WHAT DO I TELL MY KIDS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE?
5 tips when explaining climate change for kids without scaring them
So here we go, this is the big one. In my journey to change one thing, every week, for 52 weeks to make my life greener I had to start somewhere. But where?
Should I start by going back to buying milk from the local milkman
to reduce my plastic waste? (I have such fond memories of skateboarding at the back of the local milk cart, the muffled whizzing sound of the electric motor, me taking on the role as Marty McFly from Back To The Future).
Or should I check my home's energy rating to see what I can change to improve its impact on the environment?
Then on a rainy trip to the cinema to watch Frozen 2 with my 6 and 4-year-olds it hit me...
While wondering how melting glaciers would have made Olaf's life somewhat different I had a real wake up call, I glanced to my left and watched one of my babies staring at the screen (no doubt in awe of Elsa's latest outfit) and realised,
all this was for my kids.
They were the reason I was doing this, they were the reason I was, for the first time in my life, genuinely scared of the future. So ‘thing’ number one became obvious:
To explain to my kids, in a non-scary way, climate change and to see if they want to join me on my ride!
Easy I thought I would simply sit them down, show them a video or two (maybe some Blue Planet) explain the carbon cycle and global warming etc with some diagrams and that would be it. But here's the thing, how do you actually explain such real, but such abstract concepts to children, how do you talk to your kids about climate change without scaring the s**t out of them?
As is always the case I researched, hard, and found that there are a lot of amazing people out there that have covered this topic. So I bowed to their experience, took a deep breath and gave it a go. Below are 4 tips I found really helped.
Tip one, do it now, climate change isn’t going away
I really don’t want to dwell on how time is of the essence when we are heading towards an environmental catastrophe, but let's face it, it is (if you want to read up on it the WWF
or New Statesman are good starts).
Put simply, get on with it!
Do it this week, please for the sake of our planet talk to your kids as soon as possible, don't put it off until next week. It really is quite important.
Tip two, start small, look on your doorstep
I found this tip from the Rain Forest Alliance
and it really does make sense. Start small.
We are currently teaching our 4 year old how to read, when we set him down at night eager and ready for bedtime stories, we don't crack out the complete works of Shakespeare, no, we turn to Chip Biff and Kipper
and our little boy spells out each letter until he gets a word, each word until he gets a sentence... You get the point, walk before you can run.
'start with something more tangible for them. You could use a houseplant to explain how plants “breathe in” the gases that we breathe out, and vice versa, in a mutually-beneficial cycle.'
'Introduce the idea of interdependent systems by exploring your neighbourhood. Where does your water come from, and where does it go after it circles down the drain? Where does your food come from? Your air? Be sure to emphasize that “the environment” is not some faraway place, but our immediate surroundings—and that we are all connected whether we live in big cities, sprawling suburbs, or rainforests.'
Tip three, get them to love nature - get outdoors
I once remember listening to a speech by Sir David Attenborough
at the premier of Our Planet. There was something he said that really stuck with me:
"I've always believed that few people will protect the natural world if they don't first love and understand it"
Sir David's modus operandi was laid out in one statement. By showing the beauty and wonder of our natural world we will come to love it and, in turn, want to protect its fragility.
This is now our family's guiding principle. If we can get our kids to love nature then we hope, in turn, they will want to protect it. Although we have always been outdoor types we have now ramped this up and use 'getting outdoors' as the basis for all family free time.
You don't need to go on 5 mile hikes every weekend (very hard with a 4-year-old I can tell you), there is so much that can be found on a macro level, bees collecting pollen (honey for us), trees growing (carbon dioxide) or even just ants doing their thing (I’m sure someone will tell me how ants help our ecology but I’ve yet to find out.)
Then when our kids grow up we can introduce more complex mechanics such as the
carbon cycle at a global scale. The Rain Forest Alliance also points out it is important to work on an understanding of the 'difference between climate and weather' for example '20-to-30-year scale (climate) vs. every day fluctuations (weather)'.
Tip four, remind kids how awesome our planet is
Now this tip was an absolute winner for our kids. It comes from an amazing list of resources by the National Geographic. Put simply children use the senses to learn, and for our family seeing is often at the top of the list of senses.
Surround your kids in the beauty of nature, show them amazing photo galleries, use TV time to let them experience the wonder of life one earth, read good old fashion encyclopedias
that explain planet earth and our natural world.
This tip goes hand in hand with tip four, a metaphoric left and right hook of joy if you will!
Tip five, celebrate climate success stories and people making a change
One of the main principles in my journey to become greener was to try, at all times, to celebrate the successes and make it fun. Let's be honest kids don't like misery... So my final tip is make it fun and celebrate!
Every week in my journey to change one thing I am going to (as much as possible) do it with my kids. Next week I will be trying out who gives a crap. The opportunities here for poo jokes and daddy's 'bottom burps' are endless!
I hope to make next week's 'change' (and all future weeks) fun for my kids, to show them heroes like Simon, Jehan and Dann, and to use these stories to educate them as to why we, as a family, are doing this.... So bring on the crap!
So how did it go with my first 'thing'?
Did my kids 'get' why mummy and daddy were going to be making a few changes to our lives to try and help out planet?
Well to be honest they have been amazing (kids usually are) and we have actually decided that 'thing' number one will be the bedrock for everything we now do during this journey. I realised that ironically 'thing' number one is more than just a simple one week change, it is the reason why I am changing, without my kids I am nothing and they're now part of the ride!
References
- NPR - How to talk to your kids about climate change
- Rainforest Alliance - 5 Tips for Talking to Kids About Climate Change (Without Freaking Them Out)
- National Geographic - Talking to kids about climate change
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About Me
I set my self a challenge, to change 52 things in my life, one a week, for a year to become greener. I wanted to have fun doing it and celebrate amazing people along the way.
The focus of my journey was to see if ordinary people could make simple, relatively inexpensive changes to our lives to make a big difference to planet Earth.
Why not take the challenge too?
I want to grow!
My ultimate aim for 52 Things is to inspire as many people as possible to make small weekly changes to help save our planet.
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