Easy Ideas for Eco-Conscious Parenting
In honor of Earth Day, we’re sharing our 3 top tips for green parenting
Written by Mia Weber
While every day is a new opportunity to incorporate sustainability into your life, we love having the Earth Day holiday as a fun prompt to jump-start ideas. Every parent knows that life with a little one sometimes leaves you with little time to contemplate much else than your baby’s immediate wants and needs – but these days, sustainability in daily life really doesn’t have to be an extra step or a burden, and many of them allow you to bring your older children and toddlers into the process (some of our tips will also even save you some money)!
Read on for some of our favorite ways to go green and help make the planet a better place for our children’s future! Everyone wins, including the ultimate parent: Mother Earth herself!
1. Use Recyclable & Reusable Products: Recycle and reuse are two of the original pillars of “going green!” It goes without saying sometimes, but the more you can consciously commit to not only recycling in the home and reusing items like canvas shopping totes, Stasher snack bags, and cloth diapers, but also to using your purchasing power on gear made from recycled products the better!
For example, our chit chat and chit chat plus strollers are crafted with a unique recyclable fiber infused nylon SpaceFrame – basically, you get a great stroller that’s lightweight, sturdy, and easy to fold, while also getting a gold star as an eco-conscious consumer! Plus, with a high-quality stroller, you can easily hand it down to a family member or friend when you’ve outgrown it (providing no major damage has been sustained).
2. Cut Down on Driving: For many parents, it’s not practical to fully cut out driving, but it’s a great step in the green direction if you can be as mindful as possible about when you can take an extended walk for family outings. Make it easier to leave the car behind for short jaunts by investing in a quality stroller wagon (like our spacious caravan).
A stroller/wagon like the caravan makes an all-day outing easy thanks to its large amount of storage space for everything you might need for a day at the park or the beach. Plus, multiple kids? No problem. Add Double Seat Kits or a Ride-Along Stroller Board to increase seating capacity. An added bonus here is that less car usage means more physical activity and outdoor time for both you and your kids – you can never have too much fresh air and exercise!
3. Reduce Waste with Multi-Functional & Multi-Use Products: One of the biggest eco-chic hacks in baby gear shopping–that will also be a relief for your wallet over time–is to invest wisely in multi-use products that either do more than one thing, or grow with baby. The more use you can get out of a single product, the less you spend on upgrades and replacements and the less goes into the landfill.
Examples here include cribs (we love Babyletto’s and Ubabub’s convertible cribs that can transform into toddler beds) and highchairs (the Stokke Tripp Trapp and the Nomi High Chair can literally be used into adulthood), as well as many multi-configuration strollers and toys like our scoobi. The scoobi starts as a tricycle or balance bike for little ones, and then can be easily converts to fun scooter as your child grows – it’s super easy to transition to different age levels as child hits different coordination milestones from 2-5 years old, and transition back down for younger siblings once fully outgrown!