The Sustainable Toddler: 7 Simple Things Our Family Does To Stay Sustainable

I am partnering with Earthjustice to as one simple question:

Why should our children inherit a world made worse for them because we weren’t brave enough to preserve it for them?

It’s a simple question, but it’s loaded. After all, as the adage goes, “We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” We need to think about what kind of planet they will inherit? What kind of planet do we want them to inherit? 

My daughter loves to play outside, like most kids. Where we live, she has the chance to run through not just manicured parks but through farmlands and woods. Recently, on a walk this past autumn, she stopped to pick up a leaf. A rather large leaf at that. As a sudden breeze blew through the branches of the trees above us, more leaves came cascading down around us. She looked up, eyes filled with wonder, watching dozens of leaves fall down around us. She shouted, in her almost two-year-old vocabulary “WOW! LEATHES!” 

All kids deserve a chance to marvel at the world around us, from falling leaves to watching plants grow to marvel at it all without disturbing a millimeter of it. 

Here is what our tiny family is doing to be more sustainable:

1. We only buy what we need: Instead of overbuying food that could eventually spoil before we even have the chance to touch it, we plan out what meals we want to make and the snacks we want and only buy that. 

2. Reusable is bae: Instead of only using one-time-use items, we opt for reusable ones. We choose kid-friendly utensils and containers that can be washed out and used again.

3. Say no to one-time-use bags: We are BIG believers in reusable bags. We keep the majority of them in the trunk just in case we need to do a grocery store run. That means no single-use bags. 

4. We share our kid’s clothes and items: That’s right! That means lots of hand-me-downs from big cousins and it means passing down things to younger cousins. It saves the planet. It saves money. It saves space. It’s a win-win. 

5. We only drive when we need to: We only have one car and because of our lifestyle, days may go by before we use it. 

6. We cook at home mostly: There are nights when we are too tired to cook and order out but those are peppered in between the nights we prepare our food. Reduces the amount of single-use items we use.

7. We give away a lot: We just sent a few of my pumps (pour one out to breastfeeding) to a local women’s charity and a gently used baby food processor to a friend. That means some folks won’t have to purchase a new one and ours doesn’t have to end up in a landfill.

None of these are major and on our own, we won’t make a dent in the problems we see in our environment. BUT if each of us takes the time and makes a little effort, we can ensure that our children have the chance to marvel at this beautiful place we have the chance to live in. It’s going to take all of us to ensure that the generations that receive this precious place from us. 

For more ways to help our environment, visit Earthjustice’s Action Center.