Save water : 7 ways to teach your kid that “WATER isn’t everywhere”
How many times have you forgotten to carry water bottles/sippers for yourself or your kids to a restaurant or a day out? And then sipped some water from the brimming glass the waiter served you there? Or, may be, even dabbed your child’s food-stained lapel or skirt with a hanky or tissue dipped in the remaining water you abandoned halfway through. Was that what the restaurant’s courteousness meant to you? Did you ever bother a bit to save water there?
Or could you have done with a #CuttingPaani instead?
Today, that is ‘World Water Day’, prods me to express my solidarity with the #CuttingPaani movement by Livpure. Water Day has been observed by countries associated with the UN since March 1993 after the body dedicated March 22 towards water conservation awareness. (And I know you’re already rolling your eyes over the mention of years there!) Hell Yes! We all hate identifying national or international dates with any degree of commemoration whatsoever. And at least 90% of us fails to respect the cause the date is associated with.
Well, #CuttingPaani is inspired from ‘Cutting Chai’, which in northern India, is a popular term for half a glass/cup of tea. It stems from the genteelism that half a glass of the beverage suffices your senses & costs half that of a full glass. “Then why not a ‘cutting paani?” very much deserves to become your call at a moment which estimates by 2030, major metropolitan cities of the world, Bengaluru being the first in India, will run out of drinking water. FOREVER! Apart from making sturdy efforts to save water, relocating from the place would ultimately be my only resort then. BUT, where to? When all the places on earth will meet the same fate of drying up.
Join the #CuttingPaani campaign here.
While you brainstorm about how you could do your bit to save water, isn’t it your job to help your child understand its scarcity?
So, dear doting parent, it’s time you walk your kid through the burning issue of water shortage. And here’s how you can teach him/her that the situation will put even Samuel Taylor’s description of undrinkable water to shame:
Carrying your own bottle(s) outdoors
Whatever your child knows right now is from your actions. Always carry a water bottle or two for your family. That way you’d be avoiding the great ‘half-abandon’ of served water at any eatery. Come on! Ever since you became mom to that adorable creature, all your designer vanity bags & pouches have either retired or are taking some break in your closets. Fill your bags wisely now! And that pretty much becomes your kiddo’s lesson#1 on water. Either order a ‘cutting paani’ 😉 or ask the waiter to not get any water for you at all.
Well, my daughter now has a quick mental checklist to skim over before we head out. So, if it’s me forgetting to pack her bottle in there, she reminds me to. A little forgetful that I am, tiny lessons to her like these make me feel good about my #parentinggoals. Yay!
Showing legit ways of using taps to save water
Haven’t you procrastinated fixing your leaking taps or shower faucets because calling the plumber would be feasible only on the weekends. *Ah, you’re too tired after work to even ring him up!* I know. Been there, done that a few years ago.
Get all your broken or leaking faucets fixed ASAP so that you don’t let any more water run waste into the drain. All the more, discourage your kid from closing the faucets with soapy or greasy hands. Because, the closing never really happens with incomplete rotations.
“It’s NOT OK to play with water. EVER”
I’ve always tried to be a positively authoritarian (not strict either) parent to my child as her dad is all sweets for her! And even if I believe in letting kids play what they love to play with, the idea of playing with water is the most repulsive one to me. Until a few years ago, I even felt embarrassingly guilty about having an opinion like this one. Like, seriously.
I had very recently attended a seminar on positive parenting where we had the speaker say things like, “Playing with water doesn’t make the child sick. Your unmindful interference does.” While I totally agree that playing with water, in fact helps build the child’s immunity over time, the water doesn’t have to be that from the garden’s hose or your bathroom faucets. Instead, you could let your children out in mild rain showers, if their insistence be so compulsive. Rain water isn’t really perceived so much in the context of wastage. Makes a little sense, too. Doesn’t it?
Harvest rains in your own way
In tropical countries like India, seasonal rains are quite a thing around a significant part of the year. Collect rain water in small tubs to use for watering your plants or even large patches of your lawn. Get your child around to help you do that. He/she will be more than glad to participate. Whether you have pits dug to collect rain water or not, this is surely going to help you save water. Here, in Bengaluru, underground pits for collecting rain water are very much a norm. This certainly has to be an indispensable strategy for a city which is blowing the shortage hooter so loud.
Discourage shower or tub baths for everyone
As obvious as they sound, baths using showers or tubs end up wasting way more water than using a bucket-tumbler bath.
Remember your ON’s & OFF’s
Source: www.flickr.com
If your house is supplied with water from an overhead tank, always remember to switch your motor pump off at the correct time to avoid annoying overflows. Well, I set alarms for the purpose & that makes my kid ask me every time I have any alarm ringing if it’s for the motor reminder. 🙂
Educate
No matter what the age of your child is, patient conversations help a lot & are most of the time, fruitful. If you think your kindergartener wouldn’t be able to comprehend the detailed imagery of water shortage, you could illustrate the basic things with the help of pictures from a book or by drawing them out to explain in a story-telling fashion. In fact, a lot that I’ve explained to my daughter is with the help of pictures or at times, videos. These leave a perfect impact on their fertile minds.
The older children definitely pick things up from your actions & attitude.
So, with that what’s your take on saving water? How do you get your kids help in the deed? Let me know in your comments.
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