Teaching children: Why Save Water? What’s the big deal?

The Go Green Guy | August 22, 2012 | 0 Comments

Teaching Children About The Importance of Water

A Guest post by Rochelle Brandanowitz

While many people in America have access to clean drinking water whenever they want it, such is not the case across the world. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Why Save Water” page, less than 1 percent of all of the water on earth can be used by human beings, and struggling countries feel the effect of this fact. How can you teach your child that not everyone has the same privileges that they do?

At Home Conservation
Make sure that your children understand how important it is to save water at home. If they are constantly taking lengthy showers, set up a timer for a preset amount of minutes. Once the timer goes off, they have to get out. Teach them to shut off the faucet when they are brushing their teeth and to use only the amount of water that they need. For little children, you can start a reward system for when they conserve water properly.

Conserving Water Outside
When children are not at home, it’s harder to monitoring their water usage habits. Provide them with a water bottle to take to school every day, and suggest that they fill it back up at the water fountain instead of just throwing it away and buying a new bottle at the vending machine. Not only will they be saving water, but they will be preventing multiple bottles from being thrown away each day. Be sure they recycle those bottles when they do get rid of them.

Education
Children need to know the facts and figures in order to truly understand the situation at hand. Ask schools if they are able to do a presentation on the importance of water, or visit a local conservation agency or water tower maintenance providers. You could also tape some facts and figures about water on the walls of their bedrooms or the playroom. Another fact provided by the Environmental Protection Agency is that the average family of four uses 400 gallons of water per day. Figures such as these can really be striking to children and help encourage them to start conserving water.

Help Others
One of the goals here is to make children understand that not everyone in the world is as fortunate as you are. Check to see if there are any programs where you can donate money to a child in need who lives somewhere else in the world. Another option is to volunteer at a local soup kitchen or food pantry. When people are poor or living on the streets, they likely do not have as much access to clean water as you do, if they even have any at all. You and your family will be both feeding and providing wonderful water to individuals in your own community. If you’re able to travel across the world, why not spend a few days volunteering there with your older children or teenagers?

Water is a wonderful substance that provides nourishment and cleanliness to our bodies. However, it’s a struggle for many across the world to have access to water. In your bid to create compassionate and loving children, be sure to include some of these water education tips and suggestions.

Rochelle Brandanowitz writes about parenting, green living & personal finance at http://www.homeinsurance.org.

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