It takes a village to raise a child. A mother may have given birth to her child, but she might be surprised by his demeanor when he’s out with his friends. A father may treat her only daughter as a princess, but he might also be a stranger to her secrets.

This explains why parents may know how to manage their children well, but it won’t hurt to listen to parenting tips from others. Especially if you’re a first-time parent, you’ll need all the pieces of parenting advice you can get your hands on.

One of the best lessons parents can pass on to their young ones is how to adapt to a sustainable way of life. This may call for a minor lifestyle change, but it can impact your kids in ways you could never imagine.

Besides teaching them how to reuse and save things around them, you also encourage them to make eco-friendly choices that will protect the environment. There is no hard and fast rule for transitioning to a green lifestyle, but here are five simple tips on how you can be a more sustainable parent.

1. Invest in wooden toys

Most of the toys you see on the department store shelves are often made of plastic. Stay away from these toys and go for wooden ones. Wooden toys are undoubtedly better than plastic because the former is biodegradable and recyclable.

With this simple shifting of preference, you can help lessen the waste products dumped in landfills. It’s also an excellent way to encourage your kids to give back to mother nature. They might not appreciate it now, but over time, the choices they’re used to will become the foundation of their principles. Every time you give your child a wooden toy, you’re proactively saving the planet and passing down good values.

Besides that, you’re also prioritizing your child’s safety as these plastic toys might contain VOCs and other toxic materials. Plastic toys, most especially the cheap ones, also break easily. When this happens, small, digestible parts and sharp edges might be left that may harm your child.

Moreover, kids are also fond of putting everything in their mouths. They might digest these small, broken parts or lick those coated with toxic substances.

On the other hand, wooden toys are often of high quality. This means that they’re sturdier than their plastic counterparts. It’s undeniable that the scales tilt in favor of wooden toys in terms of risk and safety.

2. Reuse, reduce, and recycle

When buying things for your child, always check if it’s reusable, if it can help reduce the volume of garbage dumped in wastelands, and if it can be recyclable.

Say, for example, you intend to buy diapers for your baby, go for cloth diapers, or plant-based, eco-friendly alternatives. These diapers check the 3R checklist apart from being a cost-effective option. Here are some action points to help you reuse, reduce, and recycle:

• Buy baby products, groceries, and everything you need for the house in bulk as more oversized products use less packaging.
• Avoid buying over-packaged items.
• Instead of throwing old toys and items, sell, donate, or repurpose them.
• Use eco-bags when buying things for your household.
• Buy products that are made from recyclable materials.
• Teach your kids to segregate your garbage.

3. Steer clear from pre-packaged baby food

The experts at the Akron Children’s Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, and the Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital conducted a study and revealed that when overused, prepackaged baby food can increase health and development risks. Specifically, the study pointed out that if children are fed pouched drinks and pureed baby food, their speech and motor skills might be impaired.

Doctors also pointed out that though some of these food items contain fruits and vegetables, they are also rich in sugar and calories but low in fiber. Aside from these health and safety repercussions, these pre-packaged goods are often wrapped in plastic. Again, since they’re not reusable, they often end up crowding the landfills.

Instead of feeding your kids with this junk, prepare your kids’ meals by yourself. You can try these simple meal ideas for your toddlers at home and kids at school:

• Baked white chicken meat with whole wheat bread crumbs
• Beets, white, purple, or sweet potatoes
• Whole-wheat muffins, pizza with low-sodium sauce and low-fat cheese, and mixed fruits
• Adult yogurt with low-sugar granola, dark chocolate chips, and defrosted or fresh fruit
• Homemade granola bars

All these pre-packaged food alternatives are less in sugar, sodium, and fat but high in protein and fiber.

4. Say yes to cloth nappies and wipes

Both disposable and cloth nappies pose severe impacts on the environment. The former is notorious for filling dump sites since they’re meant to be disposed of after each use. It has an outer layer made of plastic and a secondary, absorbent layer that has been laced with chemicals. While they’re easy to use, they often pose serious environmental risks.

On the other hand, cloth nappies may be safer to use than their plastic counterpart, but if you frequently flush nappy liners and use harsh detergents when washing them, you still harm the environment. To mitigate, if not eradicate, the environmental repercussions, do the following:

• Don’t flush your nappies.
• Use a phosphate-free, biodegradable detergent when washing.
• Hang your nappies to dry instead of using a clothes dryer.
• Avoid using fabric softeners.
• Reuse the nappies for your second, third, or fourth child.

5. Use sulfate-free products

Sulfate is a substance that’s making your shampoo sudsy. It’s usually found in detergents and shampoos; they work as the scalp-cleaning agent.

They do this by attracting water and oil before removing the dead skin cells and grime from your skin and scalp. However, despite being potent, sulfates can also strip your skin of their natural oil. As a result, you’ll see redness, itching, flaking, and other signs of irritation.

Unfortunately, this is not the only downside of products with sulfates. Since these are often washed down the drain when you rinse your hair, they can be toxic to aquatic animals. Ideally, they should not be discharged into the environment because of the harm they carry.

Do your share in keeping the environment clean by introducing sulfate-free products into your household. With this simple shift in product choice, you’re not only improving the state of mother nature, but you’re also teaching your kids to make better, safer choices all the time.

Takeaway

Parents are always the child’s first teachers. And while there’s no school for parents, that doesn’t mean that they couldn’t impart better lessons and principles to their kids. By networking with other parents and keeping themselves privy to the issues that matter, they can help mold the minds of their offspring. They can encourage them to be better citizens of this world — one environmentally sound choice at a time.

Do you think someone you know is undergoing something heavy? Read ”Teen Depression: The What’s, Why’s, and How’s” to learn more.