Walking the talk: Six things Christian parents can do to raise children who care for God’s creation

It’s Walk to School Week this week. Children throughout the UK will be encouraged to walk to school every day of the week. The aim is for children to learn about the benefits of walking for mental and physical health, road safety, and the planet. 

As Christian families, choosing to walk—where we can—is one small step (no pun intended!) we can take to show our children how to live in ways that care for God’s creation. It’s important to teach our children what the Bible says about caring for creation and for those living in poverty, who are the hardest hit by climate change and environmental degradation. But it’s also important to actively show them how to ‘walk the talk’ in our everyday lives. 

This is a journey our family has been on as we’ve sought—step by step—to intentionally live in ways that reduce our environmental footprint. We don’t always get it right, and we still have a lot to learn, but here are six areas of family life where we have tried to model our calling as Christians to steward God’s wonderful creation.

1. Tackling transport 

My children now walk to school with their friends, but for years, when they were little, I walked with them most days—unless it was raining heavily or we were running very late! When the complaints came about “Why can’t we go in the car like our friends?” I took the opportunity to explain that we walked to stay healthy and to care for God’s world. We had some great conversations, and walking to school, church, and the shops has become an everyday part of family life. 

There are other transport choices we can make to be good stewards. Public transport is often a better choice for the environment and can be a fun and interesting way to travel with children. Our children know that we deliberately don’t choose holiday destinations that require flights. We haven’t completely ruled out flying, but we only want to do it on very special occasions. 

Given that transport is the largest source of UK greenhouse gas emissions—accounting for about a quarter of the total—this is a key area where reductions are needed, and we can all take steps to contribute.