Globally, people are struggling to be well, motivated, and busy as the world copes with COVID-19.
Kids are especially hard hit. With little social interaction, closed schools, and extra-curricular activities reduced, kids are experiencing high anxiety, restlessness, and reduced self-esteem.
That being said, kids are extraordinary — and with a little nurturing, they’ll go to high places whatever the circumstances. Gardening is a great way to empower your kids and create resilient teenagers and adults. For many reasons, gardening offers wonderful health benefits to your children and may increase their quality of life — even during a global pandemic.
Here’s how gardening empowers kids.
Gardening Teaches Responsibility and Self-Confidence.
Understanding responsibility is key to a child’s development. It may be difficult to learn from at-home schooling, so a garden is a perfect way to offer your kids responsibility that is fun and meaningful. When kids grow their own garden, they assume responsibility for a living thing. It’s like a pet — only less dependent. Giving your kids a garden to take care of and watch over will give them a chance to be responsible and to showcase that responsibility.
Encourage and help your kids take care of their new garden. Then, praise them when they do a good job! As they reap the rewards of their own responsibility (their hard work), your child’s confidence in their own abilities will increase. Good, healthy self-esteem is imperative to prepare kids for a happy adulthood, and there’s nothing more beautiful to see than a child discovering their own growing capabilities.
Gardening Grows Gratitude.
During a global pandemic, gratitude is important to help maintain good spirits and happiness. Help your kids train gratitude now while they’re young! Establishing a practice of gratitude will increase your kids’ (and your) well-being as well as you endure the stay at home order. Gardening is one of our favorite ways to encourage gratitude in day to day life.
You can read more about how gardening teaches gratitude.
Gardening Nurtures Environmental Stewards.
Helping your kids find purpose is a wonderful way to empower them. Gardening teaches your kids about the environment and nourishes an appreciation for the earth. As you garden with your kids, help them by talking about how to be a better “friend” to Mother Earth. As you do so, and as they cultivate a love for nature, they will blossom into environmental stewards. It will offer them a meaningful purpose in life with a large ripple effect.
Gardening Helps Teach Math and Science.
Learning online is incredibly challenging for kids. The younger they are, the more it affects their learning rate. Yet, education remains a key way to empower people — especially children. As such, finding non-school ways to incorporate learning is a great option for children’s empowerment during covid. Gardening is a wonderful activity to introduce complex math and science learning to your children. It’s a simple as talking about why plants need water or as complex as biodiversity.
Here are our favorite science lessons that include the garden.
Gardening Teaches Patience and Delayed Gratification.
One of the hardest things about the quarantining is developing the patience to make our way through it. Gardening is the perfect option for teaching your children about patience and delayed gratification.
Our world is full of instant gratification. Gardens grow and take time to show results. As such, planting a garden with your kids, letting them take care of it, and then harvesting it with them is a great avenue for expanding your kids’ capacity for patience.
Ideally, these lessons will transfer to your child’s experience during Covid-19, giving them tools and entertainment to cope healthily throughout the pandemic. No matter what, gardening will empower your child and offer them meaningful lessons that will last them their whole life.
Help your kids begin gardening today with the Gardenuity My First Garden kids gardening kit.
Then, sign them up for the kid’s event Gardenuity’s Good Thyme Garden Club: Virtual Summer Camp! Find tickets and more information here.
