Time flies when you’re raising children. Just about every parent that you will ever meet that has older children says this because it’s true. Most parents are in the process of trying to balance the demands of a career with child rearing, only to realize that their children’s formative years have already passed them by.

Today a disproportionate amount of time that children have is spent in daycare facilities and watching television at home or unfortunately on a smartphone or video game. Anything a young child witnesses early on can easily influence his or her life. According to a recent study, an average of two hours of television a day is what two-thirds of infants and toddlers watch. On the other hand, kids and teens between the ages of 8 and 18 watch an average of four hours of television a day.

Additionally, they spend an additional 8 hours playing video games or on the computer and phones (for leisure purposes).More time must be spent with children to teach them values. Values of eating healthy, values of gardening and recycling and values that will feed and nuture the next generation. It is in the early years where values are truly embraced.

Teach today's younger generation about the importance of a healthy environment and how it impacts their now and future well-being is ever so critical. Unfortunately, many schools do not teach children the importance of taking care of the environment and healthy living. Therefore it becomes the responsibility of the parent to instill the values and teach them about the importance of sustainable living.

Our children are the future. We protect them and their future when we educate them about taking care of their bodies as well as the environment. Our children are the future so raise them green. Pass it on.