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Teaching Our Kids to Respect Nature Including Fish

Guest blogger Jackie Edwards reflects on fish and plants, and how natural ecosystems work.

As keen environmentalists and hikers, my husband and I knew the time would come when we would take our daughters on their first hiking trip. We have been camping a little before, but nothing too adventurous or challenging, but we wanted their first real foray into the wild to be a learning experience. We wanted to show them cool landscapes, but also teach them about fish and plants, and how the whole ecosystem works.

Of course it still had to be fun. Children develop their own attitudes and it seems, many of them are in opposition to what their parents want, so you have to be careful. That being said, we can be the biggest influencers on them and can, if we do it right, instill a love and respect for nature which will last a lifetime.

Wildlife conservation is nothing new to modern society, but is still a relatively young idea having grown out of the 19th century where hunters thought there were no limits to nature’s ability to replenish itself. In America, we owe a lot to Aldo Leopold who realized that local ecosystems depended on big predators, and he is one of the heroes we’re teaching our children about - though we hope they do not have to deal with a bear or mountain lion anytime soon. If you’d like to read a little more about Aldo and wildlife conservation, check out my guide to teaching children about conservation including fish.