Gardening is a wonderful pastime that promises enormous stress relief, a greater sense of purpose, and many hours of enjoyment close to nature. Did you know that it is also the perfect bonding activity for parents and their kids? Not only does it ensure lots of fun and the chance to make countless memories, but gardening helps to teach children a variety of important life lessons, too. Here we outline the five key lessons gardening teaches children.
Patience
As everyone with a ‘green thumb’ knows, it takes time for a garden to flourish. You have to put in plenty of hard work, focus, and dedication before you will be able to reap any rewards. Flowers can take months to bloom, vegetables can take ages to sprout, fruit can seem to take forever to ripen – and all of this waiting around can prove exceptionally frustrating for eager little hands and tummies. Luckily, gardening teaches children all about the value of waiting until the ‘right’ time once they take their first and only bite into a hard, green tomato!
Creativity
Whether they help you pick out the perfect pond or water feature from water-garden.co.uk or they craft their very own fairy garden, the garden affords plenty of opportunity for kids to get creative. The key is to equip them with the knowledge and the tools that they need and then to allow them to explore and discover at their own pace.
The true value of food
Do your children tend to waste food? It is a common problem amongst youngsters and especially amongst picky eaters (aren’t they all??). The good news is that helping to grow their own food and fresh produce will make them more likely to savour every last morsel on their plate. Considering the hard work that they put into helping the produce to thrive, there is also a good chance that they will be more open to sampling a wider selection of flavours.
How to learn from their mistakes
Gardening is an art in many ways, and a science in many others. Therefore, sometimes no matter how much work and love you put into it, the results just won’t be what you had hoped for. Sometimes those flowers will wilt a long time before your child expected them to, despite watering and weeding them diligently. Perhaps because they were placed in a flower bed that simply sees too much sunshine during the day? Or they needed a touch more compost? Ultimately, gardening teaches children that these small mistakes are an opportunity to change their approach the next time around.
The wonders of nature
Spending time outdoors in the garden immersed in nature encourages children to reconnect and relish in all things green and natural. In a world inundated with technology, bustling cities, and unforgiving deadlines, a love for that relaxed sense of being that one can only truly find in nature, is one of the greatest things gardening teaches children, and one of the best gift that a parent can give their kids.
Want to enjoy the above points which gardening teaches children? Dust off those gardening overalls and give your old tools a clean – it’s time to plant some seeds of wisdom starting immediately!
