As a parent, it can seem like a never-ending battle to get your children to stop wasting water. Beyond teaching them good habits for life, teaching your children to stop wasting water can have significant financial implications in the form of a lower water bill. The good news is that there are plenty of strategies that you can use that will help your children understand the importance of saving water.
Give Them A Comparison
Many children are visual learners. Therefore, to help them understand the importance of saving water, a visual representation of how much water can be saved is a good approach. For example, you can measure the amount of water that is used by your children when brushing their teeth using two different approaches. The first approach is when they turn off the water while they’re brushing, and the second is when they leave the water running. Showing them this major difference will motivate them to turn the water off while brushing their teeth.
Re-Wear Clothes
In many cases, your children’s clothes may be in desperate need of washing. However, on days when you take it easy around the house, your children’s clothes may be able to be worn without being washed. By teaching your children to recognize when they can re-wear their clothes, you will reduce the amount of laundry you do, which will help you save a lot of water.
Time Their Showers
Unless the water isn’t heating up quickly enough, there is no reason for your children to take a long shower. Therefore, to help them save water, it’s a good idea to use a timer so that they know exactly when they need to finish up. Since it can be easy to lose track of time while showering, even for adults, using a timer will help your children develop good habits so that they can more easily identify an appropriate shower length.
Don’t Dump Water from Cups
Giving your children a cup for water that they can use whenever they want is a great way to help them save water. Rather than dumping water that they don’t drink, they can use their designated cup to finish their water before they refill their cup. Especially with kids being home more, this can result in significant water savings.
Let Them Help You
There are countless other ways that children can be a part of saving water in your home. To help motivate them and hold their interest, it’s a great idea to let them help you plan strategies for saving water. By taking ownership of the process, your children will be far more likely to follow through with the plans that are made.
If your household wastes water because your pipes aren’t heating up properly or because of a leak, contact a plumber in your area. You can explain to your children what the plumber will be doing to let them understand this process as well.
Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan
