With every new year comes a mountain of New Years resolutions, and as a parent the list can be never-ending. I often forget about my more frivolous resolutions (I’ll get fit one day!), however, the one commitment I always feel passionately about is how my family and I can be kinder to the environment in our day-to- day living. Over the years I’ve discovered that becoming more environmentally aware is a journey you can easily involve your kids in. Here are my top 5 tips on being greener with your children in 2017:
Plant a Garden With your Kid
Planting a garden is a fun, hands-on, sensory experience for your kids. Not only do they get to play with dirt (hurray!) but they also get to learn about the value and process of planting and growing their own food. I recommend starting simple with low-maintenance herbs such as basil, mint and cilantro. Once you’ve mastered the art of this, you can become more adventurous with a variety of vegetables. The educational element of gardening is invaluable for your kids, and you will be saving money on your grocery shopping at the same time. If space is an issue and you live in a condo then just build pots and boxes for your balcony. The kids will have a blast!
Compost and Fertilize
Once your kids have started to grow some of their own food, you can teach them out to compost their food waste to reduce toxic waste in landfills. Start by collecting your food scraps in a small compost bucket in your kitchen. Once it’s full, you can either turn it into compost to use in your garden, donate it to a compost centre, or take the scraps to a local chicken farmer where it will be used as “feeder” for the chickens. I love this video which explains the process of composing and how important it is for the planet.
Shop at and Donate to Thrift Stores
The rate at which my kids out grow out their clothes and get bored of their toys is unbelievable. I highly recommend quarterly clear-outs where you sort through and donate old clothes and toys to local thrift stores. You can turn this into a family trip by allowing the kids to buy one new outfit and toy for every bag they donate. The thrift store doesn't necessarily have to be the Salvation Army, there are plenty of higher end re-sale shops where you can buy gently used clothing for a fraction of the price. This process of recycling and reusing clothes and toys is another way of reducing waste in landfills.
Shop with Cloth Bags
With the recent introduction of the Chicago shopping bag tax, it’s now more important than ever to think carefully about how you are going to collect your groceries. Try to avoid reusing plastic bags all together. Instead, switch to reusable cloth sacks and glass jars. Cloth bags are easy to roll up and keep in your handbag and glass jars are fun to fill with your kids (they can even decorate them!). We use cloth sacks for our fruit and vegetables at Trader Joes. We also use mason jars for nuts and snacks.
Recycled Art
Forgot about replenishing your kids’ art box with new supplies. Instead re-use boxes, newspapers and tissue paper left over from your Christmas shopping and gifts. Every baby loves playing with wrapping paper, and every toddler loves the endless creative possibilities of an empty cardboard box! You can use old plastic bottles to create snow globes or rocket ships, and boxes to build dens. A great resource for artistic projects for your kids which focuses on re-useable goods is The Hippie Hobby. Subscribe for monthly projects and tips on how to be artistic and environmentally friendly with your kids!
There are a multitude of ways you can be greener with your children. Please join us on March 3rd - 5th in Chicago for MommyCon to learn more about eco-friendly parenting, including cloth diapering, breastfeeding, nutrition, and female self-care.
From all of us at MommyCon, we wish you a very Happy and Green New Year!
Xza Higgins is the Founder and Program Director of MommyCon, the nation’s largest natural parenting convention series. MommyCon will be returning to Chicago for a 3 -day multi-conference combined with WEAR: A Babywearing Conference from March 3 - 5 2017. For tickets please visit www.mommycon.com.
