precious energy.

Avoid Toxins: At this age, there are all sorts of products out there that can be exposed to your kids. Look in to making their school green (refer to chapter three), make sure all the products in your home are eco-friendly devoid of toxins. And when school clothes shopping, go for the Organic fiber options, as Organic cotton is one of the most chemical and pesticide saturated crops.

Eco-Tasks: Giving your little ones eco-friendly tasks at a young age, teaches your children to be eco-conscious individual throughout their whole lives. Have them check all the lights and electronics and appliances to make sure they are switched off, or have them look after the kitchen compost pail making sure it is emptied into the large bin when needed, and make sure that they are rewarded when they do it, with a nice organic treat.

Eco 9 through 12 year olds

H2O: Educate your kids to wash lettuce and produce before eating, and if you teach them to do it in a bowl of water they will be conserving water.

Save Energy: When I was a kid my mom always left the thermostat alone and taught me the same. When I was cold, I put on a sweater or curled up in a blanket, when I was cold I dressed down, and opened windows. Teach your kids to do the same to save on home energy costs.

Avoid Toxins: Tell your kids about not microwaving plastic, Styrofoam or metals, and not to stand in front of the microwave as it is running.

Waste: Teach your kids to dispose of their gum in the trash, not under the desk at school or on the ground. Don’t allow your children to buy things from vending machines, no only are they usually super unhealthy and processed, they are individually wrapped in plastic and contribute to tons of plastic waste in our landfills. Nourishing Food: Have your kids help in the garden and give them their own plants and garden chores. Teach them about weeding and have them keep the crops free of them. Buy some sun flowers for the kids to watch grow and see how they follow the sun, and they can name them. Check out Kidsgardening.com for more ideas.

Transportation: Carpool, take the bus or walk to extra curricula activities. So many moms spend hours in their car idling away shuttling their kids from here to there. Connect with other moms and make a carpool schedule together, and save our air of all the mommy vans out there.

Eco-Gifting: As your children get older, you will be invited to more and more birthday parties, which involve teaching your children how to gift consciously. Teach your children that giving gifts should be from the heart, and have them make their friends and family gifts out of things that are meaningful to them or searching for meaningful gifts. A couple examples would be gifting a book that your children loves to one of their friends, or baking a special favorite treat, or making a photo collage. These are things that your children will go bananas over as well as be a heartwarming reward, which will teach them how to eco-gift their entire lives.

Eco 12 through 15 year olds

Water: Teach kids how to wash dishes properly. By hand, use a basin and only a pencil-thin stream of water, or filling one large bowl with soapy water, and another with clean rinsing water. By machine, scrape dishes off but do not rinse with water.

Energy: Make sure they don't keep the refrigerator door open for too long, teach them that the refrigerator uses a lot of energy and when they leave the door open it uses even more energy.

Toxic Exposure: Allow them to use only non-toxic school supplies. Find more green school supplies at green school supplies.

Waste: Make sure to purchase refillable pens for your kids to use at school. Disposable pens are often not recycled and are tossed in the trash. If something of your childs breaks, fix it. Stop shopping and start fixing. If something like a backpack rips or a zipper gets broken, call the manufacturer and see if they can fix it or have a warranty, or take it to your local luggage store who will fix it for a reasonable price (surely cheaper then buying a new and much better for the environment).

Food: Make sure you are involving your kids in shopping for local foods and in the food preparation. If you belong to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farm, find out when the events are and take your kids to get involved in the community. Introduce them to new foods, have them help you pick out a new cook book and explore the rewards of organic food together. Try and juice together every morning so they are nice and energized for their active day!

Transportation: Have your kids use a push mower instead of a gas mower and leave the grass cuttings on the lawn as natural fertilizer. This will get them exercising and composting at the same time. And if you are sending your kids away to school on a school bus, find out if when the bus is stopping to pick up children if the bus driver is keeping the bus idling. Excessive idling causes a lot of pollution and is hard on the engine. Many urban school districts have a “idling reduction program” and if your school isn’t participating, then see if you can get one going. Log onto www.epa.gov for more information

By following some of these suggestions you will be teaching your children how to be conscious of our environment from the start, in turn, helping them to become a conscious adult.  Conscious Children equals Conscious Adults equals healthier environment.  Yeah!