Getting your kids into the garden can be hugely beneficial and is a great way to ignite their curiosity and intuition.
Creating a family garden will also get your kids into a bunch of good habits without them ever realising it. In this article we’ll show you the reasons why a garden in your home can bring a variety of benefits for your whole family.
Keeping your kids off tech
In the 21st century, technology is everywhere and it’s designed to keep us hooked in any way possible. Children are especially susceptible to these technological hooks. Gardening is a great replacement that provides an abundance of new skills that apps or tv will fail to provide.
When your children begin gardening, they’ll face different problems that they’ll need to overcome each and every day. Some of these problems might be figuring out the correct environment for different plant species, deterring pests from their harvest. Or testing their creative abilities in thinking up new garden projects or the variety of ways to be reusing plastic. I often wonder how they would use these same skills when sitting in front of the tv.
Encouraging children’s eating habits
Convincing your kids to eat healthy can seem like an impossible task. The allure and taste of lollies can be quite enticing for any child. Instead of lecturing your kids on the importance of healthy eating, try to evoke their curiosity of healthy produce through gardening. Your children’s relationship with food can be far different when they’re the ones growing what they eat. Sewing the seeds, tilling the earth and maintaining their crop whilst waiting for the inevitable harvest is incredibly exciting and rewarding for any child. They’ll have a new and renewed interest for fruit and vegetables.
Cultivating work ethic in your kids
Hard work is an essential life skill, cultivating a work ethic is hugely important for any child and pays dividends as they age. Gardening doesn’t provide any instantaneous rewards unlike so much in today’s age. It’s a long term process that rewards consistent hard work. It can be hugely reqwarding and will teach your kids what they can achieve when they put in the required work.
Gardening improves your children’s patience and responsibility
Any avid gardener will tell you that you’ll always face new problems in your garden. Messing up what you’ve grown the first time is a common occurrence. Figuring out new and creative ways to avoid or solve these problems means kids must cultivate the ability to take responsibility for themselves. Improving the quality of sandy soil, tilling the earth before sowing the seeds, means children must possess the foresight to avoid future problems. This ability to take responsibility and avoid problems that will eventually appear in the future, is crucial in their development and will make the problems they face in their life a little easier to solve.
Introducing kids to simple science
Every child will be interested in a different subject, but feeding the curiosity early, could mean they excel at certain subjects later in school. Some of the sciences involved in gardening are botany, chemistry, and biology. While they won’t learn any real science in the garden, the reasons and why’s behind the garden may ignite their curiosity for certain subjects later in school.
Allow your kids to create their own path
So much of school and sports are all defined by rules our kids must follow. None of these are bad things but allowing our kids the space to solely make their own decisions while taking responsibility for their actions can be so helpful in their development. Allowing their creativity and intuition to ignite in the garden is a wonderful thing.
If you’re considering starting a garden wither for yourself or your family, it’s very simple and if you start with easy to grow vegetables you shouldn’t have a problem. It’s best to start growing some simple crops so that you and your family can gather enthusiasm and confidence for your garden projects. If you line up in an apartment no need to worry, balcony gardening is very popular or starting a kitchen herb garden in small pots works just as well.
Tristan is a passionate gardener based in Sydney, he’s an advocate for sustainability and all things natural. He runs the blog Sydney Gardeners where he shares his tips in the garden.