Tips re climate/sustainability changes with young children

[Duauchich]

Wondering if people have any tips that might be useful to parents of young children on ‘easy wins’ for the climate, given all the discussion this week. This is not a thread for sell your car/never get on an airplane/hand weave all your own clothes etc etc.

For me, I like to buy my children’s clothes new, but I don’t buy character clothing in case they get fed up of it and I sell on (for very little) or give away all their clothes once they’ve grown out of them.

I don’t have any plastic plates/cups/cutlery. I have lots of wooden toys and I minimise plastic. I have been given some of our main plastic toys ( for example Peppa pig house) and plan to pass on as much toys as I can when the children are grown out of them (all in very good condition so far).

I use biodegradable wipes but I don’t use reusable nappies.

I have a child with an obsession with kinder surprise eggs which is dreadful for the environment with crappy pieces of plastic that get lost straight away. Not sure how to solve that.

with Christmas coming up I’m conscious of plastic and waste.

would be great if anyone had any tips - Christmas related or in general!

I think you are doing great already with your efforts.
My top tip in general is to stop buying small plastic bottles of water (you know the 250ml ones specifically designed for kids) and get a small reusable bottle (very cheap from Ikea). But it sounds like you have may already have that covered.
Christmas: I’d say no to traditional selection boxes. Smarties seem to be an outlier among mainstream chocolate brands by having 100% paper packaging. Tony’s Chocolonely is also an ethical brand & plastic free.
Gifts can be experiences (especially from aunts/uncles grandparents etc) such as a trip to the panto or cinema, maybe there are special Xmas light displays (our local zoo has this every year). Plus I think the kids will have lovely memories of these activities, rather than some random toy.
Teens could be given membership to local art gallery or whatever else suits their interests.
If physical gifts are on the list, I would look to local producers, rather than mass produced crap from China etc. and money spent supporting local businesses mostly stays in the area too.
Best of luck with your efforts to curb your plastic consumption, it really is one of the best things you can do for the planet.

I don’t get the point of this. I think these kinds of things are faux sustainability. The fact is we’re all far too consumerist and greedy for stuff and that needs to stop. (And I’m guilty of this too - it’s so ingrained in our culture).

Why not use cloths that you can wash in the machine instead of all the manufacturing that goes into disposable wipes?

Buying clothes new isn’t being sustainable - why label it as such? Your used clothes are good enough for someone else but you don’t want to use used clothes? Screwy logic.

Just don’t buy the kinder eggs - you’re in control of how you spend your money. Don’t blame it on your kids.

Why buy lots of wooden toys? Just have a few. Do the kids actually play with them all?

With Christmas, big ones are:

1. make sure you buy wrapping paper that can be recycled (no glitter or shiny stuff).

2. Just buy presents for kids. Stop perpetuating consumerism for adults who really don’t need new stuff year on year on year.

I don't know why non character clothes are more sustainable than character ones? There are enough clothes to last us all of a generation. Just buy second hand, don't pretend your new buying is ethical.

With regards to toys, wooden toys may or may not come from ethical sources.

Tbh, I echo others in that Stop Buying New Stuff is the best and only answer.

If this seems harsh, I know that it's worrisome to want to do the best thing, but if you really are concerned, stop trying to justify why some new stuff is ok and some isn't. The only stuff they need that's never been used before is food!