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In 2010, approximately 13 percent of the
world’s population was hungry—and by hungry, I don’t mean, “I can’t wait for
dinner, I’m starving!” No, these 925 million people across the world were
without food and may not have had a meal for several days. At the same time,
over 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted every year, globally. While not wasting
food in your home probably won’t help to feed a hungry family across the globe
tonight, a little perspective certainly gets the point across. Awareness and
efforts to stop food waste can help to conserve our resources and improve our
environment. One big step toward a less wasteful future is to teach our
children to not waste food. When people are raised a certain way, they
generally maintain those practices for the rest of their lives and pass the
same habits to their children. Your efforts with your children could help to
conserve food and waste for generations to come.
Education
If you tell your child they can’t do something, they generally don’t understand
why. They end up thinking you’re just being mean because you can be. Take the
time to explain to your children the value of food. Tell them about the
families who go to bed with nothing to eat. Explain to them that wasting our
food is harmful to the environment. Not only does food waste go to the
landfill, but the excess packaging is tossed as well. Giving your child a
reason for your actions will go a long way toward earning their cooperation.
Meal Time
Children are often picky eaters. If you son
or daughter absolutely hates green beans, don’t expect that to change. Serve
them an alternate vegetable that they will eat instead. Don’t expect a miracle.
Some compromise will need to be made. When filling their plate, serve small
portions. If they want seconds, that’s fine, but smaller portions will cut down
on leftovers at the end of a meal.
Yep, You Too
Lead by example. Your children can be hard
to convince sometimes; however, explaining the reasoning behind your decision
and holding yourself to the same standards will earn points towards full
cooperation. Children will always follow your example, especially when you
don’t want them to.
Nobody’s Perfect
No matter how hard you try, there will be
leftovers. Whether there’s a hunk of meatloaf on your plate that you simply
can’t finish or an entire bowl of pasta that no one touched, waste is waste.
Teach your children the importance of storing and reusing leftovers. Try having
leftovers for dinner, one night a week.
Your family’s efforts might not make a very large dent in the big picture.
However, teaching your children the value of food and the consequences of waste
will help ensure a better future. Several generations down the road, your
descendants will know the importance of limiting their waste and protecting the
environment. Think of the impact if even a small percentage of the population
changed the waste habits of their future generations.
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