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PostsToday I have another great guest post written by Jenna to share with you.
Jenna’s focus this time is on how important it is for kids to learn about conservation.
Thank-you Jenna for your post.
Enjoy!
Cheers…Amanda…Excited Life Enthusiast! ;o)
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Teaching the Importance of Conservation
Energy conservation is one of the most important topics these days and more and more people are getting involved in an effort to not only help the environment and their communities, but also in an attempt to lower their own utility bills while they do it. Efficient energy practices have long since been known to reduce the amount families spend on their monthly expenses, but it’s important that your kids understand this too and it’s important that you’re the one teaching them.
Why Should You Teach Your Kids About Energy Conservation?
The very simple answer to this question is so that you can depend on them whenever you’re gone. If you set to work on teaching your kids about energy efficiency and good practices to have in place, you don’t need to worry about what happens while you’re at work or on vacation.
These behaviors also have the potential to stick for the long term. When they become adults, they’re much more likely to follow in your foot steps and keep practicing the steps you taught them, which will help them do their part for the environment as well as keep their own costs down. Hopefully they’ll teach it to their kids, and so on.
How Can You Teach Energy Conservation to Kids?
There are a good number of ways families can go about instilling these ideas into their kids. Commerce Energy has a great resource on their website filled with tips that will help families cut down their expenses and simply by getting your kids to understand and practice these tips, you’re already on your way.
When you start down your journey of educating your kids on energy efficiency, it’s important that they understand the basic concepts of money. Your job will be a lot easier if they know you’re spending money every month just to keep the lights on and the TV working. If they aren’t quite aware of this fact, this is the first thing you need to talk with them about.
The easiest way that you can make sure your kids are going down the right path when it comes to saving energy is leading by example. Whether you’re aware of it or not, your kids are watching you and many of the things you do will be emulated by them.
This is why it’s important that you practice what you preach. Make sure that you always reiterate the importance of turning off the lights when they aren’t in use and show them how you unplug appliances (like cell phone chargers) when you’re finished with them. Not only are they more apt to take your teachings seriously this way, but they’ll also have an easier time remembering them as they’ll constantly see you doing it – learning by repetition.
Developing some sort of point system could also benefit you and your family when it comes to learning about energy efficiency. Your kids obviously aren’t going to pay for their own utilities, but they can add or subtract “points” every time they save energy versus every time they waste it. This will give them a good understanding of what it means to save money on your bills each month and the reward system will give them more motivation to achieve the desired results.
Teaching energy efficiency to kids is an important practice, especially in these days when conservation is more important than ever. Just by leading by example and making sure they understand what it means to save energy, you’re already well on your way to instilling positive behaviors in them.
About the Author: Jenna is a freelance writer who is normally writing about personal and family finance. Jenna has been writing online for a few years now and likes to mix up her topics when she can, she loves writing about health and pets! When Jenna is not writing you can find her riding her bike or walking her dog! You can read more finance writing by Jenna at paidtwice.com
