Kid-Friendly Ways to Go Green
With the change of seasons and daylight savings time right around the corner, this is a great time to rally your kids to focus on some ways your family can become a bit more eco-friendly.
Cheryl Butler
The dazzling, crisp season of fall is here enticing us to don our chunky sweaters and get outside with our families and enjoy all the brilliant colors that Mother Nature has to offer. With the change of seasons and daylight savings time right around the corner, this is a great time to rally your kids to focus on some ways your family can become a bit more eco-friendly.Â
Here are some of Mighty Mommy‘s favorite eco-friendly ideas:
- Create homemade reusable shopping bags. Hit the craft store and pick up 6 or so canvas tote bags that your kids can decorate with fabric paint and markers to serve as reusable grocery bags. You can add to your collection over time and your budding artists will feel proud to showcase both their creations and their love of their planet.
- Unplug. Don’t underestimate the energy saved by unplugging the charging cords for game consoles, iPods, cell phones, or tablets. The small trickle of energy wasted is multiplied by every unused – but plugged in – electronics charger.  In our home, we have a charger basket centrally located in the kitchen. Not only does this help to remind the kids (and mom and dad) to unplug our devices, it also helps us keep our charges organized so we don’t lose our cords  nearly as often anymore.  Just be careful about which chargers you use for your devices. Check out Tech Talker’s episode on how your phone charger can kill you!
- Start a drink pouch brigade. Recycle juice pouches by joining www.terracycle.net and you can help earn cash for your school or organization. TerraCycle is a highly-awarded, international upcycling and recycling company that collects difficult-to-recycle packaging and products and repurposes the material into affordable, innovative products. This eco-friendly company works with more than 100 major brands in the U.S. and 22 countries overseas to collect used packaging and products that would otherwise be destined for landfills.Â
Drink from reusable water bottles. Drinking water instead of soda or juice in between meals is not only healthier, but if you’re reusing your water bottle, it’s also greener.  A reusable water bottle can be a fun purchase for your child because there are hundreds of trendy, funky and colorful designs to choose from.  These make great gifts for kid’s birthday parties as well as teacher’s gifts, holiday gifts for your mail carrier, babysitter, and even pet groomer! The point is to use one thing, multiple times, instead of using individually packaged and costly plastic bottles every time you or your child want a drink of water.- Host a “Light’s Out” night. Once a month, unplug all electronic devices, TVs, laptops, smartphones, and game consoles and gather around your kitchen table to play your favorite board games, paint or draw, or cozy up in the family room and read a book together. Or sit and look at your family’s vacation scrapbooks, baby photos, or other family photo albums and memorabilia. When your electronics are unplugged, not only do you save on electricity but you have the opportunity to actually talk to one another—face to face. How novel!
Drink from reusable water bottles. Drinking water instead of soda or juice in between meals is not only healthier, but if you’re rCheck out more of Mighty Mommy’s tips on practical parenting at quickanddirtytips.com/mighty-mommy. Also, check out Domestic CEO‘s Go Green series for more tips on how to cut down on electricity, water, trash, and even make your laundry more environmentally friendly,
About the Author
Cheryl L. Butler was the host of the Mighty Mommy podcast for nine years from 2012 to 2021. She is the mother of eight children. Her experiences with infertility, adoption, seven pregnancies, and raising children with developmental delays have helped her become a resource on the joys and challenges of parenting. You can reach her by email.