In today’s busy world, it may be hard to know what is green parenting. Raising a family has numerous challenges in itself, of which adopting green parenting could be an additive pressure and constraint. But adults today are inspired to live the environmentally friendly lifestyle and inculcate the same in their kids to help them lead an Eco-friendly lifestyle too.
It is not just about the environmental issue but also about the approaches the parents are following to bring up their kids. Right from the day, the baby is born, their nappies, baby wipes, stroller and all sorts of equipment when they grow up like tricycles, wagons, computers, etc. end up in a landfill(R).
The research says that about 2.7 Kgs of raw material are used in a full-time set of reusable nappies as compared to 120kg if a kid in disposable nappies. Imagine there is much more to this than just comparing the nappies disposed of. Parents have to make healthy choices to follow green parenting and must often opt for organic, natural and lower environmental toxins for everything. While it sounds difficult or complicates, it can be made simple by the ultimate guide for green parenting below.
Check Out:The Ultimate Guide to Green Parenting 13 Tips You Must Know
1. First Change To Adopt Green Parenting Starts From The Day You Know You Are Pregnant:
As we say the crops grow healthy when the soil is healthy, similarly, you must provide your baby with the healthiest environment when they are growing in you. Minimize your exposure to the toxins or unnatural things rather inculcate a healthy habit by sticking to organic and natural foods. This not only ensures the baby’s good health but also the mother’s. Instead of buying a fruit juice or carrot juice from the market, isn’t it healthier to spend 10 minutes of your day to naturally juice up the ingredients and consume it each morning? The taste and nutrients are far better than the bottled ones.
2. Focus on Your Baby Instead of Focusing on The Whole World:
Make efforts to give the best to your baby and focus on your family first before worrying about the whole world. That is the first step to start with and getting the awareness of various things. What goes in your baby’s mouth or what affects their skin, the air they breathe or the toys they play with should be your worry instead of focusing on the whole world, it is time to see what goes around in your house.
3. Breastfeeding is The Most Environmentally Healthy for The Baby:
The newborn baby feeding on the mother’s breast milk is the best food for the baby. This also helps to reduce packaging, transportation, and manufacturing waste. Breastfeeding provides the baby with natural ingredients to keep up their immune system and no need for antibiotics reducing the risk of cancer in both of you. The better you eat, the more you can take care of your kid while breastfeeding. Your little one gets properly nourished only when you are eating the right food.
4. Use Your Own Bag:
The groceries that you buy can always come back with you in your own bag that you carried to reuse it. The supermarket trip can be made greener by using your own reusable bag to lessen the use of store polythene bags. There are many Eco-friendly bags now in the market made of paper and jute, but again that doesn’t let us the leisure of buying and throwing them off after one use, rather reuse them until they are torn. Keep such a bag always handy in your trunk if you visit a grocery store without plans.
5. Minimize the Diaper Damage:
The parents have long debated whether disposable diapers are good for kids or cloth diapers. Although both options have their own benefits, it is disturbing to know how much the environment faces because of us. You can take the greener way to deal with this. Look for Eco-friendly disposable napkins at any natural food store or online. These are made without any chemicals like chlorine bleach, added fragrance or latex and hence makes a healthy choice for your baby.
The Grandma style cloth diapers have come a long way too and now they are washable at home or by a diaper service. Also, consider lessening the use of baby wipes by simply using the layered squares of soft cotton to wipe or use the same diaper’s half to use it as a quick swipe.
6. Playtime for your Kids:
Kids will want to touch everything and put their toys in the mouth. Be cautious before buying your baby a toy and look for safety. Wooden or cloth toy are your safest bet here for the kids. These toys are free of the Bisphenol-A content which is commonly found in plastic is harmful to your child. Keep healthy safe measures while buying a wood toy as well to make sure they are smooth and without splinters. Eco-friendly parenting is to let your kids have more of the environmentally friendly choices than any processed or harmful content for the baby and environment.
7. Expose Kids to Nature:
Now that we have already spoken about Eco-friendly toys, you must also encourage the older kids to wander around the forests and meadows under the supervision of adults to breathe fresh air and connect with nature. Hiking, camping, and trekking should be an excellent gateway for the kids to nature. For younger kids, bug or worm hunting and skip stones in a creek could be great activities. Not only would you need to spend less but also exposing kids to nature does the job of keeping them healthier and active.
8. Monitor your Cleaning World:
The fancy new colorful chemicals for cleaning your house in the market is potentially harmful to the kids and your family. The toxins in the cleaning material will have a potentially adverse effect on the health of the little one. A homemade safe clean with a non-toxic product such as vinegar, borax, lime juice or even baking soda and many more does wonders for your cleaning activities. Inexpensive and safe for kids, these homemade cleaners kill the germs, viruses, mold and disinfecting your kid’s toys and play area.
9. Eco-Friendly Lighting:
Lighten up your home with fluorescent bulbs to save on the effective cost and energy lost as compared to the traditional incandescent bulbs. The CFL(R) is the most cost-effective and lesser carbon-dioxide emitting sources of light in the longer term.
10. Make you Home Eco-Friendly:
Keeping your home healthy to live in is the primary thing to do. Certain flowers and plants in the house can improve the quality of air and give us an aesthetic sense of living. The peace lilies, gerbera daisies, snake plants and many more of these have an air purifying quality in them helping us with a better environment to live in. Won’t that be the best natural way of green parenting to give our family the best of the places to live in?
11. Reuse and Recycle the Household Waste:
Every parent wants to give their kid the best possible new toy and technology to deal with. But as kids grow up real fast, they also grow out of the older items very quickly. Reusing an item not only saves the money but also by borrowing the used items from friends or family when possible helps you to add to lesser environmental waste. Recycling does not just mean to segregate the dry and the wet garbage but more than that the effective way is reusing it.
12. Make Baby Food at Home:
The homemade food categorizes among the healthiest food for the babies. Puree all the important nutritious food items for your baby in a food processor and blend it. A lot of fresh green vegetables like squash, green beans, peas or carrots can be combined to feed your baby. Include avocado for healthy fat. The green leaves like spinach and etc. must be washed in warm water or cooked to make sure they are germ-less. You can as well buy organic baby food online or in organic stores for your little one.
13. Inculcate Car Pooling:
The modern-day parents have made minivans a symbol of status and comfort. Instead, turn green by carpooling whenever possible. You can easily minimize the pollution in the environment due to the gas emitted by your car especially if you are driving alone. The most fuel-efficient model of the car can still be utilized in a better way by offering a drive to your neighbor’s kid to go to the same sports club or swim practice. One less road on the vehicle is the beginning of an Eco-friendly environment.
Plan your route properly such that you are not unnecessarily taking a longer way to your office or kid’s school. Also, plan your grocery, etc on the way to save on separate trips. Walking and bicycling is one of the healthiest modes of transport not just for environmental sake but also for our health. We must practice it and encourage our kids to step out and walk or bicycle as transport themselves.
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