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Raising Kids Who Care About the Planet

By Anne Laufe

Do you want to ensure that your children are nature lovers? From taking a walk around the block to enrolling kids in classes and summer camps, there are unlimited ways for parents to raise kids who care about the planet, by incorporating environmental education into their children’s lives.

Local parks departments, Tryon Creek, OMSI and other organizations offer extensive summer camp and holiday break camps, in which kids can learn about all manner of flora and fauna. Tryon Creek also offers family programs for kids ages 2 and up and their parents, with presentations on topics like bats and animal tracking. In addition, Friends of Tryon Creek is working on a series of scavenger hunts so that parents can lead their kids through discovery activities at the park.

“It’s important to take kids camping and to organized activities at places like Tryon Creek, because it emphasizes that these are special places,” says Stephanie Wagner, executive director of Friends of Tryon Creek, “but it doesn’t have to be a daily occurrence. It’s just as important to find ways for them play in the backyard and collect things, to dig in the dirt and make a mess.”

Offering more challenging experiences and allowing children to take ownership of their adventures as they move toward their teen years is crucial to keeping them engaged in the outdoors. Consider canoeing or kayaking with older kids, or signing them up for rock climbing classes. Wagner says “when you have young kids it’s hard to imagine dropping them off at a trailhead and letting them go off for a two-day hike, but it’s important.”

Kelly Hogan, teacher at the Mother Earth Kindergarten, recommends that parents allow children to truly experience their surroundings. “We try to create this extremely safe environment for our children and it actually does them a disservice, because they haven‘t satisfied their urges to connect with the elements of earth, water, fire and air,” she says.

“Take them camping and let them tend the fire, or build a little fire pit in your backyard. Get kids moving – fly kites, swing on swings, take them on hikes. Challenge them by going a little further than you think they can go. Go to the beach and play in the sand. Let them get wet and dirty. Let them feel connected.”

Other recommendations include involving children in the chores of recycling and gardening and composting, and explaining why you do these things. Dan Prince, director of Outdoor School for the Multnomah Education Service District, says his wife, a kindergarten teacher, is particularly good at talking about her thought processes around their kids. As she rinses a container, she’ll say “I’m rinsing this out so I can reuse it instead of throwing it away” or “I’m going to try to do all of my errands in one trip today instead of multiple trips to save gas”.

All of these local environmental educators agree that simply taking your kids outside and letting them explore, sharing your enthusiasm for the natural world and showing that it’s important to you, are the most important things you can do to foster their own love of nature.