How to teach your children to love nature

There are many things that parents, guardians, and teachers can do to help children develop a love for nature.

Start Young
If you love nature yourself, it is very easy to develop this love in your children. Expose them to the natural world from the time they are young. Encourage them to play in the garden. Let them pick up and observe leaves, flowers, rocks, etc. Point out and name trees, insects, birds, and animals to them.

Involve Them in Gardening
A great way to help children connect to nature is to get them to help in gardening. This will bring them in touch with the soil and they will encounter different kinds of insects, worms, and other intriguing creatures. Caring for plants, and seeing them grow and develop, is a wonderful opportunity for them to know the cycle of creation first hand. You can also help them set up a bird or butterfly feeder in the garden.

Take Them to Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks
Make trips to the wildlife sanctuaries and national parks a regular part of their growing years. Plan regular picnics and outings to nature spots around your city. Introduce them to the joys of hiking. You can spend vacations visiting places like Kanha, Ranthambhore, or Corbett, where children can see wild animals in their natural environment.

Arouse their Curiosity
Encourage your children to observe things around them. Gift them with books or CDs about nature and wildlife. Take them along to museums or libraries. Better still, get them membership to a nature organisation such as the Bombay Natural History Society or the World Wildlife Fund, and encourage them to participate in the field trips and other activities organised by them.

How to raise a spiritual child

Introduce spirituality early on

Introducing spiritual practices to your child when she's young – such as lighting candles or singing hymns together – lets your child view them as a natural part of life, and allows you to have a spiritual influence on her before other people do. Even if you don't believe in God or see God as a single all-powerful being, it's worth talking to your child about it. 

Don't pretend to have all the answers 

When your child asks where people go when they die, answer honestly: "Nobody knows for sure, but some people think they go to heaven to be close to God. Other people think they're born again in a new body."
Inevitably, your child will ask what you think. If you have a strong belief, share it. If not, it's okay to admit that there are some questions people spend their whole lives trying to figure out – and this is one of them.

Use daily events to teach spirituality

Big ideas don't always require big actions. You can demonstrate that spirituality is a part of everyday life by incorporating it into ordinary actions and words. When you open the curtains in the morning, you can say, "Look at this glorious day Mother Nature made." At bedtime, you can sign off with, "God bless you, sweetie pie."

Instill an appreciation of nature

 Nature is a great place to find inspiration and a sense of spirituality. "Kids learn with all their senses – they love to pick up a rock or jump in a puddle or chase a butterfly," says Neifert. Help your child see nature as something precious by demonstrating your own love and respect for it. When you go for a family hike in the woods or a picnic on the beach, clean up after yourself (and even others), and be considerate of creatures in their habitat.

Tell stories

The world's spiritual traditions are full of stories designed to explain everything from how the world was created to why people sometimes do bad things. Read stories together from an illustrated Bible, a book of Hindu mythology, a collection of Jewish folk tales, amending and simplifying as you see fit.