In addition to having experienced it ourselves, we’ve heard from many parents asking and sharing advice about how to instill and explain the idea of going green and fair trade to a child – especially when it comes to gift-giving. After looking all of these comments over we decided on what we considered the best ideas for teaching kids about green, fair trade and eco-friendly gifts (the criteria being that the idea was either incredibly easy to do or was something that a parent & child could have a ton of fun doing). We had so many ideas we decided to make it a blog series, so check back with us soon for more fabulous ideas for you and your kids!
Hopefully it will inspire you as much as it did us!
TEACHING KIDS, PART ONE: FAIR TRADE
If you think about it, the two words most used as rebuttal by children everywhere are “NOT FAIR!”
A few parents let us in on a great way to utilize this to their advantage. If you actually combine the concept of FAIRNESS (which children are very familiar with) with one of the most popular food on the planet: CHOCOLATE… kids will remember the message. By teaching about fair trade and commerce, you can help children to develop their compassion and become engaged, active citizens of the world. Let them know that, according to the European Fair Trade Association, farmers growing chocolate typically receive less than 5 percent of the profits unless their goods or products are FAIRLY TRADED!
The next time you are at the store and they are asking for a sweet treat, invite them to look for a label that states that the chocolate has been fairly traded – so that they are contributing and learning to make discerning choices. To help kids recall their chocolate facts, set up activities related to fair trade chocolate. For a “reverse trick-or-treating” project, ask your teacher if your child can make a presentation to their classroom, distributing fair trade chocolates and giving a presentation on what they have learned. There are many choices of Fair Trade Chocolate in most grocery stores these days, but fair trade organic chocolate can be speical ordered from us as well.
organic-fair-trade-chocolate-bar
We do suggest tailoring your presentation to the children’s ages and capacities. For example, for younger students, it may be inappropriate to describe particularly horrific working conditions in third-world countries. But you can explain to the child that in response to the unfair conditions facing many farmers around the world, Fair Trade produces products based on fair wages and reasonable working conditions. In the United States, you can find products that are Fair Trade Certified. Specifically, beyond chocolate, Fair Trade Certification is possible for coffee, tea, herbs, cocoa, fresh fruit, sugar, rice, vanilla, flowers and honey. Taking a shopping trip as a chance to try and find labels that list these items as fairly traded is a great teaching opportunity.
fair trade organic tea
Making the world a fair place by making FAIR TRADE the norm and the expected is high on our agenda at GGN. The more people who shop that way the more plausible an option that will become. AND… the earlier kids start thinking about it the better it will be.
After all, it’s their planet too.
