Tips, tools, advice, and activities for raising eco-friendly kids while nurturing compassion, resilience, and community engagement. It can be hard to fit "green living" in with the necessities of modern parenting: you can do 100 things right, but still the trappings of 21st-century life--the waste, the consumerism, the plastic straws--invariably find their way home. So how can you raise kind, balanced, responsible kids, all while doing it sustainably? Drawing from cutting-edge social science research, parent interviews, and experiential wisdom, science writer and parenting blogger Shannon Brescher Shea shows how green living and great parenting go hand in hand to teach kids kindness, compassion, resilience, and grit...all while giving them the lifelong tools they need to be successful, engaged, and independent. Growing Sustainable Together is packed with easy tips, expert parenting advice, and practical hands-on activities for the toddler years up through the early teens. Each chapter includes a "what to know" section that breaks down core sustainability knowledge, like:
- Energy efficiency and renewables
- How to instill anti-waste and anti-consumerist values
- Better transportation options
- Understanding how and where we get our food
- Developing a lifelong love for environmental activism and volunteering Shea highlights "what next?" action steps; a fun, enriching do-it-together activity; recommended books for parent and child; and additional resources for those who want to learn and do more. Growing Sustainable Together concludes with a practical appendix that gives talking points for enrolling teachers, school systems, and fellow parents in eco-friendly activities.