How can we educate children to respect the environment? The projections and the great proclamations on the future are not very effective. Education to safeguard the environment always starts from experience in everyday life, or from the simple things we can do, every day, together with our children
Close the tap when washing your teeth, making separate collection, throwing paper in the basket, using public transport or the bicycle instead of the car, whenever possible … are some of the precautions to be used for teach respect for the environment to our children. Yet, for the little ones, the transition from teaching to learning, in this case, is not so simple, because we are talking about actions than sometimes they do not have a visible feedback in everyday reality. On the contrary. “I always throw them in the basket, but it seems that only me do it because the roads are full of garbage scattered almost everywhere!”, Children often repeat me.
At this point the question arises spontaneously: What is the Respect for the environment? And because we do so difficult to put into practice what you need for its safeguard and to transmit aenvironmental education To our children?
Respect for the environment: what it means and how to teach
To understand How to teach children respect for the environment Let’s start from the help that neuroscience studies can provide us. In his podcast To Wild Mindthe psychologist and neuroscientist Andrea Bariselli says: “In the maze of brain connections there is an area called medial prefrontal cortex which usually regulates the image of the self. With magnetic resonance imaging, a group of researchers recently discovered a truly disconcerting thing: not only is this area off towards strangers, but does not light even when we think about our self in the future. We are unable to empathize with the potential suffering or problems that ourselves would be destined to live ».
This mechanism dramatically affects the understanding and implementation of activities for respect the environment And to safeguard it, because “the brain is not predisposed to accommodate certain types of information, or perhaps we are just wrong the way we convey these messages”.
This neuroscientific discovery seems to be perfectly in line with the thought and way of acting little and younger: in fact, almost no child and no boy ever worries about the future consequences of one’s own action. It is therefore necessary to work on the present to safeguard the future.
Let’s take a step back and ask ourselves What is respect for the environment And where it comes from. Respect towards any element comes from the knowledge that you have of the element itself. Specifically, the more we will know the environment that surrounds us, the higher the motivation to respect it will be. Teaching children respect for the environment means, therefore, make children experience the environment of the environment itself.
What to do to respect the environment? Practical activities to do with children
For Sensitize children to safeguard the environmenttherefore, it is useful to start from the environment itself. For example, to make sure that separate collection makes sense, it is important to show the small i terrible results that are obtained by not applying this process.
A family goes to the sea and one of the parents points out to his children: «Look, the waves brought this shore plastic bottle. Don’t it seem the same as what we used yesterday? ». The child replies yes, but then it objects: “But I put it in the plastic container!”. “In fact, this is not the same, it is another, identical,” replies the father, who then explains: “It is here because whoever used it did not put it in the basket as you did”. Inevitably, the child looks around and notes that, in addition to that bottle, he is present on the beach Another garbage.
In this case, the parent proposed a reflection on a real fact that happens here and now and that the child is experiencing firsthand. Is not talking about a distant future or a situation in which the child cannot imagine. On the contrary, the child is experiencing what it means not to respect the environment Starting from everyday life.
I was by car with my son, who was 7 years old at the time. Along the road there was a factory with a chimney from which a very showy white cloud came out. On the walls of the factory there was a huge writing that said: “It is water vapor”. My son read it and asked me: “Why did they write it?” Then I said to him: «The gigantic white cloud does not make you a little impression? It might seem the smoke of a fire. Or a gases For us human beings. Probably, if there was no writing, many passers -by would call the firefighters or signal the police to make checks to check if it is a toxic cloud. So the owners of the plant decided to inform passers -by What it was. ” My son, he promptly asked me: “But doesn’t the water vapor hurt?” And I caught the ball: “No, the harmful gases are others …”. And here is on a silver plate the opportunity of a reflection on the abuse of cars which produce a toxic gas for the human being and for the environment, a gas that is less visible but absolutely more harmful than the cloud produced by the factory.
Speaking of teaching children respect for the environment, how to make them understand that you have to Avoid waste (of water, food, materials …)? The answer to this question is almost obvious: the only way we have is example.
- “Mom, why do you put the water you used to wash the salad in a bucket?”
“I use it to water the balcony flowers, so it won’t be wasted.” - “Dad, what are you doing?”
“I am blending the fruit skins, the shells of the eggs and the remains of the vegetables that we cleaned for dinner, then we put them inside the land of the vase we have on the terrace …”.
“Why?”
“Is called “composting process“: If we buried all these remains, slowly they will transform and become a substance that will make the earth more fertile. When we plant flowers or other types of plants in that vase they will become more beautiful, more luxuriant and it will not be necessary to use chemical fertilizers, which should be avoided … ».
Tips to teach children respect for the environment
It is never easy to give some good Tips to teach respect for nature to the little ones. The best practices to teach respect for the environment are some actions accompanied by reflections On what you see and live in everyday life, especially in the present.
Wanting to make a list of Good practices to teach respect for nature…
- It is important to do immersive experiences in naturesuch as walks, bicycle trips, visits of particular places for their beauty or for their importance.
- It is advisable to make some Reflections on what you seesince the thought linked to a motor experience will create a certain attitude, which in turn will determine behaviors, up to generate, over time, a habit.
- Each reflection must be short and incisive, it must be transmitted through a language adequate to age of the boy or girl and take into account her skills and knowledge.
- The example of the parent accompanied by the relative reflections on what, how and why, is essential to validate good practices.
- The projections and the great proclamations on the future are not effective.
THE’education to Environment safeguard Always start from the experience in everyday life, that is, from the simple things we can do, every day, together with our children.
