Growing Up Green

Growing Up Green... Part 1

The beginning of each year gives us an opportunity to start over, clean the slate or begin something new and this year should be no exception. Take the time this year to introduce your children or grandchildren to nature. It can be something as simple as planting flowers, starting a vegetable garden or just walking through the park. The idea is to just do something at least once a week.
I recently read an article on Volunteerism and how to get young kids involved. They stressed a set of principles that parents can follow to help their children want to participate in volunteer projects and I think 3 of these principles can be adapted to helping your children want to explore nature.
Encourage their passion was the 1st principle stressed in this article. Find out what they like, bugs, plants, hiking or just playing outside, ask and you shall receive. The 2nd principle was Start them young and this really applies here. Our granddaughter will be 3 in February and has been “exploring nature” at our cabin since she could walk. She LOVES to look for bugs and birds, pick up pine cones and hide her toy insects which include beetles, bees, ants, snakes, lady bugs…. The point is she loves doing these things and we encourage her to be outside whenever we can, with a keen eye out for bugs! The final principle is Involve the family. We have a whole army of “drones” who take turns playing outside with Braelyn, Dad, Mom, grandparents, uncles and great grandparents, everyone is involved whether it’s playing outside at our cabin or just playing outside.
Please make the time to get youngsters involved in exploring nature, you may find out bugs are cool too!
Growing up green
Earth Hour is a great way to teach your children about conservation, more specifically about energy conservation. It is a simple way to show them how simple helping Mother Earth can be and how they can get involved. There are even websites that can help kids get involved in this and many other green issues, www.earthourkids.org, but the best way for them to get involved is for you to get involved. Last year we spent the evening with my daughter and granddaughter with the lights out. We explained how why we were turning out the lights and why we were lighting candles but Braelyn was too young to understand BUT she did like it when grandpa made animal shapes on the ceiling and wall using a flashlight and fingers.
Give it a shot this year with your kids and please let us know if you come up with some more creative ways to pass the time!

Thank you Gary Hillary! To see more of Gary's information click here: www.thegreenpathcompany.com