Teaching Toddlers to Care for the Earth

Being "green" in America comes in waves. Like most other things in our pop culture, it's a fad for a while and then it fades away. It's back now, and everything is claiming to be environmentally friendly. If you really care about the earth and the environment, teaching your toddler to care too is a better step than buying that Prius you've been eyeing. Believe it or not, with a little bit of creativity and fun, you'll have your very own little tree hugger in no time.

Your first and probably easiest step to raising a little tree hugger is to teach them how to recycle. If your toddler can walk while carrying something, then they can recycle with you. You've got it made if you don't have to sort your recycling because your toddler can just toss everything in the bin. It'll be a little trickier at first if you have to sort, but it didn't take my daughter long to figure out what goes in the "sikey bin" and what doesn't, so I'm confident she would've picked up on sorting quickly. I'm sure your toddler will catch on quickly too. Once they get a little older and have better motor skills, teach them how to break down small cardboard boxes like cereal or pasta boxes. If you're brave and don't mind a little water all over your kitchen, have your toddler help you rinse out cans and bottles. My daughter always makes sure the rinse water has been poured even if I already did; I guess she doesn't trust me to do a thorough job.

Composting is another activity your little tree hugger can do. We have a small scraps pail in our kitchen and if the scrap is something relatively clean, like a banana peel, my daughter puts it in the pail for me. When it's time to empty the pail, she carries it to the compost pile and dumps it out. After she dumps it, she carries it back inside to the bathroom where we rinse it out. Depending on what kind of composting setup you have and how you aerate it, your toddler can help with that too. If you have a barrel, teach your little tree hugger how to spin it; if you have a plain ol' pile, give them a stick to poke into the pile to help aerate it. Don't stop with food scraps! Your toddler can help you carry yard waste to the pile too. My daughter loves dragging sticks, vines or cut bamboo over to our compost pile. Just between you and me, if you need to keep a toddler busy in the yard, ask them to pick up sticks.

Teaching your toddler how to conserve is more difficult than recycling or composting since it involves abstract concepts, but it's doable with a little creativity. Conserving electricity is probably the easiest one to explain. Simply tell your little tree hugger that lights, TVs and computers can stay on when you're using them, but they need to be turned off when you're done. I have a harder time explaining water conservation. My daughter loves flushing the toilet and nothing I've said so far has clicked (or she's just choosing to ignore me). My suggestions would be to explain that flushing (or other water-wasting activity) too much takes water away from fishes, or that flushing too much means there will be less water to drink.

Do you make your own environmentally-friendly cleaning products? Your little tree hugger can help you! You measure and your toddler pours. Since you're not using nasty chemicals like bleach, it's safe for you and your toddler to work together on this. While you're mixing your concoctions, explain why. Tell them that you use vinegar and water to clean because other cleaners will make the Earth sick.

Thanks to Blue's Clues, my little tree hugger knows what the Earth is and since she knows, she feels like she needs to take care of it. I try to emphasize that as often as I can. She gets upset when she sees an empty soda can in a parking lot because it needs to be in the "sikey bin"! I've made it a point to raise a little tree hugger and you can too. By starting early, recycling, composting and conservation will become a de facto part of life for your toddler. It's easy and you're taking a huge step toward taking care of the environment long term.