Re: Climate (2020.08)
For many of us, stay-at-home orders have resulted in more time with our children and a renewed focus on the natural world. That makes now the perfect time to talk to your kids about climate change.
Yale Climate Connections recently published an excellent article to guide your conversations: How to talk with your kids about climate change. Featuring important considerations and helpful reminders, this article empowers you to start an ongoing dialogue that’s most meaningful for your own child. I encourage you to bookmark the article.
In a year full of difficult-yet-important moments, it’s understandable that you may want to protect your kids from the hard truths of climate change. But protecting kids from the truth will not protect them from the impacts. Ignoring problems do not make them disappear. We must talk about climate change openly and honestly with our kids, because they deserve to understand the facts that are appropriate for them to know.
Should you need to brush up on your own climate change knowledge first, there are no shortages of resources available. Climate Kids is a great interactive resource from NASA with nerdy climate change games such as “OFFSET!” (where you balance carbon emissions and sinks to achieve neutrality) and “Power Up!” (where you try and capture enough clean energy from the sun and wind to run the town).
Of course, climate change is a serious topic and it’s important to acknowledge that just like adults, kids experience anxiety about climate change. Talking about these feelings helps. For more about this aspect, the Australian Psychological Society has an entire guide for parents about the climate crisis.
Land trusts can play a big role in providing space and programing for kids to be in nature. And this will help kids build connections with nature that will motivate them to help take action. To find the land trust nearest you, visit Find a Land Trust.