There is no doubt that having children adds an extra strain on the environment. One more body to feed, house, clothe, diaper (at least for a little while) and otherwise equip for life means more resources are being pulled out of our ecosystems to support these little lives. While there are some areas of life that we may have to allow some wiggle room for these new lives to learn and grow (perhaps succumbing to having more water go down the drain as your littles learn to properly wash their hands), there are also many eco-friendly choices we can make to ensure we lessen our footprint while we raise our children.
Washable Wipers – As I mentioned before in this post about green-living baby shower gifts, little cloths make for an eco-friendly swap for paper towel and tissues. You could even use small cloths like this for wiping baby’s bum, instead of the store-bought wipes that are often full of toxins and harsh ingredients for little bottoms, and increase our wastes.
Teach the “If it’s yellow” rule – When children start using the toilet, flushing it can be a very motivating activity. By teaching them the “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down” rule, and explaining why we want to save water (there are some fantastic children’s books for this, like All the Water in the World – Affiliate link, FYI), we can help reduce our families’ water consumption.
Spend Time In Nature – If you don’t experience the natural world, how can you learn to appreciate it? As children spend time outdoors and realize the connection between themselves and nature, they are more likely to grow up to be good stewards of the planet. I wrote all about this before in one of my favourite posts to-date here: Kids Belong Among the Wildflowers.
Invest in Reusable Food Containers – Instead of opting for the small, individually packaged snack items for kids, invest in reusable food containers that are eco-friendly and offer an easy way to pack bulk and fresh foods that use little or less packaging.
Create Transient Art – Offering children opportunities to express themselves through creativity and art is an important part of child development. It offers a plethora of benefits, including motor skills, decision making, language development, visual learning, inventiveness, self-esteem, self-expression, and on and on. When children get into it, there’s a lot of paper and glue that gets used in the process, most of which is destined for the trash. As it’s the process, rather than the product, where the learning happens, why not give children more opportunities to create transient (temporary) art with loose parts, which can be deconstructed and reused over and over. (Stay tuned for a more in-depth look at Loose Parts Theory, as I have a post that’s about 80% finished sitting in my drafts folder, just waiting for it’s chance to be published in the near future. You can sign up for my newsletter here if you want to be sure not to miss it.)
Shop Children’s Consignment – The strain that clothing production puts on our environment is substantial! Did you know that making 1 pound of cotton clothing (one pair of cotton trousers), requires on average: 10,000 lb. of water, 0.5 lb. of fertilizers, 0.4 oz. of pesticides, and results in emissions of 6 lb. of greenhouse gases? Amazing, right? When we choose not to participate in fast fashion, and make more eco-conscious choices about where we get our clothes, we can help to decrease this strain. Choosing to shop consignment, giving a new life to clothes that no longer suit the previous owners, is a fantastic way to do this. Not only does this cut out the production process, but it also helps to decrease wastes by keeping these passed-on clothes out of our landfills.
As a big supporter of thrift and consignment shopper all of my life (thanks to my eco-friendly and thrifty Mama), I know first hand the amazing finds that are to be had. Especially when you shop for kids’ clothes, as often the children outgrow their most adorable fashions before much (or any) wear and tear can happen to them. Of course, when you live in a smaller and more secluded community such as my lovely little no-chain-store Salt Spring Island, your limited children’s consignment options aren’t always overflowing with the styles and sizes you were hoping to find. I could take the ferry and drive over to the mainland or Victoria Island to browse through the larger consignment shops, but that would make for a full-day trip and a fair bit of money, as well as the energy consumption involved in the driving and ferry trip (and all the other random purchases I would probably make on a whim).
Recently, I made an order from Pea Shoots Consignment, which is a Canadian children’s consignment store in Nanaimo, BC. I was thrilled to find out that they now ship Canada-wide for a flat rate of $10. When you consider that a store-bought item of kids’ clothing is at least $10 (some brands charge so much!), when you purchase a few different items for the fantastically reduced prices this consignment store charges, you are still saving money from buying new. Even better, if you fill your Pea Shoots Consignment order with clothes, toys, books and accessories that add up to $100 or more, your shipping is free. Pretty sweet, right? There’s also a loyalty program for the serious Pea Shooters out there, and following the Pea Shoots Consignment Facebook page is a good way to keep an eye on what’s happening in the shop.
I love to support small, local, mama-run businesses, especially when they support eco-friendly practices, so I have teamed up with Pea Shoots Consignment to share about this business and offer you delightfully conscious readers a giveaway of $25 worth of store credit to use on your own kids’ consignment order. Enter through the Rafflecopter form below. Contest is open to Canadian entrants only (Quebec, since this doesn’t exceed $100 you can enter, too!). Make sure to bookmark this page, because you can come back and enter by Tweeting and/or Pinning each day until the giveaway ends. Full contest terms and conditions can be found within Rafflecopter. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: This post has been sponsored by Pea Shoots Consignment. However, all of the above remains my own personal and genuine thoughts and opinions. As always, I only share about products, services, and experiences that I can truly stand behind and believe my readers will benefit from. You can find my full disclosure policy here. (Oh yes, and there was that one Amazon affiliate link, that grants me a commission if you were to purchase through said link.) If you have a brand or business that you feel would fit with my blog and readership, take a look at my Partnership Opportunities page to see what I have to offer you.
