What a Garden Grows for Children!
Let's chat about the importance of introducing children to gardening and the many benefits that come along with being part of a garden, learning how to grow a garden while also learning to GROW FOOD!
There are countless benefits to introducing and teaching our children about gardening organically and how to grow food...
Not only for the
child and their future, but also for the family, the community, and the
future of this dear planet!
These natural skills, this ageless knowledge, and our
historical heirloom seeds, all need to be preserved and savored for our
generations to come, now more than ever! Not only could these skills become
crucial to simply existing in the future, gardening also teaches many other necessary life lessons and habits that come
from growing a garden of any sort!
I always wondered why gardening was not included in the Home Economics type classes in school. I do remember a very brief introduction in Elementary School, only because of the phenomenal Kindergarten teacher I was placed with. Now, many pre-schools, daycares, and grade schools include garden programs in their curriculum. As so many children grow up in densely populated, urban areas, gardening at home is not always an option. For the schools and education centers to provide this opportunity for children in many areas is so wonderful, especially, when the distance between farm and table grows farther and farther by the year in many areas.
from growing a garden of any sort!
I always wondered why gardening was not included in the Home Economics type classes in school. I do remember a very brief introduction in Elementary School, only because of the phenomenal Kindergarten teacher I was placed with. Now, many pre-schools, daycares, and grade schools include garden programs in their curriculum. As so many children grow up in densely populated, urban areas, gardening at home is not always an option. For the schools and education centers to provide this opportunity for children in many areas is so wonderful, especially, when the distance between farm and table grows farther and farther by the year in many areas.
A plant to care for, a small garden space, or even window boxes is the most excellent learning tool for young and old alike, mostly due to the unforgiving nature of a plant.
It shows no mercy to its tender, no matter how tender a hand that tends it! Growing an organic garden may sound so simple, but there is quite a bit more to growing a plot of vegetables than dropping some seeds into the ground then watching them grow… Plants need love, affection and nurturing, just as we do. Involving a child in growing a garden teaches them not only about caring for that plant, but also about important life tools such as patience, honesty, responsibility, commitment, and respect.
When given a garden or window box to care for, the responsibility of
tending and caring for the plants can also instill a strong and healthy work
ethic by providing physical, hard evidence of what can be accomplished with a bit of hard work and dirt on your fingers. In group settings, a garden can also help
to teach children what it means to be a team player and the value of working
together as a group.
What a Garden Grows…
PATIENCE
Patience was one of the first, and hardest, lessons I ever learned
in the garden. I have always been an
impatient person and I learned very quickly that you cannot rush a plant. A
plant, a vegetable, a flower, even a weed, they will all grow in their own
time. (Well, there is a few ways to get a plant moving, however, that is not the
point here…) From a plant, I learned that with patience comes a flower and that
is always worth the wait.
HONESTY
There is no lying about whether you watered the plants in
the garden, or not. There is no mercy! If a child is given a plant or a
gardening space to care for and fails to water and care for it, the plants
will soon tell…
RESPONSIBILITY AND COMMITMENT
Of course, responsibility is a given. I feel that a garden,
or even just a plant in a pot, is the best way to introduce a child to responsibility
and commitment. A plant is a much better place to start than, a fish, puppy or
cat, that someone else ends up having to care for if the child loses interest.
RESPECT FOR NATURE AND THE NATURAL LIFE
There is no better way to grow a respect for nature and the
natural world in a child, than by them witnessing a plant sprout erupt from the
soil of a garden bed, or pot. It was in a moment such as this, as a young
child, that I became completely intrigued by plants and the basis of life.
A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
One of the best parts of getting kids out into the garden is
that they are out in the garden! In this technology ridden era, interesting a
child outdoors is not always easy. A backyard or patio garden area is a perfect
way to get the whole family outdoors together for a healthy breath of fresh
air.
THE GARDEN TORCH
Most importantly, OUR children need to be given the traditional
and modern skills, knowledge, and seeds to grow uninhibited food, to pass these basic
necessities of life along to the generations to come.
In closing…
From one of my recent posts, The Sprouts of My Garden, A Sprinkle of Historical Reflection…
“…This natural, home grown knowledge must continue to be documented, shared, learned, and taught to our next generations, before it is lost forever. Just think back 100 years from now, to how life was for our parents, grandparent or great-grandparents. Grocery stories, Walmart, ordering organic food from the internet, unheard of! If they could only see us now, I wonder what they would say…”
These are only a few of the great gifts that a garden can bring to a child and adults alike. A garden is simply a wonderful example of life.
