Engaging Students in Environmental Education: Role of Parents

There are some frightening things in the real world. Global warming, the loss of natural ecosystems, the extinction of species, the accumulation of plastic in the ocean, and the demands of over 8 billion people for adequate supplies of food, shelter, and material goods all contribute to an already vulnerable situation. You can be a student asking yourself, "What do you want me to do?" Fix it? Not my fault that things got so out of hand! I don't see the point. Everything's deteriorating anyhow, so why bother?"




Most parents want their children to grow up responsible citizens who care about the world around them and who will protect it, not fear it. Children of all ages and stages of development have the potential to become active stewards.

Not by magic will our children grow up to be environmentally conscious adults. Many of us frequently wonder what type of earth we're leaving behind for our children," said Simeon Ogonda, a youth development leader from Kenya. But not many people wonder, "What kind of offspring are we leaving Earth to?" Engaging the next generation is more crucial than ever, and parents share the responsibility of raising the future's guardians.

Students and Environment

Students nowadays are less healthy, more worried, and more easily distracted than previous generations, according to several studies. Unbelievably, the average youngster now spends more than seven hours a day in front of a computer and fewer than twenty minutes a day engaged in physical activity outside. Meanwhile, there is emerging evidence suggesting students who spend time in nature have lower rates of stress, better physical and mental health, greater opportunities for creativity and self-expression, higher levels of self-esteem and are better able to regulate their emotions and behavior.

Placing Students on the Path Towards Responsibility

Compassion, and taking individual responsibility are all hallmarks of good stewardship of the natural environment in which we live.

As a community, we must work together to raise tomorrow's environmentally conscious individuals. Just take the Pathway to Stewardship and Kinship program in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada as an example. This initiative is the result of a partnership between educators, professors, leaders, public health authorities, and environmentalists.

The Pathway team saw a need to ensure that young people had access to the resources they need to learn about, appreciate, and defend the life systems that are essential to our survival. Such resources may even include special websites designed for students who seek help with their homework. Some interesting facts that might come in handy are covered in invasive species essays and various research papers crafted by professional writers. Anyway, to teach young people to become active citizens of and for the planet is to prepare them to be good stewards, which does not involve entitlement, authority, or dominion over the globe.

Any person, regardless of age or physical ability, can save the planet. Whether it's via gardening, butterfly-rearing, protecting a natural area, or cutting down on energy use, there are countless easy methods for young people to make a difference in their own neighborhoods. Responsible behavior, according to Indigenous worldviews, is making the most of one's resources. Each constructive step forward brings greater optimism. And every glimmer of optimism is a force for good.

Think of your stewardship experience as a road you must travel. Along the way, children need to have certain experiences in nature and the world around them in order to develop into engaged stewards. These experiences build confidence that allows them to pursue further ones. Listed below are some suggestions for activities that you may undertake with your children. It will help them develop a sense of responsibility and gratitude for the world around them.



Summing Up Your Role

If you want to engage your children in environments education, instill this fundamental stewardship knowledge in them as they grow:
● Explain what "sustainable harvest" means by doing some reading. To what extent can we live off the land without destroying it?
● Practice using maps, compasses, and / or GPS to navigate unfamiliar areas in the great outdoors.
● Identify your own impact on the environment. Learn more about the global resource use of your country and how it stacks up against others.
● Set a target for yourself to lessen your impact on the environment. Give it a month and see how well it works for you.
● Learn about and address environmental and social concerns in your community. Of course, there are many more things to learn about our planet. But why not begin with those offered above?

Author’s BIO

Karl Bowman is an eco-activist and writer. Karl creates a lot of web content about the current state of the environment and the ways to save the planet. As an activist, he participates in demonstrations and holds lectures on eco eco-awareness.

No comments

Thank you for dropping by! I would love to hear what you thought. :)

Thanks!
♥,
Diana