The Good Human » Children

Can You Care For Children & Care For The Environment At The Same Time?

david — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:00:33 +0000

A while back, I was having a conversation with friends who have two small children, both under 5 years old. We were discussing how difficult it is to raise the children, what with both of them working full-time. I don’t have kids myself, but I can empathize with just how busy their life is. Somehow this conversation turned to what I publish here on The Good Human, and they said that while they can appreciate my eco-efforts, they don’t have time for all that “green” stuff now that they have kids. “We barely have time to take a shower once a day, never mind properly recycle or reduce our dependence on disposable products,” the mom said. “Our primary goal right now is raising our kids properly, not making sure we live as green as possible.” I hear you, of course it is! Who could ever argue that someone’s kids are the priority? Not me!

However, those kids are the ones that are going to grow up on this planet.

If we, the “responsible” adults, don’t take the initiative to make sure our planet is as healthy as we can make it, where does that leave the kids? Sure, they’ll learn about recycling and chemicals in school (unlike us), but depending on their age it’s going to be a while before they are out there on their own making their decisions about how to treat our world. That means it’s up to us to do the right thing, and that includes doing so while raising our children. If we show them that we’re too busy to clean up after ourselves, what lesson does that instill?

It’s everyone’s job to do the right thing.

Regardless if you have children, are planning on having children, or are planning on being childless, it’s up to every single one of us to work hard in order to ensure that the future of humanity doesn’t have to suffer because of our negligence. This is not a time for selfishness. Everyone is busy living their life, but we all have to find the time to do our part, regardless of our situation.

Your kids and grandkids will inherit whatever world you create and leave behind for them. You can care for children and the environment at the same time. In fact, your children are depending on you to do so.

*Note – my friends and I had a lengthy discussion about this and they decided they needed to do more, seeing it as a positive thing and not a drag. Sometimes, just a few words of encouragement is all anyone needs!

Image from BigStockPhoto

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TOMS Shoes – Giving Shoes To Needy Kids Worldwide

david — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 14:30:48 +0000

With every pair of their shoes that you purchase, TOMS Shoes gives a pair of new shoes to a child in need. Pretty cool, right? Their One for One program has given over one million pairs of shoes to children in need through their partners around the world. That”™s amazing.

TOMS”™ founder Blake Mycoskie found during travel to Argentina in 2006 that children there had no shoes. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by caring customers. Now 10,000 has grown to 1,000,000 pairs in just 4 years. Amazing progress and great program. If you are looking for a new pair shoes, you may want to check out TOMS Shoes even if only to see what they are doing for needy kids around the world.

And if you are interested in participating, TOMS also does a “Day Without Shoes” each year, which raises awareness of the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child”™s life. Over 250,000 people went without shoes in 2010 and more than that is expected on the next event, which is on April 5, 2011.

The Urban Farm In Denver – Cultivating Kids, Crops & Animals.

david — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:30:29 +0000

“Improving the lives of children living in high-risk, urbanized neighborhoods by helping to create a sense of positive self-regard and self-reliance, a strong work ethic, and hope.” Seriously, what could be more noble than that? I just found out about The Urban Farm here in Denver, which happens to be only 4 miles from my house or so. Started back in 1993 as “Embracing Horses”, the facility began as a horsemanship program for 15 inner-city kids. It was designed to give them a farm experience here in urban Denver, and in 1998 it moved to its current location here in Stapleton, a few miles outside of downtown. It is here that they have adopted a much bigger mission, which is to provide environmental education to children and their families alike. Over 3,000 kids visit each year, learning about agriculture, sustainability, and taking care of animals. Their facility has a 20,000 square foot indoor teaching barn, a 20,000 square foot Children’s Garden with a greenhouse, and 24 horse paddocks, all sitting on 23 acres and home to 250 animals. It is quite a sight to behold when you drive over by it, seeing as how you can see downtown Denver in the background!

After attending, their programs have shown that the kids:

Demonstrate increased knowledge and skills in the areas of plant and animal science
Understand the multi-cultural influences on Colorado’s continuing agriculturally-based economy and be able to track their own personal linkages to farming, ranching, and agriculture
Integrate their educational experiences at The Urban Farm with their school
Exhibit increased positive, non-aggressive, cooperative behaviors which incorporate acceptable conflict resolution approaches
Exhibit a strong work ethic and a sense of pride in the products they produce

If that’s true (and I am sure it is), these type of farms should be in every community across the country! They also offer tours, gardening workshops, birthday parties, and a therapeutic riding program for the Denver community. Looking to have your own plot of land to garden in while still living in the big city? You may want to check out their community gardens, which can provide you with plots ranging in size from 8×10 10×15 for seasonal fees between $50 – $70… composted manure included! Not bad for having a garden of your own to work, along with granting you and your family access to the other Urban Farm amenities and programs.

Learning about this farm has shown me just how important they can be for our inner-city and urbanized kids, with the majority of them never being around nature and gardens, or seeing any other animals other than their own dogs and cats. While I didn’t grow up in the “country”, I did have access to wide swaths of untouched nature to run and play in, and our town did have some small horse farms in it. If you live in an urbanized area, do your family and your kids a favor and see if you have a farm like this one near you – and go check it out. You won’t be sorry.

How To Help Your Child’s School Go Green.

david — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:30:29 +0000

Just a few weeks ago I came across a few websites that can help your child’s school go green. While there have been articles here on The Good Human about buying green back to school supplies and a green school in Colorado, these two sites below can help parents, teachers, and kids to make their schools more eco-friendly.

First, there is Green Up Our Schools, which is a grant program that provides money and resources for elementary school waste reduction and recycling plans. While they are just getting started in a few school districts, they are looking to expand to many more and want interested parents/educators/administrators to tell them about their home districts. The grant program focuses on education about recycling and solid waste reduction, and expects participating groups to form environmental student groups, meet with them weekly or semi-weekly, set up recycling services, and run two waste reduction projects per year. A list of activities for your student group, information for the recycling service providers, and step-by-step instructions for how to run each project are provided within the program. If you cannot get into the program as it is now, or are interested in learning about helping to green your child’s school or school district, they have a Resources page for teachers and kids. Included there is information about recycling, composting, art projects, waste-free lunches, and using our natural resources wisely.

The second site you may want to check out is Project Learning Tree, which has a GreenSchools! program that provides a blueprint for educators, students, environmental and health advocates, school board members, parents and interested community members to teach, learn, and engage together in creating a more green and healthy learning environment at their school. It combines environmental education, service learning, and leadership opportunities for students to help turn their school into a model GreenSchool.

No matter how we do it, we must start educating our kids about our environment and how our lifestyles can affect it. The earlier we start with them, the more they can learn and adapt to healthier ways of living lightly on our planet. If you have children or you are an educator, I really recommend incorporating an environmental program into your teaching, as the lessons the kids learn not only benefit themselves but the entire world as well.

Photo from by iboy_daniel