Young children do not yet understand that water from the tap costs money. They understand the concept of environmental protection even less. When they discover that you can turn a tap on and off, it often turns into an entertaining but very annoying game for the parents. To prevent children from being wasteful with water, you need to explain it to them in a language they can understand at their age.

 

Children already understand that fish live in water and cannot survive without water. You can use this as an example by explaining to them that using too much water from the tap takes away the fish's habitat. This gives the children a concrete image that they can associate with the waste of water.
If the children are old enough to understand that things in the shop cost money and only a certain amount is available in the household, you can explain to them that the water comes from a shop and has to be paid for. For every litre wasted, fewer toys can be bought. This motivates the children to use water carefully. It also teaches them to appreciate the value of their toys more.

Once the concept of wasting water has been sufficiently communicated to the children, they should be threatened with disciplinary action if they still waste water. These measures should not involve more than a few minutes of 'reflection time' on a chair in the corner where they can think about their behaviour.

For smaller children who have learnt to turn the tap on and off, childproof taps can be installed. With childproof taps or water attachments, the tap must be operated in a certain way for it to work, which is more difficult for children to learn.