What kids can learn by gardening with parents or grandparents can make the work productive and fun. It doesn’t matter what you grow, the size of your plot or how many people are working the land. What does matter is willingness of parents or grandparents to take the time to use gardening as a highly teachable activity. At the end of the harvest season you will have the chance not just to marvel at the produce you pick but at what kids can really learn by gardening
Nothing is more important to anyone who has a garden than the turning of the seasons. Young gardeners working next to an experienced friend or family member can’t help but pick up on the meaning of the seasons for the success of all that is planted. Children who never paid much attention to the fluctuations of temperature, moisture, sunshine or shade will quickly develop a wonderful new awareness. By gardening even a small plot even young children can become more attuned to their environment and take at least a small step to thinking and living green.
As they garden kids will find themselves exposed not just to nature’s potpourri but also to the many tools and gardening implements that are part of the gardener’s equipment. In those earliest days of gardening alongside a parent or grandparent youngsters learn many interesting and fun sounding names as simple as a watering can and start to feel grown up and involved in something exciting. In the company of patient adults children will be offered opportunities to use some of the most basic tools and gradually be called upon to do more demanding tasks in the garden. Children can learn and give a great deal of help when it comes to cleaning and caring for tools and in the process practice being responsible with possessions in general
While there are plenty of activities in which young people can practice working together, gardening is a place to learn cooperation without the the coincidental need to learn to be competitive. Working with others in developing a flower or vegetable garden is all about the product. There is no winner or loser. There is just simple cooperative effort and it can be a wonderful experience cherished by all. In fact some kids learn that working together at something you enjoy and with someone you like is really more like fun than work. What a wonderful lesson that is to carry through life.
Even those who might seem only marginally tuned in to detail will delight in watching their plants grow and mature during the season. When the plant produces a flower or fruit a young child learns to ultimate value of his or her work but along the way there is plenty that can be learned about the process of growth itself. The comparison between themselves and young plants will not be lost of kids who are working in a garden
Perhaps the most enduring life lesson that kids can take away from gardening is that it teaches kids the value of having a plan and sticking to it. It’s easy for kids to get sidetracked from their daily chores around even a small garden. After all there are so many distractions out there especially during the good weather. But for those who endure a valuable lesson is harvested right along with the pumpkins, the squash or the potatoes. There is a reward to be gained from hard work. They might even realize that the reward in addition to the crop is the feeling of success that comes when one makes a plan and then completes it successfully in the company of people he admires and loves.
Having a plan and sticking to it.
