Busy Mothers Sustaining the Environment
 With Earth Hour a global success we are all aware of the importance of looking after our planet. Families can play their part in helping look after the environment. By teaching our children to develop good habits now, they will carry them with them for the rest of their life.
BUSY MOTHERS TOP TIPS FOR SUSTAINING THE ENVIRONMENT WITH HELP FROM THE KIDS
1. Create a family challenge – Set the family a weekly challenge related to looking after the
environment, such as how much rubbish can we recycle this week? Encourage the kids to discuss
how the challenge went and what you could do better next time to make it even more effective.
2. Use a rewards chart – Have an environmental rewards chart to help the kids keep track of specific
actions you want to encourage the children to adopt.
3. What a movie with an environmental message – There are some lovely movies out at the moment
that have sound environmental messages. Have a nice afternoon watching one with the kids and
then discuss with them the message of the movie.
4. Give the kids a job- Kids like to feel important by having special jobs. Have each member of the
family in charge of one way to sustain the environment. For example, one child can be the recycling
police and make sure everyone recycles as much as they can, another could be the electricity watcher
and make sure that lights are turned off when not in use.
5. Get into some good habits – It takes a long time to develop good habits, so start now. For example-
teach the kids to turn off the tap when they are brushing their teeth.
6. Reduce packaging – When you get take the kids out shopping get them to help you decide which
products have the least amount of packaging.
7. Walk- Whenever possible encourage the whole family to walk or ride their bikes rather than take the
car. Not only does it reduce emissions but it is also great for general health too.
8. Get a worm farm – not only do they help to reduce the amount of food scraps that end up in the
garbage but they also make great compost.
9. Use Shopping bags – when you go shopping get each of the kids to take their own reusable
shopping bags.
10. Use the internet – there are plenty of environmentally friendly sites on the internet. One great one
we found was http://tiki.oneworld.net/
This article is courtesy of Busy Mothers. Busy Mothers is committed to supporting parents in the exciting and challenging task of managing a busy family. The Busy Mothers Companion is a great resource for any family wanting to get and stay organised.
Authors of The Busy Mothers Companion Catherine Lockhart and Gillian Cornwell are hectic to say the
least; with four children and a set of triplets all aged under six, the two women combined prepare 33 meals a
day, make 30-plus trips to the toilet, sing more than 25 nursery rhymes, read at least 10 stories, do a
minimum of five loads of washing and give countless hugs and kisses all while working part-time and
managing a business to help other women get organised. |