ARTICLE TITLE
TEACH THE CHILDREN
Children are our future, and what an awesome responsibility it will be for them to steer the earth into the next century. It is, therefore, vital to teach children early in life that God is our Creator, Redeemer, Owner and Provider, and that He has entrusted His world to our care. We are His stewards!
Teaching children to care for the world begins with caring for their environment—that means being good stewards of the home, the school, the community, the country, and the universe at large. These educational ideas may require some real changes in lifestyle and habits, but teaching our children how to be better stewards of God’s earth will benefit both them and the world. We need to empower our children to care for the environment!
Teaching children to care for the world begins with caring for their environment—that means being good stewards of the home, the school, the community, the country, and the universe at large."
LEAD BY EXAMPLE
Dwight Moody once said, “Where one reads the Bible, one hundred read you and me.” Children will emulate you when you turn off the water while brushing your teeth, take shorter showers, and turn off the lights when you leave a room, or recycle your newspapers. Modeling is a powerful teaching tool!
PARTICIPATE
Get children involved in hands-on projects. Organize cleanup days for children to clean their classrooms, their desks and the school building. Teach good habits such as respecting school property, not littering and not vandalizing the walls of any school building with graffiti. Children in each classroom can help plant beautiful flowers and trees as well as vegetables. Moreover, provide opportunities for them to adopt projects in the local community to care for and improve the environment.
THE THREE "R'S
Talk about ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Teach children that the plastic that is thrown away will be sitting around, littering the earth, for hundreds of years to come. So the less we produce and throw away plastic, the cleaner the earth will be! Once children become excited about this, they might enjoy preparing recycling boxes for depositing newspapers, tin cans and glass bottles in. To get this started, children could reach out through fun skits at school or church that highlight the value of recycling.
CARE FOR GOD'S CREATURES
Explain how God gave Adam and Eve responsibility for the birds and animals as well as the plants in the Garden of Eden and how every one of us has inherited this responsibility. It’s important that children do what they can to protect and enjoy God’s creation. Get involved in projects to protect endangered species. Children could simply be taken out into the neighborhoods and shown the need to care for birds and animals. Discussions could be encouraged in which the importance of not hurting animals is stressed and not shooting them with slingshots just for fun. Make a simple bird feeder and hang it up in the garden and let the children watch the birds enjoy the treats they fill them with.
Explain how God gave Adam and Eve responsibility for the birds and animals as well as the plants in the Garden of Eden and how every one of us has inherited this responsibility.
GO ORGANIC
Introduce children to the benefits of organic foods. Head to the closest organic fruit farm with your children and pick strawberries, mangoes, blueberries or any delicious fruit available. Discuss the benefits of organically grown food.
MAKE IT FUN
Visit the local library. Expose children to environmentally friendly organizations, books, websites and groups. These can help to get children interested in caring for their environment.
True Story...
Michael’s fifth-grade class adopted a road near their school. They wear gloves to protect their hands, and pick up trash and broken glass along the road. They also plant beautiful flowers in the median and along the sidewalks. Keeping this adopted road looking clean and neat is their way of being good stewards of their community.
