10/27/2009 8:15:02 AM

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By Dawn Schuett

McClatchy Newspapers 

LAKE CITY -- A mother of four, Susan Draves gives her kids household tasks like separating recyclables from the garbage and turning off the lights when leaving a room.

	Eco-friendly parenting Susan Draves offers these tips for raising children to be environmentally conscious: • Prioritize family values, include a component that relates to environmental awareness. • Establish green habits, like taking reusable shopping bags to the store. • Set up a backyard compost bin so children can recycle kitchen and garden waste.

The chores are more than responsibilities. They're also lessons in being environmentally friendly and reflect an important component of the family values that Draves shares with her children ages 18, 12, 11 and 9.

"We just always go back to thinking about the greater good of our community and our earth," Draves said.

Raising children to think and act with the environment in mind is something many parents strive for today. Draves makes it seem easy, but she's committed to an eco-conscious lifestyle at home and at work. She owns Hope's Harvest Natural Foods and Deli in Lake City, a grocery that sells organically grown and locally produced food and other household items and promotes recycling and safe environmental practices.

Parents should lead by example, Draves said, and talk to their children about why it's good to do things like recycle and reuse.

"We have to really emphasize thinking about the environment we live in, the future of our planet" and how to protect it for generations to come, she said.

Parents aren't alone in delivering the message. Schools and churches, too, are engaging kids in discussions on the issues, Draves said. Families are learning about energy conservation, buying things in bulk to reduce packaging and waste, non-toxic cleaning supplies and a local and sustainable food supply.

Other avenues of support and education for parents are groups like the EcoMom Alliance, a grassroots network of moms throughout the world, and blogs and books such as "The Mom's Guide to Growing Your Family Green: Saving the Earth Begins at Home," by Terra Wellington.

Although Draves said her children sometimes complain about the eco-friendly things she expects of them, they understand the principles behind them. Draves has heard her kids talking to their friends about recycling and reusable water bottles.

Draves is hopeful all her children will carry their earth-friendly ways into adulthood.

"They just have that mentality so we'll see if it sticks," she said.

Dawn Schuett is a Farmington freelance writer.

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