Eco-Friendly Parenting Hacks To Take The Guilt Out Of Every Day

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With countless millennial parents choosing not to have children due to the estimated 58.6 metric tonne carbon footprint doing so can create annually, it’s natural to feel the weight of environmental responsibility as a parent. Luckily, there are things you can do to enjoy parenthood and still have a positive environmental impact, starting with things such as cloth nappies and wipes, and then going onto more long-term parental eco-focuses, some of the most effective of which we’ll be discussing here in our top 3 eco-friendly parenting hacks. 

Our Top Eco-Friendly Parenting Tips

# 1 – Buy secondhand

Kids who grow fast can require sometimes extensive purchases of both clothes and toys throughout the year, many of which are created through damaging processes using materials like much-dreaded plastic. Worse still, many of us are guilty of putting these items into landfills when we stock up on new ones, creating a double-whammy of environmental damage that’s easily avoidable when we can simply make the effort to shop secondhand. Sites like Vinted and Facebook especially now offer access to practically new kid’s toys and clothing of all sizes, making it possible to stock your youngster’s wardrobes in a way that not only prevents you from investing in harmful practices but actually sees you preventing unnecessary additions to landfill in the process. 

# 2 – Offset electricity usage

Having kids significantly impacts the amount of electricity you use in a range of ways. It’s not always possible to reduce this parental increase, but it is possible to offset any damage that you’re doing here, both by ensuring rules such as switching lights out when leaving rooms, and by sourcing renewable energy in the first place. You can do this through either home initiatives like solar panels or with the help of companies like All Seasons Energy which offer renewable energy that’s ready to go. While it does still always pay to limit usage where you can, these steps will make a huge environmental difference, ensuring that any extra electricity your kids use/require you to use needn’t add to environmental damage after all. 

# 3 – Ditch meat (at least some of the time)

The fact that meat accounts for 60% of all global greenhouse gases caused by food production is also the reason why more families than ever are also reducing their meat intake to make a difference. Certainly, eating meat among a family of four every night is going to cause significant damage overall, while reducing that meat intake for a veggie alternative just one or two nights a week can have a huge positive impact. This is especially the case if you get your children involved in the process, thus making them more likely to either follow in your footsteps with their own families or even adopt an informed vegetarian lifestyle that helps to reduce their carbon footprints for their whole lives long.

Eco-friendly parenting is possible, meaning that you can live a little greener so that you don’t need to live with any guilt – simply put these pointers into action to make it happen! 

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