12 steps to becoming a greener parent

What do you want to wear today?

Disposable fashion might be purse-friendly, but eco-friendly it's not (each year, around two million tonnes of clothing ends up in landfill). Parents have always got together to pass on their children's outgrown clothes, and these days it's viewed as being green, not penny-pinching.

While recycling is good, reusing is always better as it involves no energy consumption or CO2 emissions. Even your child's well-loved, well-worn clothing can be downgraded to be worn during messy play.

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Food for thought

Food miles are a hot issue. Yet, while it makes sense to cut down on air-freighted produce (M&S now clearly labels theirs), bear in mind that out-of-season, UK-grown fruit and veg can involve more food miles than their imported equivalents.

Eating seasonally is easy once you're clued up on what to buy when - let's face it, we don’t really need a big bowl of strawberries in the middle of winter.

Check out what's fresh and best now at eatseasonably.co.uk.

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• 12 things all parents worry about but shouldn't

Every drop counts

Bottled water is an eco no-no. Every one-litre bottle takes 062g of oil and seven litres of water to produce, and three out of four still end up in landfill sites.

It's far greener to buy your child a refillable water bottle to top up from the tap. If your family doesn't like the taste, invest in a jug-style water filter.

For around £16, plus a new filter every few months, you'll enjoy an endless supply of great-tasting water - and tea with no scum on top - with none of the guilt. It'll encourage you to up your water intake too.

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• 12 things all parents worry about but shouldn't

Grow your own

Growing your own greens involves virtually zero food miles (no wasteful packaging either) and is a fun way for you and your kids to try something new. It needn't be horribly complicated or back-breaking: start off with a small project, such as growing your own herbs (no more shop-bought packets left wilting at the back of the fridge).

Grow Something to Eat Every Day by Jo Whittingham (Dorling Kindersley, £14.99) is an inspiring guide for those of us who are baffled by fertilisers and fearful of bugs - but still fancy being green-fingered.

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• 12 things all parents worry about but shouldn't

Fresh and juicy

The average UK family with children throws away an average of £680 worth of food every year, and much of this is shrivelled and slimy fresh fruit and veg.

Best ways to avoid this? Buy smaller amounts more regularly, plan meals ahead, use up your leftovers in tasty recipes and store your perishables with care.

If this sounds like a tall order, lovefoodhatewaste.com offers all the waste-busting ideas you'll need.

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• 12 things all parents worry about but shouldn't

Pedal power

Cheap, eco-friendly and good for your whole family - what's not to love about cycling? Fear of traffic makes many of us saddle shy, but UK charity Sustrans makes it a doddle to locate your nearest bike-friendly route.

Just visit sustrans.org.uk and enter your postcode. You'll also need cycling helmets for all the family (essential kit, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) plus high-vis clothing - which means reflective strips at the very least.

Then you're off - fitter, greener, with not a traffic jam in sight.

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• 12 things all parents worry about but shouldn't

Be green as you clean

The chemicals and phosphates found in many cleaning products are major pollutants. That’s why switching to an eco-friendly range such as Ecover is a no-brainer.

Better still, wipe down kitchen surfaces with either white wine vinegar or lemon juice, and use a mixture of baking soda (a natural deodoriser) with lemon juice and warm water to clean the hob.

If you do need the odd squirt of commercial product, try to use the absolute minimum. Friendlier towards the planet - and your purse too.

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• 12 things all parents worry about but shouldn't

Round and round again

If you can't reuse, then do recycle. While recycling glass obviously uses fuel and creates CO2 emissions, crucially it helps to cut down on the energy-intensive quarrying of silica and lime which are needed for the production of new glass.

Most of us are now used to separating our refuse into paper, plastic, glass etc; involve the children in recycling as soon as you can, to avoid them thoughtlessly flinging any old rubbish into the all-purpose kitchen bin.

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• 12 things all parents worry about but shouldn't

 Plastic? Not fantastic...  

Children will always want toys, but rather than topping up with over-packaged plastic (which often breaks within days and is destined for landfill), steer him towards quality playthings which will last the course and can be passed onto younger friends.

While few of us have the time to make charming playthings from recycled materials, we can all step away from cheap, highly-disposable tat. Plus, to your child, a second-hand wooden train set is no less thrilling than a brand new one.

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• 12 things all parents worry about but shouldn't

Be appliance-savvy

Don't panic - we're not about to suggest ditching those white goods. Yet it makes sense to choose and use them with care, switching on the dishwasher only when it's fully loaded, and ending its cycle early so your dishes can dry naturally.

When it comes to laundry, machine washing at 30 degrees rather than 40 cuts down electricity usage by a whopping 40 per cent - and is usually fine for all but the filthiest football kits.

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• 12 things all parents worry about but shouldn't

A greener world

While these small changes can make a huge difference, it's an awareness of the natural world around us what makes the biggest impact of all.

School initiatives generally ensure that our children are more clued up about eco-matters than we are, so take your lead from them, whilst encouraging them to live as greenly as possible at home.

While they might not always remember to turn off their bedroom light, sometimes, it seems, kids really do know best.

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• 12 things all parents worry about but shouldn't