How do you teach your kids to conserve resources?

[babymakes3.4.5....]

I'm trying to get my 3 1/2 yr old to understand what it means to conserve and the value of it. Talking about the fact that too much toilet paper could cause plumbing issues or that when he is wasteful it costs us money doesn't seem to be working! I feel like I'm not on his level as far as explaining what it means but I'm clueless as to what I need to be saying! Any ideas?

[my2sweets]

We started with recycling. We have a couple of books about it. I started there b/c the girls seemed to understand that more. They particapte in placing things in the recycle bin-and now go with me to the recycling center to drop it off. When shopping I look for things that are in recycled packaging and we'd talk about what the package could have been before. As they got a little older I moved into not being wasteful-less trash, less things that need to be recycled. As for the plumbing-not sure if theres an issue there or that was jist an example but jic lol-When dd1 pted i taught her to use 3 squares so 'the potty desnt break'. At that age plumbing problems and money are pretty hard to undertand. By the time dd2 pted they were using cloth wipes and that helped so much.

[eguisgirl]

By example.

[Erinne]

I tell my dd about paper being made from trees and we don't want them to have to cut down too many trees, and that we need to save the water for the fishies. She's usually pretty good about it, but I do think it takes time for them to really be able to understand and have the presence of mind to think about what they're doing.

[mibarra]

Hmmm.... I tell my 3 year old things like "We have to save it for everyone else" and "If you waste it all now you can't have more". Working ok so far.

[MariaLA]

Simple reasons why and giving them a strategy to use. "count five squares!" for tp, for example.

[ajane]

I never really thought about it. I just tell them we turn off lights to save electricity, only turn on the water when we use it to save water, and only use a little bit of TP b/c that is all we need and we need to not waste it.

They all, well not the little man, understand what it means to conserve.

[Geckmumto3]

Originally Posted by MariaLA Simple reasons why and giving them a strategy to use. "count five squares!" for tp, for example.

This. And, I didn't grab the quote, but as a PP said, "by example." I don't think little kids need a lot of reasons why (until they ask), but it's more just about how you do things. If the family always shuts off the lights leaving a room, the kids will learn to do the same. If we turn off the taps when brushing our teeth, the kids do the same.