Parenting for the “Green” Family
March 14, 2009 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Parenting
“Mom, you’ve got to stop using paper plates,” the youngster told his mom. “You’re wasting trees and causing trash.”
“He’s really learning about ‘going green’ from school,” the mom remarked. “They’ve got a big program about saving the environment.”
Many schools are emphasizing the “green” theme, including those where I do substitute teaching. Youngsters are informing their parents and looking for ways to be green at home.
This is great, as long as it isn’t carried to extremes. Parents have to take into account cost, time savings, and their lifestyle, as well as environment practices. Sometimes you also can’t change all at once. These practices have to be adapted gradually.
What’s going on in your household regarding “going green?” Have your children’s schools joined the “green team” in a sensible manner or to the extreme?
Image: sxc.hu
We recycle in our house. We turn down our heat and up our air conditioning, which we supplement with fans. We compost. We’ve switched to compact fluorescent light bulbs, and vinegar for cleaning and disinfecting. We drive a really small car, and plan our trips in advance. We could be more militant about it, but I think we do pretty darn much.
My third grade daughter’s teacher is a rabid environmentalist. Nothing wrong with that — I admire her drive. But she lectures the kids constantly about the environment, to the point where my kid wants to run screaming from the room. She’s sick of hearing that her teacher showers only every other day to save water. She’s sick of hearing how used paper lunch bags should be retrieved and made into puppets. She gets it, and the constant harping, I’m afraid, might sour her on the need to preserve the environment.
We save all the papers for a month or two and then take them up to the school to recycle. I do know our school does try teaching a lot more than their old school.
I don’t have kids, but I try not to lecture my parents (in their 60s) about going green. : )
It’s great that environmental lessons are taught in school now, but I agree it shouldn’t be “rabid” like feefifoto describes.
However, not all green practices require spending more money. Lots of sustainable practices actually save you money, like using cloth napkins and reusable water bottles.