These days it seems sitting in front of a screen playing video games or watching movies is how many kids are spending their time. But it's important to know that encouraging them to keep in touch with nature is a good idea. When they get their hands dirty there are valuable life skills that can be taught, like with gardening. Gardening is not just a means to produce foods, it can also help to create bonding time between kids and other. It can also be a great time to broaden their knowledge of the science and the origins of their food.
Some valuable life lessons kids can learn from gardening are:
1. Responsibility
When you teach your kids to be responsible, it prepares them for all that life has to offer. With gardening, you can teach young ones the importance of responsibility, to accept a task or project, and see it through to fruition. They not only take pride in their accomplishment, but tit also helps them to get used to more and more responsibility as they grow.
2. Creativity
Gardening can also help bring out the genius in your kids by exercising their creativity to do something new. Whatever their task in the garden – selecting plants, staking, watering, planting or learning as plants grow, the garden provides the perfect spot to build and develop.
3. Health and Fitness
Doing something fun like gardening in the outdoor is plain fun and exciting. Hence, you need to encourage your kids to get their hands dirty. The bending, carrying, walking up and down are all forms of exercise. With this, they get to grow healthy while developing their physical and sensory faculties.
4. Nutrition
Eating healthy food that you grow yourself can be more nutritious than buying it from the grocery store. With locally produced foods, you enjoy all the vitamins and other essential nutrients in the produce that help to create a healthy and balanced meal. Growing your vegetables is better than depending on processed foods that are laden with chemicals and already lost nutrients. Home-grown sorts of foods are healthy for kids and they will even learn to make much wiser food choices in the future.
5. A Perfect Opportunity to Discover
The garden is like an outdoor classroom where your kids can learn practical and real-life lessons. In here, you can teach your kids about nature, nutrition, weather, the importance of water and sun to plants, etc. Many kids also believe the grocery store is the source of food, but a garden is the perfect spot to change this misconception.
Find a place in your yard today, or try using planters if space is limited, and you'll see the plants wont be the only thing growing.
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