We, our children & Mother Earth

In order to find ways to help her own children to connect to Mother Earth, VIJI BALASUBRAMANIAN shares with us some simple tips for helping our children be in tune with Nature.

In the sweltering heat I lay back to rest against the bark of a huge walnut tree, enjoying the delightful shrieks of my children, nieces and nephews having a bath in the ‘pump set’ at our farm. “Bathing at the pump set”, in local Tamil parlance, means enjoying a delicious bath as water gushes out from the pump-pipes that draw water from the earth to irrigate the fields. Refreshed, thirty minutes later, the children had dried themselves off, and were walking down a winding path amidst trees to devour jackfruits, mangoes, nongus (ice apples) and bananas. Needless to say, when they slept I cherished the complete and satisfied expressions on their faces.

Our busy, urban life doesn’t give us the chance to live in this natural and connected way every day. It’s a far cry. The streets of Chennai are so busy and unruly that we hardly walk anywhere. There is not much greenery where I live, so going to a park or forest means many carbon footprints before we actually get there. The anguish sears through my heart that our children may never bond with Mother Earth and thus learn to take care of her well. But then, my practical side kicks in and I explore.

In that spirit, I share some of the practical ways
I have learned to help children stay connected with their environment
and turn into beautiful and responsible eco-socially aware youth and adults.

There is a tendency amongst adults to label the children of today, the generation Z, as lazy, materialistic and highly comfortable with technology. Often I feel the heat rise to my face when people make such flippant remarks. I have opportunities to observe and spend time with many children, and children are children – at their core very simple and sensitive. Yes, they are extremely comfortable with technology, but somewhere in me a nagging voice asks, “Aren’t we responsible for turning their comfort into an obsession?”

In our busy urban lives, it is easier to engage them with electronic gadgets and media rather than take the effort to do nature-based activities. Despite all my best intentions, many a time I find myself falling flat. I then have to pick myself up, motivate myself and start again. “Monkey see, monkey do,” is the mantra that I hold in my heart for all my interactions with the children around me.

BE THE SOLUTION, not part of the problem. Every child can do his or her meaningful bit.

MOVE AWAY FROM CONSUMPTIVE CULTURE: small shifts – cloth bags while shopping, serve smaller helpings at meals so as not to throw food away, take care of clothes and toys so you can recycle them to others … and the list goes on.

SEPARATE WASTE: Recycle everything that can be re-used.

SPEND TIME IN NATURE: This is the most common suggestion in all nature-related journals and parenting books, with a reason! When planning your next vacation or weekend day trip, consider the parks, valleys, beaches, botanical gardens, and jungles in your vicinity.

RECOGNIZE THE INTERDEPENDENCE BETWEEN US AND NATURE: It is not always possible to be outside. So spend time logging the connections in your children’s mind – the coconut fruit that keeps you hydrated, the logs of wood that went into your fireplace to keep you warm, the milk that went into the yummy tasty hot chocolate. Make a month-long scrapbook journal of the natural resources used every day. Use it as a tool to ask interesting questions : what happens to all the water in the swimming pool every time they clean it? Where do birds find water when the rivers dry up? How will we entertain ourselves if we have no electricity?

USE TECHNOLOGY TO YOUR ADVANTAGE: Don’t use the screen only as a babysitter. There are wonderful programs and websites that raise awareness of the environment, e.g. Earth 911, Eeko World, Nature Challenge for Kids, EPA’s Environmental Kids Club, Recycle City, The Planet Slayer, Kids Planet.

EDUCATE CHILDREN ABOUT FOOD: In 2010, Chef Jamie Oliver won the TED Prize for his vision of a ‘Food Revolution’. Watch his outstanding TED Talk at https://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver?language=en.

ENCOURAGE CAREERS IN FARMING AND AGRICULTURE: A week ago, one of the students who attended my career counseling session expressed a desire to pursue a degree in agriculture. Bravo! I applaud her and hope her family will too. Let’s hope that she grows up to be a great eco-conservationist.

and the list goes on and on. Where there is love there is interest. Where there is interest there is love. I’m really grateful for all those mindful and meaningful pauses in my life that help me connect to ‘we’, children and Mother Earth.

Article by VIJI BALASUBRAMANIAN