Living a sustainable life is the only way to be revolutionary these days. Preserving the planet is an everyday task. But have you wonder what happen if you have kids? Having a green lifestyle can be challenged by the fact that babies do need lots of stuff. However, there is a new way of raising a little one called Green or Sustainable Parenting. Have you ever heard of it? I'll let you know everything about Green Parenting in this 10 tips to be a more Sustainable Parent article.
It is simpler to carry a green lifestyle if you are by yourself. Well, it is true that it does get harder to keep it on when you have a baby. The main reason why this is it, is because babies, specially newborns, require many different things that are not usually reusable or eco-friendly. Nevertheless, there are many things you can change or improve on to have a Green Parenting lifestyle.
What is Green Parenting?
Sustainable Parenting is about focusing on teaching children to be conscious about the environment as well as making mindful decisions based on environmental impact. Basically, as a parent, you seek to raise kids that love and care about the environment in many different ways. From sustainable toys to family composting, there are different schemes that can help you teach your kid about sustainability.
One of the main concepts in Green Parenting is living an ethical life. What this means is that, no matter what, as a parent you need to stay true to what you think and believe is the best for your kids as well as the environment. There would be no point in trying to teach your children how to recycle if they have never seen you doing it before. Always remember that kids watch everything their parents do and take it as an example to follow.
Besides that, there is also a health key in the whole Sustainable Parenting idea. Babies are, above all, delicate. Their whole bodies are still developing, their skin is as sensitive as it could possibly be. Therefore, everything that babies wear or eat could affect or harm them. Green parenting also consists on feeding and dressing your baby with sustainable harvested food or organic fibers.
The whole lifestyle changing can result a little bit overwhelming for some of us. One of the questions that can easily arise around this topic is: Where do I start? There are several ways you can improve your family lifestyle by switching to a Sustainable Parenting raising method. Keep on reading to read about some of them.
1. Life Starts in the Womb
As soon as you and your partner start looking for a baby, you can start thinking about Sustainable Parenting. Like we all know, life starts inside a woman's womb and while the baby is there, everything the mum eats, goes right into her baby. So, it is always a good time to make a twist on your lifestyle if you are thinking of conceiving. You can start by making some changes to your everyday diet. One of the starting points could be reducing the amount of ultra processed food or junk food.
Moreover, you can start, if you haven't yet, including more fruits and vegetables to your meals. What is most important here is to focus on the fact that whatever the mom eats, will result in the developing fetus inside her womb. So, why not feeding that baby with healthy, natural and chemical free food?
Imagine your baby growing in a nice and healthy environment, as a mum one of the most important things to keep an eye on is to reduce the amount of toxins that your baby receives from you. There are many ways of getting proteins and vitamins that will fuel your body and one of them is through fruits and vegetables.
What happen once the baby is born? Well, the best option for your baby is breastfeeding. Not only it helps the environment because of the lack of packaging but it is also the best nutrition meal for your baby. Some of the benefits of breastfeeding includes the less chances of your baby needing antibiotics in the future plus reducing the risk of cancer and other illnesses.
So, whether you are trying to conceive or breastfeeding, the mum needs to take care of her body as whatever she eats will pass through to the baby.
2. Sustainable Baby Products
Again, what happens with the amount of products the baby needs once it is born? Not only we are talking about diapers, but also about cleaning wipes and nursing pads. As we all can imagine, babies use way lots of diapers per week, increasing the amount of waste we, humans, generate. There is a simple, but not easy, way to reduce this amount and it is by switching to reusable items.
The amount of estimated diapers that a baby uses in a year goes around 3 thousands. Yes, that's right! And that is a huge pile of waste. Luckily fo us, there are several brands that are manufacturing reusable, good quality and proper fit diapers. You can learn more about these brands in our article What are the Best Reusable Diapers? Plus: Extra Accessories!
There are also different gadgets that you can get to make your reusable diaper experience way better. For example, getting a wet bag to carry around in case you go out with your baby and it needs a change. There is no fun on having a wet diaper on your bag, and as it is not disposable you might need a wet bag to place it on until you get home to wash it.
In addition to the waste pile produced by diapers you can find baby wipes. It is true that baby wipes are really handy when it comes to cleaning you baby. But have you ever thought about the fact that they are not biodegradable at all? Correct, baby wipes take ages to decompose, meanwhile they fill our landfills with filth.
Likewise reusable diapers, we can find some reusable baby wipes in the market. Or even better, you can DIY own baby wipes. It is as easy as having a clean, soft and nice cloth where you can spray some organic, chemical-free cleanser for your baby's skin. Because sometimes it might seem hard to find organic products, here's a list of Natural Organic Baby Bath Products: Check the Best Online Options.
