"Parenting" Less may be more.

"Parenting A little less might be more. Man / Lee Wai Man
Over the past few years, the issue of global warming has become a growing concern in the community. From corporations, to civic organizations, to educational institutions, all have begun to carry out energy conservation and carbon reduction awareness programs. My twin daughters participated in the Wilderness Conservation Society's "Wilderness Showers" program in elementary school. In addition to asking each child to reduce carbon emissions, each family was required to fill out a form to review the monthly electricity consumption of their Canning.
Maybe that's why my daughter chose this theme for her science fair assignment last year. In those days, for their research reports, we often had to turn off the power at home so that we could compare the power consumption of various electrical appliances. After a few months of experimentation, I had to turn off the lights at night, so I had to go to bed early, and I was forced to change my habit of going to bed late for years; I also put away the hot water bottle that used to be plugged in, and I found large and small thermos cups in the cupboard, and I boiled a pot of water every day, and I filled up these thermos containers to the full, and then I didn't consume any more power from the hot water bottle.
In fact, my family has been living an energy-saving and carbon-reducing lifestyle for a long time. For example, from the time my daughter was born until she was in the fourth or fifth grade of elementary school, she wore second-hand clothes from relatives and friends, which we called "100-diamond clothes". In ancient times, there was a folk custom that when a baby was born, the parents would go from house to house and pray to their neighbors for a piece of old cloth, and then hundreds of pieces of old cloth would be collected and sewn together to make the baby's clothes, which were called "100-diamond garments". It is said to bless the baby with a safe growth and a long life. Nowadays, of course, we can't put together a "100-diamond jacket", but through the transmission of second-hand clothes, we can realize some ancient customs.
The second-hand clothes are not only environmentally friendly, but also have a strong symbol of blessing. Wearing them on the children, we hope that they will realize that everyone in the world is receiving kindness from many people all the time, and we hope that they will cherish themselves more. At the same time, it is also an opportunity to teach the children how to cherish and be grateful, and to learn how to be polite when thanking their elders, while the older siblings who have given them these clothes will be able to add to the affectionate interaction when they see them wearing them. The second-hand clothes given by friends and relatives are often not worn out. When the children grow up, we clean up the second-hand clothes that the children can't wear anymore and then give them to their friends.
Since the birth of our children, there have been no packaged beverages in the house. Now that the children have developed a habit of not eating snacks and junk food, their daily drink is plain water.
As for toys, apart from building blocks, electric and plush toys do not appear in my house. I have found that the more complicated or battery-operated a toy is, the more likely a child is to throw it away out of boredom. On the other hand, the simplest building blocks allow them to utilize their imagination and never get tired of playing with them, while plush toys tend to hide dirt and allergies.
After the child enters the school age, the home does not have too much furniture, no TV, sofa, in addition to bookshelves, book wall, there is only a ping-pong table as big as the desk, the whole family together at this table to read, 『Necklace』, or discuss things together. If you are tired of reading inside the house, out of the door, you can touch the flowers and trees, playing outdoor bell pulling or riding a unicycle.
For more than a decade, I have amused myself by being an "eco-vegetarian", meaning that I eat vegetarian for environmental reasons, because not eating meat reduces the pollution of the environment and the destruction of forests and rainforests. Producing one kilogram of meat uses ten times more energy than fast food, so vegetarianism is much kinder to the environment in terms of our own resources.
Over the years, because of technological advancement and globalized competition, things seem to be getting cheaper and cheaper. Because they are cheap, people buy them easily and buy more and more; and because they are cheap, people do not cherish them and throw them away casually.
Even if you separate and recycle the things you don't want, the process of disposal will consume a lot of energy. So remind yourself: don't just buy things at a cheap price, but think about whether they can really be used, and see the value of the things from nature, not the selling price. If we live a life of consuming, buying and throwing away, nature's resources will soon be used up.
In order to lead a new life of energy saving and carbon reduction, we must re-examine our living habits, try to strike a balance between material enjoyment and spiritual life, and realize the spiritual feeling of "getting more with less".