A recent survey from UK organic children’s clothes company, Arabella Miller, found that 62% of parents said that they made greener choices after having children and 80% now defined themselves as a “green parent.”
The most popular “green options” were: eating more organic food (59%) and recycling more (59%). Others made healthy lifestyle changes such as cutting down on alcohol (50%), stopping smoking (24%), and eating more vegetarian meals (32%). Others have become more “green-fingered” with 53% starting to grow their own fruit and vegetables. One parent commented I’ve “more conscious awareness of everything I buy - asking questions, buying locally, seasonally and avoiding products that exploit either the environment or people as much as I can.”
Another said “we have stopped using anything containing PVC and got rid of all the plastic-containing toys we had for our firstborn. We also began making a lot more things ourselves, toys and clothes and similar. And we started keeping chickens. And got rid of the car.”
But it’s not easy being green when Junior arrives, particularly travel.
35% of parents rated using public transport “difficult” and a further 12.5% rated it as “very difficult” - 28% of parents said they used public transport less. One parent commented “why take public transport and wait forever in the rain with a crying child when I could just drive?” and another “I can’t use public transport as I wouldn’t get to work in time with school runs as there is no bus that can get the kids to school on time and then me to work.”
Although 27% of respondents tumble-dried less than before, the idea of washing at 30% was greeted with some scepticism from respondents: “washing at 30 often doesn’t remove stains and the ‘eco’ washing powders and liquids just make you use twice as much and still don’t remove stains, so you end up needing more clothes or having your child wear stained things” and “since having children I need higher washing temperatures to deal with the muck !”
A whopping 55% also confessed to “sometimes” finding clothes their child had outgrown but never worn!
Ron Oultram, from Arabella Miller commented “Parenthood is a time of change and it would appear that parents are taking the opportunity to switch to a greener lifestyle when their children arrive.
“However, there are still some obvious barriers to a greener lifestyle including the practicalities of using public transport with a small child in tow.”
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