Want to convince your parents to live sustainably? Great! Then you've come to the right place. Young people can learn a lot from their parents and grandparents - and vice versa! Our Grandparent generations is even a role model in terms of sustainability for young people! Because in the past there was no plastic, no energy-guzzling smartphones - and you couldn't fly to the other end of the world on vacation either. But sometimes the sensitive generation conflict becomes apparent when visiting one's own family. For example, because the parents have habits that are no longer considered desirable as a young person. When different views clash, arguments are inevitable - but they are also absolutely avoidable!
In this article, I would therefore like to give you 10 valuable tips with which you can give your parents or even your older siblings a sustainable life - and lifestyles like veganism, vegetarianism, zero waste or minimalism - without being annoying!
Here is in advance a small Overview for you:
- Shopping together
- Cook together
- Casually relate insights from own everyday life
- Give away sustainability
- Watch a documentary together
- Show pictures of your engagement
- Find simple entry topics
- Raising awareness of how children benefit from sustainability
- Collect garbage together
- Simple Challenge to start
Important: Please do not feel personally attacked by the content of this article. Of course, there are also older people who act very sustainably and young people who couldn't care less about the environment. This is not about blaming the older generation, but about working together to meet the challenges of our time.
10 tips to get your parents excited about environmental protection and sustainability
People are different. Some are open to change - others love constancy. And some soak up the knowledge of others - others prefer to insist on their habitual views and standpoints. Accordingly, you also have to healthy portion of empathy if you want to inspire your family about sustainability.
Don't start arguments and show respect at all times. Never say that a view is wrong. We humans all crave affirmation to a certain extent and don't like to be rebuked. Especially not from our own children. Try to put yourself in your parents' shoes and slowly and steadily convince them. Perhaps in the same way that you would like to be convinced yourself.
Now here are the promised 10 tips you can use to teach your parents about sustainability.
1. shopping together
When my mother heard that my brother and I were now vegan dietAt first, it was a shock for them. She simply did not know what to cook in the future. Only salad left? Then we went shopping together and the worries disappeared into thin air. After that, she had a feeling for which foods are vegan and where to find them in the supermarket. And now, for example, almond milk is a permanent guest in the fridge.
Continuing Contributions:
2. cook together
When cooking or at the dinner table, your family will get excited about sustainability! For sure! That is my rock-solid conviction based on experiences with my parents and parents-in-law. What is there to say against a meal prepared with love? Lasagna with vegetable mince or a Bread dumplings in a mushroom sauce with vegan cream? If your parents are allergic to the word "vegan", you can simply prepare the plant-based alternatives for them and only explain after the meal that the minced meat was not made from animal meat. In the best case scenario, they will have already said that it tastes great 🙂
Continuing Contributions:
Tip: Offer with pleasure to cook alone and to spoil your parents as a small thank you! This automatically increases the willingness to engage in something new and not get the proposal in the wrong.
3. casually narrating insights from own everyday life
What are your plans for today? How was your weekend? Whether it's a visit to your parents or a weekly phone call, questions like these are a real door-opener to get your family members excited about living a greener life. Use the opportunity to tell them about your latest vegan cooking action, your visit to a demonstration for climate compliance, or your adventurous bike ride in nature, for example. Positive change can be so simple and beautiful - especially when you tell about it with enthusiasm.
4. give away sustainability
Mother or father have a birthday soon? Is Christmas just around the corner? Or do you just want to say thank you to your parents again? Such days and moments are idealto give an environmentally friendly product - or a thing that makes life even more sustainable - as a gift! For example, how about a reusable CoffeeToGo mug, waste avoiding Fruit and vegetable nets or one of many worth reading Books about sustainability? Let your imagination run wild.
Tip: Look you with pleasure in the Sustainability Shop from CareElite around to get you further inspired!
5. watch a documentary together
Everyone knows it: you see a movie or a documentary that opens your eyes to the Environmental problems of our time or a certain grievance in our society. And that's exactly how you can get your parents excited about sustainable living. Just suggest watching a documentary together to think outside the box and learn something new. Alternatively, you can simply suggest a movie to them or give them a date when an interesting feature will be broadcast.
Continuing Contributions:
- Sustainability documentaries
- The best plastic waste documentaries
- Docs about factory farming and veganism
6. show pictures of your engagement
You have once again picked up trash together with others while jogging or participated in an animal rights demonstration? Then don't be afraid to tell your parents about it or send them a picture of your action via Messenger. They're sure to show interest - and open up an opportunity for you. Opportunity to explain why you're so committed to them. Here's how to get your family excited about sustainability!
7. Simple entry topics and motivators Benefits
As already mentioned, everyone ticks differently! If you can put yourself in your parents' shoes, you can certainly think of a few topics that occupy them on a daily basis and where it would be easier for them to find motivation and access to sustainability. In our case, for example, these were the areas Garden, household and Food. My mother has her garden has since been redesigned so that it now hosts dozens of different bird species. accommodated. It makes us mighty proud that she dared to make this change!
Continuing Contributions:
8. make them aware that they are also living sustainably for their children and grandchildren.
Want to get your family excited about sustainability? A real change for life does not need only the HOW, but always also the WHY before eyes! When your parents live more sustainably, they do it not only for their own health, ecological or animal ethical reasons. No. They do it also for you - and for your grandchildren and all generations that may come and live on this planet in the future. I believe it is extremely beneficial to make your parents aware of this - and to awaken additional protective instincts, so to speak.
Continuing Contributions:
9. go to collect garbage together
Plastic waste in the environment is one of the greatest ecological challenges facing mankind. We are the problem - but we can also be the solution! How about getting your parents excited about sustainability on a walk together, where you can simply Have some tongs and bags with you and collect trash from nature? It's really incredibly fun, extremely calming and will automatically give you add more karma points.
Related links:
10. propose them a Simple Challenge
If you're not staying with your parents, you'll probably be leaving soon. Before that happens, you can challenge them with a little challenge to try new things and live a little more sustainably. For example, the to master plastic-free shopping next time or itself eat a plant-based diet for a week. However, depending on your parent's character type, it may be important to have more fun and less pressure to change with these challenges.
Book Tip: In my book "Living Sustainably - The Challenge"you'll find dozens of these little challenges that your parents can do whenever they feel like it and have the time. If you like, you get it here*.
Inspire your family for sustainability - It's possible without stress!
I hope that with the tips from this post, I can help you make sustainable living more palatable to your parents and other family members. To do this without annoying discussions and arguments, you should always show empathy, respect and appreciation. Because the Changing habits is difficult for most people.
At this point, I also definitely want to commend both my mother and mother-in-law for always being open to our adjusted lifestyles and for instigating a change in their lives as well!
Do you have any questions or suggestions about this article on parenting and sustainability? Then, as always, feel free to write me a comment.
Stay sustainable,
PS.: In the sustainable family blog you will find more valuable tips! Learn, for example, whether it makes sense, simply not having children at all for ecological reasons.
