5 Reasons to Get Our Children Into Gardening
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If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know that I live for garden season. Nothing beats eating freshly picked tomatoes off the vine or carrots with a little dirt on them — not to mention the excitement of growing a new vegetable! Every year brings surprises in the garden and I love it. To us, creating a more sustainable home means becoming more self-sufficient and eating seasonally. What’s more seasonal than eating from your own garden? Plus, it reduces your carbon footprint — the only travel our veggies get is the 15-step walk to the sink to get washed!
Growing our own food teaches us to appreciate food. We need patience, time and nurture — sort of like parenting. ;) I believe it’s important for our children to learn the same beautiful lessons in the garden.
We had our son almost 3 years ago and I couldn’t wait to share garden experiences with him. Watching him sow seeds, pull out his own carrots or get excited when a seed has sprouted gives me all the good feelings. There’s honestly nothing like it! I want to inspire others to get their children into gardening, too, so here are 5 good reasons we should share this experience with them.
1. To build patience: Whether we are two or fifty years old, we all have to remember to be patient. Teaching our children about patience in the garden allows them to pause and realize that food doesn’t grow overnight. Good things take time and we have to appreciate every bite. We are all familiar with the conveniences of a grocery store but when we grow food ourselves, we understand the hard work that goes into it and our little ones will learn not to take food for granted.
2. To show them how to look after something: Gardening requires us to be gentle, to nurture and to love what we are growing every step of the way. We learn kindness and how to take care of something from start to finish. Our children develop confidence and a sense of pride when they accomplish growing their own food.
3. To get their hands dirty: My mom always said to let your kids get their hands dirty! Well, she’s right — more and more studies show exposure to germs in the dirt can build our little ones’ immune systems. Gardening gets children outside and enjoying sensory play. Learning about the soil, worms and all of the organisms in the dirt helps them to feel grounded and to care about our planet on another level. On a tactile level, touching and feeling the land helps them to respect the land.
4. To teach self-sufficiency: As I mentioned, in a world where convenience has reached incredible heights, we have to remember that we can’t rely on larger systems all the time. Disasters happen — pandemics happen — and it’s important for our children to learn ways that they can be self-sufficient. They will learn lifetime skills that can be passed down to future generations.
5. To eat new things: This is one of my favourite experiences, especially for young children. My two year old loves to pick his own radishes and eat them. Even though they are spicy straight from the garden, he wanted to try it. He eats raw chard and even spinach! Every year we try growing colourful new things like rainbow carrots and purple beans. Make this part fun and get them involved in picking seeds they want to grow!
A bonus reason is to get our kids gardening to teach hard skills on top of all of these soft skills. Gardening provides a fantastic environment for children to count seeds, learn colours, and participate in hands-on, exploratory learning. I can’t wait to see this happen as my son gets older.
Remember, gardening doesn’t always mean you need a huge yard. You can start with just a pot of herbs indoors or outdoors, hanging baskets full of tomatoes or strawberries or one planter box in your backyard. It’s all about the process — from picking seeds to nurturing to harvesting. When it comes to sustainable living, start small and build from there.
For parents, it can be especially meaningful to garden with our children. The formative experiences they have and the lessons they are taught in the garden will stay with them as they grow. And as you share these experiences together, you will create lasting memories.
Until next time,
