Whether you receive trending world updates through mainstream news channels or social media platforms, you must have come across debates about the depletion of natural resources on our planet. All of us know that most global societies, economies, etc., depend heavily on natural resources for continuous growth and development. This dependency has taken a toll on Mother Nature’s natural resource reserves. As many of the widely used natural resources are finite, continuous exploitation of these resources will have a dangerous impact on our upcoming generations.
If you don’t envision a future where your kids are fighting for clean water or living in dangerously polluted environments, you must teach them about the importance of precious natural resources and ways to save them for a bright future. We at Delhi Public School Kota, ranked among the top 10 CBSE schools in Kota, have always focused on raising environmentally conscious kids and would like to urge parents to lend their wholehearted support towards the same by equally participating in the effort. So, if you wish to prepare your kids for a resource-conscious world and cultivate environmental stewardship in them from a young age, teach them practical ways to conserve natural resources. While there are numerous ways to inculcate environmental awareness in kids, you can begin by implementing the following methods.
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Encourage Them to Shorten Their Shower Time
Water is unarguably the most precious natural resource on earth and should be used wisely, not carelessly. If your kids spend too much time taking showers, ask them to take the ‘5-minute shower’ challenge. This simple challenge can drastically reduce their water usage, helping to save thousands of gallons of water every year. Even if your child hesitates to follow this practice daily, encourage them to practice this on weekends. The aim is to make your kids realize the value of water and teach practical steps to conserve it.
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Replacing Hoses with Water Cans for Watering Plants
This step is especially important for those with gardens in their houses. Even if you have a small garden or placed numerous plant pots on your balcony, consider watering the plants using water cans instead of hoses. Involve your kids in the process and explain how hoses use much more water for watering plants compared to water cans and how this leads to water waste on a massive scale.
To help your kids understand your point better, we at Delhi Public School Kota would like to recommend telling them about geographical locations facing acute challenges and depleted quality of life because of water shortages. This will invoke empathy in your kids and enable them to visualize the cause-effect scenario in action. As a result, they will understand the value of water and begin taking conscious steps to save it.
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Turning Off Lights When Leaving a Room
Energy is another crucial resource that deserves to be saved for future generations. You can teach your kids about energy conservation through a simple activity, i.e., asking them to turn off lights before leaving a room. You can create a small reward system for your kids that incentivizes them to follow this rule. Lower energy consumption will lead to lower carbon emissions, eventually benefitting the environment. It will also reduce your energy bills. Parents can also ask their kids to follow other practical activities like using natural lights during the daytime by removing curtains and blinds, unplugging devices/gadgets when not in use, adjusting thermostat settings seasonally, etc.
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Organize ‘Zero Waste’ Lunch Challenges
You can organize such fun challenges for your kids to indirectly save natural resources from being exploited. If you pack your kids’ school lunches in plastic boxes, replace them with stainless steel tiffin boxes or other reusable containers. You can also switch plastic water bottles with glass or stainless steel bottles and give a small stainless steel spoon with the lunch box. Involve your kids in the process and explain how replacing plastic elements with reusable ones can lower plastic pollution and conserve natural resources that would have otherwise been used to manufacture disposable items. This activity will foster knowledge about waste reduction, the environmental impact of our day-to-day choices, and mindful consumption.
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Choose Digital Documents Over Physical Copies (Whenever Possible)
Teaching kids to choose digital documents over physical ones can save countless trees over the years. Papers are made using trees and require massive storage space. If your kids love reading books, tell them how using devices like Kindle can help them read thousands of books, eliminating the need to use trees for printing physical books. This simple activity can contribute massively towards forest resource conservation while preparing kids for the digital world.
Conclusion
No denying adults must take the lead in natural resource conservation, but kids must be made equal participants in the process. We at Delhi Public School Kota, one of the best schools in Kota, believe that kids are the future, and they must be nurtured to become environmental stewards from a young age. When parents and kids work together to learn about precious natural resources and take effective steps toward conservation, the result is a resource-rich planet that can sustain several future generations to come.