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We switched to being a natural family while my kids were babies so my children have never had to go through a drastic lifestyle change. My children are pretty used to my wild antics and therefore I do not have to deal with resistance.
However, having children go along with a natural lifestyle is only part of what I want. I also want my children to desire to be natural for themselves.
I want my children to grow up, leave the house, and continue living a crunchy life because they see the value in it.
In order for children to grow up and continue a lifestyle you need to do more than just laying down the crunchy law. Telling kids that we do this, end of story just makes the kids do it until they move out and then it’s freedom from the crazy natural parents.
In order to know how to raise natural children, we have to make a conscious effort to instill a natural lifestyle in our children’s minds.
How do we do this?
How to Raise Natural Children
Tell them WHY you are doing something
Whether you’ve always recycled or you are just beginning, explain to your children the reasons you have decided to recycle. If your children learn that there is a value behind a crunchy action then they are more likely to see that it is worth continuing to do even after they are adults.
Explain the negatives for NOT doing something.
When we took our kids to the dentist for the first time, my son had to ask me why we would not be using the fun flavored toothpaste that the dentist had sent home with us. When I explained that the
“fun” toothpaste had ingredients in it that was not good for him, he understood why we choose to make our own toothpaste.
Involve them.
Just like you need to involve your kids if you want your children to grow up learning to cook for themselves so you also need to involve your children if you want them to grow their own food, clean with natural products, be ingredient readers.
Take them to the source.
Kids need to know where something comes from to understand the bigger picture. Thankfully, most kids enjoying learning about how things are made or where they come from so it’s easy to take them to a farm to see where milk actually comes from or a farmer’s market to meet local farmers and learn about how they grow their produce.
Of course, there’s no magic formula to make certain that your children grow up and continue living a natural life. However, making sure we do these things will make it more likely that they will understand our reasons for this lifestyle and hopefully they will see the value in making the same choice.
