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Helpful Hints on Teaching Your Kids About the Environment
By Erin Hunt

Our hopes are on our children. To be able to leave them some legacy of Mother Nature and the environment, we need to educate them about what an important task we have on hand. Raising their awareness about environmental issues and their impact on global warming will help them to understand the urgency and need to act now.

Recycling is the first step to teach your children about the environment. Encourage your children to recycle. Show them where to put paper, plastic, glass and metal in the proper bins. You can even take them to recycling centers. Offer to take their friends with them too. Explain the importance of reduce, reuse and recycle.

Plant a tree with your child. Let your child pick the tree and the location. Not only will it be exciting for your child because children are excited about watching things grow, it will also be an excellent way to explain the importance of growing trees and the effect they have on the environment. You can even show your child how to form a compost heap. Food waste from the kitchen can be combined with garden waste like dried leaves and twigs to make compost. Not only will your plant do better with the rich humus soil formed, it saves the environment too.

Once, or if time permits, few times a week walk your child to school. Besides bonding, it is an excellent way to explain about the reducing pollution on the environment when we use the car.

Spend quality time with your kids. Maybe once a week or fortnightly turn off the TV and computer and instead have a family game together. Either play board games or even just go to the park. Teach them about energy conservation. Tell them to turn off lights and fan when they leave the room.

Teach your children to save water. No running taps when brushing teeth. Take showers instead of bath. Baths typically use 50 gallons of water per bath, opposed to about 25 to 30 gallons for a 10 minute shower with a water-saving shower head.

Using recycled school supplies should be preferred over flashier ones. Point out these products to your kids when going shopping and make them proud to be doing something for the environment. Encourage them to reuse if possible. Show them how to make old things look new with paint and fabric. Stress the importance to use both sides of the paper and saving paper and supplies that can be reused.

The best way to teach our children is through setting good examples. Involve your children by encouraging them to participate with you on activities at home and outdoors that relate to the environment. In our everyday lives, always explain to them the task at hand and the impact it will have on the environment. Children are fast learners.

Erin Hunt is an avid writer and activist. She discovered that many are still unaware of the potential danger of global warming and thus created a website to educate others on how they can play a role in the fight against global warming. Find out how you can make a difference at http://www.fightagainstglobalwarming.com

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