40 thoughts on “6 Eco-Friendly Parenting Practices {Giveaway}”
Love supporting Canadian companies. Thanks for introducing us to this one (new to me).
Besos, Sarah
Journeys of The Zoo
Yes! I am so happy when I get the chance to support Canadian (and this one is fairly local for me, too). Even better when it’s a small, mama-run business that promotes eco-friendly practices! Thank you for commenting and supporting, Sarah! You are always so lovely.
Good ideas Hannah and cute photos too!
Aw, thanks Brett!! 🙂 It makes me so happy when my “real life friends” take the time to look at my blog and leave comments!
I recycle clothes and we compost everything we can.
Ooh! How do you recycle clothes? Making them into new ones? Donating them to thrift stores or consigning? I’m very interested as I have a lot of clothes that can no longer be used (our cat likes to eat material and leaves large holes), and have been looking for something positive to do with them.
One way our family helps out is by Composting! We try & do our part. The kids love bring out any food items and putting them in the barrel!
Yes! Composting is a great way to not only reduce wastes, but to teach children about the cycle of decomposition and how it helps in the garden, if you use yours for gardening. You can even start a composting worm farm! Love it! Thanks for commenting!
I use hand-me-down clothes whenever I can and give away our clothes when we’re done with them.
Hand-me-downs were so exciting for me when I was younger. Finally it’s my turn to wear that outfit I’d been admiring on someone else for so long!
Yay! I discovered Pea Shoots last week… It’s awesome! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Isn’t it a great option?! Especially for us folks here on Salt Spring with fewer kids’ consignment clothing options.
I love this post! There are many things on this list I already do, such as second hand shopping, using reuseable containers, spend tons of time in nature, and always letting the yellow mellow. I also think cooking dinner from scratch is a great was to be kind to the earth cooking from scratch generally uses less packaging which is always good. I also recycle absolutely everything, and always try to donate reuseable items before throwing them out, as well as use things like vinegar and steam for most of my household cleaning- better for my family and the environment!
Yes! I love the eco-friendly cleaners. I make most of the cleaners we use in our home from ingredients like essential oils and castille soap.
some we like to follow are.. we use recyclable bags instead of plastic ones,repurpose glass jars..I use small ones for my spices, baking suplies(baking soda,baking powder ect) and larger for storing pasta ,rice, ect.., we grow a our own herbs and a few veggies ..
Arg! I always forget to bring my reusable grocery bags. That’s one area I definitely need to improve in.
such nice looking clothes too!!
Aren’t they gorgeous?! There are, of course, “boy clothes” and gender neutral options, too, but I couldn’t help myself with the cutesy dresses.
I stay eco friendly by using cloth diapers for my children
We LOVED our cloth diapers! Still happy to be done with diapers, though. 🙂
We recycle everything, even the smallest things. I’m sure we have the fullest recycling bin on the block!
Awesome! I’m still slowly figuring out what can be recycled where we live and what can’t.
I save anything reusable for the local church sale. Having a big container so you can do this day by day.
Nice! And a great way to give back to your community!
composting is a great thing to do
Absolutely! Such a neat way to show children how matter biodegrades, and how we can make use of it again to compost our garden.
We use cloth diapers and cloth wipes, we recycle, we grow vegetables and fruits. I just bought and old sewing machine and started to sew little projects (using old clothes and sheets). We repare and reuse what we can.
We loved our cloth diapers! These days they make them so easy to use and comfortable, it’s such an awesome way to raise eco-friendly babies.
We buy a lot of pre-loved clothing. No use buying new when there is good clothing already out there.
Yes! I totally agree.
We are very eco conscious here We recycle 95% of everything and only produce 1 bag of garbage a month , sometimes longer . We do alot of resale, reuse as well
How awesome! 95% recycled is a great stat to have! Keep it up!
I recycle stuff for crafts, with my little granddaughter. We have such fun creating and using our imagination, and helping the environment at the same time. :o)
Yea! A great way to recycle! This reminds me of the theory of loose parts and all the options you have for creating transient art when you save and reuse odds and ends. You can check out this early learning theory and how to put it to use in this post here.
We use energy saving lighting, buy reusable products and try recycling as much as possible.
recycling, buyinb eco friendly products and coffeee 🙂
I buy local and I use low energy products
We try and make sure to purchase products that are both Eco-friendly and ethically sourced.
I am the Queen of Vintage everything…lol…I also, always donate my items too.
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