The Young Gardener

I think kids are just drawn to living things that respond to care and nurturing, whether it be a baby bird that "needs saving" or a tiny plant to set in a window and watch grow. If the kids are encouraged, or at least not discouraged, from those basic tendencies, they may continue to grow that interest.
When it starts to feel like work, it stops being so fun.
 
But it is work, and maybe the real problem is a disrespect in general for hard physical labor.
It seems as though everything is entertainment driven, if I'm not having fun then this isn't worth doing is how I would interpret what I see going on.
Especially with kids.

Maybe the key is in getting people to get the gardening infection before they realize that sometimes it's just dusty sweaty work. But by the time they figure it out, it's too late and they're hooked. :D I guess that's what some of you are saying. The people that you loved made it easy for you to develop your own love for growing.

Part of my goal for my little gardeners this summer was to have fun, sure,
but also to have a respect for the actual labor of gardening. To show them that work is a good thing, and that there is a difference in your perception of yourself when you do the work even when it's hot and you don't want to. But you get it done, and realize that it didn't kill you, and life has popsicles in it as well as sweat. And they're both good things!
 
With veggie gardens, there are veggies.

With flower gardens, there is beauty.

In the garden, there are rewards. And, those plants do 9/10ths of the work. Well, maybe 7/10ths. You just shower them with attention and push back against those things that would make trouble for them.

Steve
 
thistlebloom said:
But it is work, and maybe the real problem is a disrespect in general for hard physical labor.
It seems as though everything is entertainment driven, if I'm not having fun then this isn't worth doing is how I would interpret what I see going on.
Especially with kids.

Maybe the key is in getting people to get the gardening infection before they realize that sometimes it's just dusty sweaty work. But by the time they figure it out, it's too late and they're hooked. :D I guess that's what some of you are saying. The people that you loved made it easy for you to develop your own love for growing.

Part of my goal for my little gardeners this summer was to have fun, sure,
but also to have a respect for the actual labor of gardening. To show them that work is a good thing, and that there is a difference in your perception of yourself when you do the work even when it's hot and you don't want to. But you get it done, and realize that it didn't kill you, and life has popsicles in it as well as sweat. And they're both good things!
Click to expand...

A resounding AMEN on this post! I've been noticing that very same thing for many years now and lamenting it all the while. It's getting harder and harder to "pass down" family traditions and skills when there is no one who really cares enough to gather them in.

Work is now a four letter word that everyone despises, especially manual labor.

I too fail to see any one key that unlocks that door for a child. In my family it's just a way of life to raise one's own food and preserve it, largely due to a real need for it to sustain life in an area where it's hard to make a living and keep a family fed.

Also, because it just makes perfect sense to utilize the land God gives us..it's just good stewardship and shows gratitude for the gift of land to work it and produce something good from it.

I've lived in agricultural communities where people rarely ever grow a home garden any longer, so are surprised when someone does it. That always shocks me because I remember a time when it was a surprise when people DIDN'T grow a garden, even those living in town would have a small garden back in the day.

You know what the most frequent comment I hear when I talk about gardening or tending food animals? "Sounds like a lot of work to me!", said in a tone that would indicate I was kind of stupid for even contemplating such things.

Now my own children feel the same way....too much like work, they say. :he

It's a sadness and I sorrow over the death of good, hard work for the sake of doing something fine and producing something good.
 
There also is a devaluing of caregiving, it seems to me.

Broadly. Health care, child care, education, parenting ... very low on employment and social totem pole. Meanwhile, so much focus on what? Fix it violently? If you really want something done, smash it! Simple.

Yeah right. Creating means destruction first, waste second, and loss finally. I will take another route and I'm pleased that there are some off on my left and right and far ahead. And, many are far younger than I am.

Steve
 
I have always needed to garden since I can remember. My children gardened some with me but none are in a place in their lives where it is possible. My grandsons seem like they will love it for life but, you never know if it will stay with a child. My darling 4 year old Gavin told me yesterday that he will even use my greenhouse after I am dead. He is obsessed lately with how long I am going to live. Doesn't seem worried though. Just trying to understand how things work.
 
Never underestimate a gardening grandmother's influence. My grandmother was the only gardener that I knew. Her small yard was all grass at one time. Each year her flower beds kept getting bigger and her grass smaller. Eventually there were just tiny paths. She saved her seeds every year. I remember helping her collect her seeds. I wished she had grown veggies.

It wasn't until many years later that I caught the gardening bug. My oldest has a raised veggie bed and my chef son has an appreciation for homegrown veggies. I think he may one day be a gardener also. Both were exposed to gardening of flowers in their early years. It wasn't until they were adults that they were exposed to my veggie gardening. They are both into healthy eating. My third child, not so much. I think it's because she still can eat anything and is tiny and skinny. :D

Mary
 
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