Gardening as an Experience for the Child

“The child that hasn’t a flowerbed or a garden of its own is being cheated out of its birthright. The evolution of the child mirrors the evolution of the race. And as the race has passed through the savage, pastoral and agricultural stages, so should the child.”
- Elbert Hubbard, The Philosophy of Elbert Hubbard.

Elbert Hubbard could not be more correct. More and more often today’s child is deprived of the simple life lessons which help them grow into strong adults, and instead is given instant gratification and forms of entertainment which stimulate very little in the way of intelligence and thinking.

A garden teaches patience. Things do not just sprout up overnight. Some plants do not even fully mature for a year or two, teaching long term patience. In todays world of instant messaging and text messaging, children need to learn that some things still take time. Microwaves may help us make a hot meal in minutes, but a good meal can sometimes take hours of preparation (like making a good roast). The same holds true with a garden. It takes a full season to get vegetables grown large enough and ripe enough to eat. Just because most fruits and vegetables are available in stores year round does not mean that they just magically appear every time the stocker comes out.

Gardens can help teach responsibility. Ask any parents and they will tell you that a pet can help teach responsibility, but unless the child is old enough for such a task, it’s usually the parent who ends up being the responsible party. A garden can help teach much of that same responsibility at an earlier age. If you don’t tend to your garden on a regular basis, it may become over grown with weeds, or you may miss the optimal picking time for your vegetables, or worse still, it may die. Any child who can walk on their own can hold a garden hose or sprinkler can and help water the garden. When they are a little older they can help weed the garden and trim plants back as needed. Just as a pet may die if you do not ensure that it has proper food and water (although we all hope that all parents will step in and take over if the child is not responsible enough to feed their pet!) a garden may die if it is not watered regularly and given the proper nutrients to help it grow.

A child can learn pride from a garden. Knowing that you can do something yourself is one of the greatest lessons in life and should be learned as early as possible. Reminding them that this is their garden helps to enforce the responsibility of tending it and prepares them for the rewards of the final results if they are patient. While the garden is growing, they can show it off to friends, proud of what they’ve done. Once the vegetables are picked and the flowers picked, they can be proud knowing exactly where it all came from; their hands. This pride can be reinforced by parents adding praise to the child’s work and adding in how wonderful the flowers smell or how good the food tastes.

A garden can help teach the value and importance of life. In today’s world of excessive violence, destructive video games, and never-ending imagery of death and destruction on the news, in the movies, and on television, it is easy to become immune to it all and forget just how fragile and important life is. Certianly children learn quickly that the plant which did not receive any water or sunlight will die. However, parents can easily tie in lessons about how all living things require food. For older children who are delving into science for the first time, parents (and teachers) can explain the symbiotic relationship between animals and plants and how without one, the other would perish.

Even those who do not have a proper yard available at their disposal for a garden can still give their children the opportunity to experience learning life skills through garndening. All that is needed is a few pots, some herbs, and a window that gets some sunshine each day. Herbs grow fast and are full of flavor and scent. The speed of the experience as well as how good herbs can intensely affect the senses makes the learning experience all that much more exciting.

This is only a smattering of how something so simple and easy to do can help prevent cheating your children out of their birthright. As the garden progresses and the child grows, so will the experiences and lessons associated within.