'Show them how small actions have impact.' 4 tips for raising eco-conscious kids.

As a mother of 3, the words "eco-friendly minimalism" is a bit of a pipedream. 

While I often yearn for a life with minimal stuff, ideally in a soothing neutral palette, where I grow all our food, make my own yoghurt and, if we’re really going for it, live in a very comfortably furnished yurt, the reality doesn’t always match up. 

Because kids are a lot, in every possible way. 

But living an eco-friendly existence with three kids underfoot can be achieved. It just takes some planning, a little bit of compromise and okay yes, a healthy reality check at times.

Here are 4 tips for raising eco-conscious kids without adding to your mental load (or needing to purchase a yurt). 

1. Use interactive conversation starters. 

Let’s be honest, kids require a lot of stuff. Endless amounts it sometimes seems. And they never stop growing.  

From lunchboxes to tracksuit pants, it can often feel as if you’re on an endless treadmill of consumption, which isn’t ideal when you’re trying to reduce your carbon footprint and lead a more sustainable lifestyle. 

Reducing fast fashion and single-use products led us to embrace hand-me-downs and invest in high-quality essentials that can withstand the rough and tumble of #kidlife. 

The new franksters range of reusable water bottles from frank green ticks all the boxes for starting conversations with kids about water wastage, recycling, litter, re-usage and single-use plastic. 

Image: Supplied. 

Available in two sizes (ideal for little and big kids), with an extra durable flip straw lid, vacuum insulated to keep things cold and made from ultra-durable stainless steel, the frankster range also introduces us to 5 new characters; Scout, Splash, Robin, Piper and Flick. 

Each character has its own sustainability mission, making them a fun and interactive jumping off point for discussions about the environment and the actions we can take to do better. 

Frankster Splash (superpower: turn off the tap) reminds us when filling up bottles to make sure we’ve turned the faucet off tightly. This has become part of our daily routine when we get ready to leave the house.

2. Make it part of the daily routine.

Kids learn by doing and creating daily eco-friendly habits is one of the easiest ways to integrate sustainability into everyday life. 

In our house we have an active worm farm, small veggie and herb garden and a composter, as well as the usual recycling and FOGO bins. 

Image: Supplied. 

These things aren’t hugely significant, but they are part of our day-to-day life. 

Just like frankster Robin whose superpower sees kids sort and recycle like an eco-warrior, the kids know that fruit and veggie scraps go into the compost bin or worm farm, soft plastics into one recycling bin and hard plastics into another. 

My kids help me in the garden on weekends to weed and maintain our veggie patch. The excitement when we actually grow something is next level. 

It’s the little things that add up to make an impact.

3. Be part of the change.

We are very lucky to live next to the beach and as active users of our immediate environment we try to take responsibility where we can for helping keep the sand and water clear. 

Our local surf club and community social media pages often organise clean up events, especially during times of the year when the beach cops a beating from visitors. 

We try to take part in these events as often as possible, to not only help our community but get the kids involved in something bigger at a grassroots level.

Franksters Flick and Piper (superpower: spot litter and spread the word) help inspire conversations around litter and the importance of keeping our environment and wildlife safe from single-use products. 

Image: Supplied. 

For the kids, seeing the build-up of disposable coffee cups, plastic bags, and other detritus in one of their favourite places is enough to inspire their own action (and very stern reminders to their mum about remembering her reusable coffee cup!)

4. Actions have impact.

From picking up rubbish that we see when out for a walk with the dog, to making eco-friendly choices when shopping, we chat with the kids about the choices we make and their impact.

Image: Supplied. 

During the school holidays, my STEM obsessed son saw a video of an Air Vortex Cannon you could make it home. 

Cue a project he needed to do immediately. 

Initially, he wanted to go out and buy all the components, which included quite a lot of single use, non-recyclable items. 

I suggested he see what he could find around the house and in the garden shed as we couldn’t go to the shops that day (and I wasn’t overly keen on buying a bunch of stuff he’d only use once). 

Within about an hour, he’d found everything he needed. 

He’d improvised on a few things, substituted others, but the core collection was there, and he was able to assemble his project without needing to buy anything new. 

It was a great lesson in re-purposing and how a little bit of imagination and a whole lot of creativity can go a long way (just like frankster Scout's superpower of turning the smallest thing into something completely new).

Sure, it’s only on a very small scale but it was a great way to demonstrate how our actions have impact.

Shop frank green's new kids collection of reusable bottles, franksters. 

Feature Image: Supplied/Mamamia.