How to help your kids be more energy conscious
At Nectr we are passionate about the environment and energy conservation. We believe it needs to be a life skill taught at an early age, just like making the bed. Life as a parent is all about leading by example, using everyday tasks to teach our kids how and why things are done. Being energy and environmentally conscious is an important part of parenting and if we start to instill important daily habits today, it will have a positive impact for tomorrow’s generation.
A great start in guiding your children to be energy conscious is to explain how energy is used in the home. For children to relate and take action, understanding why and how we use energy in our everyday lives will provide context for being more energy conscious.
This article will detail how hands on experience is always important for children to absorb information and provide tips to get them excited and drive home a sense of commitment and routine.
5 steps share with your children
Leading by example is always the most powerful way to encourage good habits, by practicing energy and cost saving habits at home with your family every day it will ensure we are making a long-term impact and developing daily habits. We can start making some very simple changes ourselves to help demonstrate and teach our kids some important lifelong lessons:
Step 1: Develop an energy saving checklist together
It’s important to show your children how to make a positive impact on their carbon footprint. Walk through the house together and ask them to suggest where you might be wasting energy. Write down three or four points to consider per room and then add this checklist to the fridge or somewhere central.
Step 2: Point out that you have turned off unused appliances and lights when you leave the room
One of the greatest energy-wasting practices is leaving on appliances such as the television, computer, and video games that are not in use. If you get into the habit of turning off appliances when you are finished and turning off lights whenever you are the last person to leave a room, kids will most likely follow your example.
Step 4: Encourage riding a bike, walking to school
Reducing the use of cars on the road can reduce one’s carbon footprint. If you can, encourage your children to walk to school a few days per month or to the shops on the weekend. Even encouraging the kids to ride their bike to a friend’s house rather than always driving them will help.
Step 5: The importance of recycling
Recycling can be fun but requires a bit more effort and organisation. Kids absolutely love being involved and feeling helpful. Showing them how to properly organise the recycling and dispose of rubbish is key in teaching energy conservation. Another fun idea to teach the important of managing food waste. You could start your own compost at home to help with food wastage and landfill lessons.
Make a pledge together, to reduce your energy consumption as a family. The more you pay attention to your energy consumption and pledge as a family to start changing daily habit at home, the more your kids will intuitively follow in your footsteps and always think about taking action. Your children might even pass along those eco-friendly activity to friends at school and eventually instill the same habits to your grandchildren, we can start to make a difference now.
By teaching and guiding your children to be energy-conscious this will make a positive impact now and continue for the generations to come. Ensuring you are signed up to a cleaner or greener energy plans is a positive step forward. Have a look at our 100% carbon neutral or our 100% GreenPower plan. If you are interested in installing solar and/or battery, see how Nectr can assist here as well.
If you found this blog handy, join us on Instagram and Facebook and learn more about energy saving hacks directly onto your feed. We would also love to hear any energy saving tips you may want to share with us, at the end of the day it’s all about sharing the energy and looking after our planet.
