5 Earth Day Lessons for Your Kids
By Kerrie McLoughlin
563 words
Please contact me at mommykerrie@yahoo.com if you'd like to see this piece in full to consider purchasing it for your parenting magazine, either online or in print!
My mother has been a recycler ever since I can remember. I
have a vivid memory of her haranguing my dad’s family about recycling on a group
vacation. She actually picked aluminum cans out of the trash while griping
about landfills and started a special recycle spot in the condo. I’m sure everyone
thought she was insane, but now I am pretty much the same way with recycling
whatever I can.
When April 22nd rolls around, I enjoy teaching my
own kids why we have Earth Day and how we can better care for our planet. Maya
Angelou said, “When we know better, we do better,” so a big step in doing
better for the Earth is being aware of choices and appreciating where we live
while making it a better place. Earth Day is a great opportunity to teach some
great lessons to your kids!
Earth Day Lesson #1: Stand up for what you believe in. We
laugh about the story of my mom on vacation, but we are proud of her for
standing up for the Earth even when she was seen as strange and picky.
Earth Day Lesson #2: You can have an idea and put it into
action with a lot of hard work. Earth Day was born from the mind of a U.S.
Senator from Wisconsin who was outraged about a 1969 oil spill in California.
He saw all the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations and hoped he could channel that
kind of energy instead into caring about the environment. With a lot of help,
he made it happen.
