Family

In schools all over Minnesota, students are working with teachers, staff, technical experts, and members of their communities to advance sustainability and do their part to save the world. And more than ever before, these students are collaborating across borders, learning from the successes and lessons of their peers across the state.

To help make the world a better place, Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys offers "green" challenges for all girls. Each month during the school year, each Girl Scout receives an e-newsletter where she is given challenges to learn more about the environment and how she can help sustain and improve it. The goal of these challenges is to educate girls by engaging in fun, hands-on learning opportunities where they can help preserve the environment for the future. Here is a sample challenge you can try at home:

Unstructured play (not including video games!) helps children weave together all the elements of life as they experience it. It provides an outlet for their creativity, and is an absolutely critical part of childhood. Before electronic games such as Playstation, Xbox and now the Wii, the only games available were board games and those we would make up in the streets with other neighborhood kids. The streets were the playground and anyone within a few block area was part of the game.

Going green has to be a way of living, and that means for the family as a whole. You and your kids need to learn what living a healthier, more eco-friendly lifestyle is all about, and why it is important. Here are some tips and teaching ideas to guide your kids into "eco-children" from infant through high school:

Eco-baby

Baby skin: Wash with warm water only and purchase organic products as your child grows.

Sometimes it feels as if birthdays are getting out of hand: too many parties, too many gifts, too much money being spent, too much of all the wrong things and not enough of the things that truly gladden the heart. It often happens that the simplest of gifts, those that come from the heart and involve some effort, are those loved and treasured the most. Use the ideas and resources below to celebrate your family's and friends' birthdays with homemade gifts.

Every fall we prepare for back to school. This means shopping for new supplies, setting new schedules, and (probably the kids' favorite) buying new school clothes. Here are a few ideas on how you can "green-up" your back to school routine this year.

Clothes: The best green tip for school clothes is to shop at second-hand stores. You can find great used and unused clothes at low cost to you and the environment. Buy quality clothing that won't wear out and can be handed down, whether to other kids in your family or on to a thrift store.

In generations past, children had fewer toys and their playland was the back yard and surrounding community. Families had less disposable income, and gifts were often handmade. Today, many children actually have their own playroom full of toys, gadgets, dolls and vehicles. Between birthdays and holidays, gift receiving and giving can be overwhelming. If you don't enjoy making handmade toys, there are many toy options that engage a child's imagination (tip: look for simple, open-ended toys that don't require batteries).

Try talking about "green living" with your parents, children, or grandparents and you will learn that the concept carries different meanings. The "Greatest Generation" saved cooking fat, drove less, and grew Victory Gardens to support the war effort. Their children, the Boomers, created communal living and "free stores," while circumnavigating the continent on cheap gas. In the outbreak of the energy crisis of the late 1970s, the Boomers joined their parents in experiencing forced conservation.

Many people think our grandparents' generation, those who came of age during the Great Depression, are the real environmentalists.

However, it often takes a family effort to initiate and successfully accomplish conservation habit changes.