3. Sustainable Toys
Like almost everything these days, most toys are made out from plastic which will eventually be no longer needed and end up in our oceans. You can reduce the risk of this happening by getting your kids sustainable green toys. There are many wooden option in the market these days as well as recycled toys.
How does a recycled toy for your kid sounds like? Well, it looks like a great idea. Specially if we take into account the fact that an average kid will get tired of playing with the same toy all over again and again. There is also a high chance that their friends will have newer and trendier toys and you'll need to get newer ones.
The best solution for these kind of problems is getting sustainable toys, either recycled or organic ones. Not only you can get wooden toys like the ones made from Birchwood but also there are many options available that are produced from, for example, from bamboo fibers.
- Check Our Top Pick: Best Eco Friendly Toys For Kids: 8 different options
Another great way of reducing your carbon footprint while green parenting is choosing second hand toys. There are many people who pick up scrapped toys and fix them to be ready to play with again.
- You may be interested on these options: 9 Amazing Gadgets to Teach Your Kid How to Ride a Bike
4. Eco-Friendly Clothing
Babies do grow a lot! this means that there will be loads of clothes which will fit the baby for a couple of weeks and then they will get short. Moreover, if your baby is starting to eat solid food there are high chances of them getting their clothes dirty. So, in only one day a baby might need several outfit changes.
In this case it is always a good idea to research for eco-friendly baby clothes brands. Most of these brands will have products made from organically produced fibers which would normally be sustainable harvested as well. In other words, the clothes you will be getting for your baby will be chemical-free and environmental friendly.
A different option here could be buying second hand clothes, but really there are not many options for babies as, just like I said before, they get so dirty all the time that clothes get wrecked easily.
You can also learn more about Eco-friendly Baby Clothes: The Most Adorable Options for the Little Ones.
5. Baby Led Weaning
Sustainable Parenting could turn hard sometimes. Specially at those times where babies are learning new things and exploring the world. One of the most difficult times you can experience as a parent is when you try to feed your baby with healthy food but they do not like it. That's why this point is on the list. If you want to turn your parenting into a Sustainable or Green one, you will need to get your baby used to eating all types of food. A great way to achieve this is by a method called Baby Led Weaning. Let me explain it better.
Baby Led Weaning or BLW for short, is a style of feeding infants that allows them to feed themselves right from the start. The food is offered in thick finger-size pieces and is soft and easy-to-squish between their small fingers. BLW might help promote good eating behaviors and protect children against excess weight gain. It may also reduce picky eating behaviors and make it easier for parents to introduce new foods to their babies.
By feeding you infant with this new method you will allow them to choose healthy food without them thinking it is not tasty. This means your little ones will be picking up food that is chemical-free, organic and great for their little bodies.
In addition to this point, it is important to mention that homemade food will always be better than baby food bought from the supermarket. You can feed your baby with natural, toxins free food, even from your own backyard. Natural and organic food will fuel your baby to help them grown healthy and happy.
6. Be the Role Model
Children are always looking up to their parents. If you do not carry a sustainable lifestyle, it would be really hard for your kid to carry one as well. This is it because they won't have a role model to follow. Why would you try to teach your kid to separate waste if they do not see you doing it?
One of the best ways to reduce your environmental impact when raising a child is by fully commit to a sustainable life path. You can make this decision as a family and start building up some new habits and behaviors.
A fun way to teach them how to reduce your waste, could be by teaching them how to compost. Composting is great for the environment and some types like Worm composting could be fun for the kids to meet new tiny friends like worms. This will teach them about sustainability, recycling and animal care.
Another fun and healthy way of getting through Green Parenting could be by teaching your kids how to plant and harvest their own vegetables. Having a backyard will allow you to increase the interest of your kids on growing their own veggies. Moreover, it will teach them about commitment and environmental decisions.
- You can start with: 9 Easiest Vegetables to Grow, especially for Beginners and All You Need to Know About Urban Farming: Get Ready to Start!
What's more, getting your kids some environmental related books and movies will definitely increase their interest in this kind of matter. When they are young, a kids brain is like a sponge, everything they heard or read about stays in their mind and becomes an idea. Why not using this capability to save the world? In the end, it is their own world the one we are trying to preserve.
How are you going to start your Sustainable Parenting path? Be the example and take parenting to an extra level. This time you can literally be the change you wish to see in the world.
Change starts at Home: How to Design a Sustainable Home? 50 Easy Sustainable Home Tips!