Pester power

The Independent ran a great article recently focusing on a precious natural resource, namely children and ‘pester power’. As parents well know, this awesome natural force is carbon neutral, requires no power supply and is always available in thousands of different new flavours every day. The article gave a wonderful overview of how children are now beginning to influence their families to adopt a greener lifestyle. Its author Nick Duerden’s daughter had posed her father some very interesting questions, including whether they travelled to school by car or by bicycle, and why the family weren’t growing vegetables at home like they did at school. Children seem to be becoming a positive force for environmental awareness, perhaps in no small part due to the fact that some 67% of UK schools were reported to have now signed up the cutting edge Eco-Schools programme.

The programme is run by the Foundation for Environmental Education and is clearly a success story in many parts of the UK, where as many as 100% of some local authority schools have signed up. It costs nothing for schools to join and they gain valuable free resources on key areas such as tackling litter, healthy living and biodiversity. There are motivational awards for schools to aim for and the programme very much student-centred - which probably accounts for its popularity with modern schools and why Nick’s young daughter is so very keen on growing vegetables at home. If your child’s school hasn’t signed up, why not bring it up at the next parent teacher meeting? Whether they have joined or not, it’s easier than you think to continue the educational themes at home, for example, by growing you own. It can work whether or not you have a garden and you certainly don’t need to be an ‘expert gardener’. Many modern garden products are suitable for those who have never grown anything before. And as well as echoing your child’s schools’ work, you’ll also gain the added bonus of low cost organic vegetables and herbs without the tiresome trip to the shops.