Be an Environmental Friendly Parent.

I believe that as a parent, I owe it to my children to make sure they live in a sustainable planet. Therefore, I always advocate to my fellow new parents that being environmental friendly will ensure we live a cleaner planet for our next generations when we pass on.

I happened to have a conversation with my spouse who went to a recent baby fair with a fellow new parents. As she was describing their loot, I realise how wasteful can a parent get. Not only they are wasting precious cash which can be save up for their children, they are creating plenty of waste which can be harmful for our environment.

So as a responsible parent we should always try to reduce the wastage we create by following some simple rules.

1) Don't buy more than what is necessary

I know sometime it can be tempting to buy things in a bundle as they often offer cheaper deal. However, if you buy more than you need and your child out grown it you will end up create unnecessary waste. So if possible, share the bundle with another parent. If that is not the option, just buy what is needed.

2) Take hand me down

Buying new items like clothing, toys or book can be quite wasteful, so taking in hand me down is a great ways to save the environment. You will give old item a new purpose and most of the time your children will out grow it pretty quickly. Just make sure you clean them up before giving it to your kids.

3) Reduce the use of diapers and baby wipes

This might be an inconvenience but if you truly want to help the environment this will have the greatest impact. Although diapers decompose fairly quickly, the amount we are using right now can fill up our landfill faster than it decompose. Baby wipes DO NOT decompose naturally so it has to go into landfill. So as much as possible, use cloth nappies and wash your babies instead of using baby wipes.

All of this might not be practical as every parent face different issue that prevent them from being environmentally friendly. However we can all chip in and do a little bit, our environment will be slightly better.