How do you explain the butterfly effect – small actions can spur major changes – to a five-year-old? How do you explain the impact of climate change to someone whose laces you still tie? How do you grow the change-maker of tomorrow, today?
Start small, say experts. Sneha John, Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychologist, Medcare Camali Mental Health Clinic, explains: “Whenever you are ready to address the subject, find age- and child-appropriate ways to connect climate issues to real life. Kindergarteners may have trouble understanding the carbon cycle, but they may be able to understand that it rains more, or less, than it used to where you live. An adolescent may already have learned about the science in school and may need instead to talk about difficult feelings and potential ways forward.”
For some children this lesson is made more real – scary in fact – through observation. Climate activist Priyanka Lalla, for instance, found herself committed to a lifetime of change because of the destruction she witnessed at age 10 in her home country of Trinidad and Tobago. “I started my advocacy at age 10 when Hurricane Maria hit the Leeward Islands. I saw the devastation and the destruction, and I saw the young people on television, standing in the middle of it – their homes were destroyed, their schools were destroyed, their belongings were gone and I saw the devastation on their faces and this was so close to home – it was a few islands away … I soon learned from my parents that this was actually our own actions resulting in [climate change consequences] this,” the United Nations Children's Fund Eastern Caribbean youth ambassador told Gulf News in an earlier interview.
Dr Ateeq Qureshi, Child Psychiatrist, Priory Wellbeing Centre, adds: “When discussing issues such as climate change and famine, honesty is the best approach, but always in an age appropriate manner. Younger children do not necessarily need to know a doomsday scenario as this might make them anxious. But parents and teachers can talk about the need and the benefits of eco-conscious living. They learn by experience, so involving them in practical environmentally-friendly habits is the best way to teach them. Older children can be given clearer, scientific information about the urgency to act on climate issues.”
Using play to teach
Life coach and founder of Nudge, an initiative that aims to educate children about international issues such as hunger, Suzanna Varghese explains that play allows children to explore, learn and retain information. She explains the benefits of teaching through play:
- Cognitive benefits: Play promotes critical thinking skills and helps children explore the world. It allows them to use their senses and encourages exploration and curiosity, and these skills are the foundation of intellectual development and cognitive processing. Play builds problem-solving skills and strengthens concentration, persistence and resilience.
- Spark creative thinking: Perhaps the most obvious benefit of playing is that it increases a child’s creativity. Creativity is closely tied to divergent thinking, which explores many possible solutions.
- Social benefits: Through play, children develop an understanding of social expectations and rules. Children learn to cooperate, follow the rules, develop self-control and team spirit. It provides opportunities to share thoughts and ideas, to listen and make choices and decisions. Play develops self-confidence by experiencing success and challenges, social skills such as making friends and conflict resolution.
- Emotional benefits: Play helps children understand, process and express their emotions. This helps in the development of their identity and self-esteem. It helps to build self-worth by giving a child a sense of his or her own abilities and to feel good about themselves. Most importantly, it nurtures empathy and compassion.
- Physical benefits: Active play supports children’s overall health and sense of well-being, physical growth and appreciation for the benefits of active lifestyles and skills for independence.
Starting point
Dr Qureshi says that an understanding of global events presupposes an understanding of a world beyond the child’s experience. “This is often not present before the age of three years. Beyond that age, children develop an understanding of things that they have not immediately experienced. Symbolic thinking, ability to understand other people’s emotions, thoughts, perspective (theory of mind) starts developing. However, their understanding in the early pre-school years is literal and often based on experience - so they are able to understand some elements but not the detail,” he says.
Children from primary school age start becoming aware of general news and global events based on their exposure to these. In the early primary school years their understanding is limited and often literal, e.g. not fully able to understand the scale of things such as distances, times, populations or the motivations and reasons that events might happen.
Once kids begin to head to school, learning of the world beyond the sandbox commences. He adds: “Children from primary school age start becoming aware of general news and global events based on their exposure to these. In the early primary school years their understanding is limited and often literal, e.g. not fully able to understand the scale of things such as distances, times, populations or the motivations and reasons that events might happen.
“However, as they get to older primary years their understanding develops and by early adolescence most have a fairly good awareness of events. In today’s world information can travel very fast but can also be very narrow, based on the child’s interest, so it is often the exposure that they get at school and at home that determines how clued up they are to world events.”
Dubai-based Indian expat Sneha Kothari is a believer in early intervention. She says: “I introduced Samaira to nature when she was two-years-old, learning outside, making art with leaves, unstructured play, etc. Now, she is five, and we talk about Earth Hour, reducing food waste, reducing the use of plastic, turning off unnecessary lights and appliances, etc.”
Kothari also uses positive reinforcement as a tool of communication. “I praise her when she takes the initiative. It can be as simple as, ‘Thank you for turning off the water and lights; that is good for the environment’,” she explains.
This is something Lalla tried to do as well. “I did my own research and came up with small solutions, and I think that’s the key that I’m trying to advocate as well – small steps that lead to great impact. One of them was zero waste living; so I created the idea of this lunch kit that I started to do for myself and my sister. Then I pitched the idea to my school and my friends and my peers, and other schools in Trinidad and Tobago. The idea was sustainable, reusable containers and utensils - you eliminate those wasteful items. And this was just one small step that was leading up to limiting my carbon emissions and the amount of waste that I was producing,” she said.
“If a child is displaying the typical symptoms of anxiety, open up a general discussion before jumping to conclusions about the cause. For kids who express concern about the natural world and the animals in it, the first step is to acknowledge their anxiety and distress rather than labelling it as something pathological. Help your child appreciate that this is a manifestation of their love and caring, and that these are normal ways of responding. Once you have validated the child’s feelings, help them gain some perspective. Helping them find accurate information for example, explaining that your city will probably see more rain and hotter summers is more precise and less scary. It is important to let children know that the fate of the world doesn’t rest on their shoulders. You don't have to be individually responsible for saving the planet but we can do things individually to look after our own footprint. Then, help them communicate what they’re doing to influence other people.”
At home, mums and dads can supplement knowledge with action. Arfa Banu Khan, Clinical Psychologist, Aster Jubilee Medical Complex, says: “It can start with teaching them simple habits like saving water, electricity, etc.”
Give kids reason to hope and ways to take action. You can talk about how you’re already supporting some of these activities around your own home, whether it is by supporting reducing food waste, recycling or simply by more conscientiously turning off unneeded-lighting or appliances.
Empowerment after all always begins with a whisper that turns into a roar. “Give kids reason to hope and ways to take action. You can talk about how you’re already supporting some of these activities around your own home, whether it is by supporting reducing food waste, recycling or simply by more conscientiously turning off unneeded-lighting or appliances. Ensure yours is not a one-and-done conversation. The first intentional talk may be the hardest. Look for climate-related touchstones in your day-to-day routine,” explains John.
Practical tips on helping them understand
- Lead by example: The same way your kids could learn an inappropriate behaviour can be used to develop environmental awareness. Take your kids outside. Learning to enjoy nature is the first step to care about it, says John.
- Reduce, reuse, recycle: Teach children to use the appropriate receptacle for their waste: reduce, reduce, reduce, reuse, reuse and recycle as much as you can. Little things, like packing a waste-free lunch, can make a powerful lesson for your children, especially in these difficult times of plastic. Give them chores, like helping you classify your recyclables. As a reward, they can save money earned by recycling to buy a cool toy.
- Exercise your green thumb: Work together in a garden or compost project. If you can’t, buy one plant for them to learn to take care of; it’s a fun way to learn how plants need sun, water and soil. Use your senses and enjoy the flowers.
- Saving water and electricity: Teach them to close the faucet while brushing and bathing. You can use stickers as a reward for remembering to turn off the faucet. When you are out of the room, your toys don’t need the lights on.
Teaching can start with teaching them simple habits like saving water, electricity, etc.
Earth Book by Todd Par is ideal for little ones between 3-5 years
Lorax is a good fit for children between 6-9 years
Magic School Bus and Climate Change for ages 7-10,
What is Climate Change for ages 8-12, and
Greta’s Story for ages 12 and upwards.
Sneha Kothari, mum-of-one based in Dubai, says the ‘Lift the Flap Questions and Answers about Plastic’ has helped her teach her five-year-old about plastic.
Toys such as Ecologic Puzzles and Nudge – World without Hunger are helpful in teaching little ones about the importance of caring for the planet while toys from National Geographic Kids are great tools to teach older children about the beauty and grandeur of their planet, adds John.
Generation next is tasked with saving the overheating planet – but this is the time for us to teach them how to do it right. Let’s test the butterfly effect.
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