Gardening with Little Ones

We are successful gardeners! That statement may not seem all that astounding to you, but to me, it’s nothing short of miraculous. I’ve never been able to keep a house plant alive let alone grow something from seed—my children being the exception. When Adrian and I first got married I killed house plant after house plant. I’m pretty sure he started to worry after a while. I completely gave up after my millionth try and came to terms with the fact that I had a black thumb!

When we moved back to Virginia this second time, we found a house with a huge backyard. After apartment living in Vegas, it was a priority for us to have a yard for the boys. I was sitting out on the deck one morning late February watching the boys play in the yard and I noticed that my neighbor was planting a garden. She had a proper set up and looked like she really knew what she was doing. I was inspired! I did my research and ordered seeds—tomato seeds since everyone said they’re super easy to grow.

I knew I wanted Liev to be involved—Silas as well, but on a much smaller scale. This was going to be fun and if it went well, I wanted to make sure they could also be proud of the work they put into it. Bonus: It was something that got us outside and in the sunshine.

We started with seeds because I wanted Liev to experience the full process. More importantly, I wanted to teach him that growing food was all about patience…if he had patience and took really good care of his little seedlings, he would be rewarded with super yummy tomatoes.

We had a seed planting party! We sat down and I briefly explained the full process. Then we went to work:

Step 1:

I handed him a seedling cup and told him to fill it with potting soil.

Step 2:

He made a small well in the center with his finger and dropped his seed inside.

Step 3:

He covered his little seed with more soil and sprayed the top with his water bottle.

We planted eight seeds in total and when we were finished, I made sure he understood that his job wasn’t over. We would need to make sure that our little seeds got lots of sunlight and just the right amount of water.

Over the next few weeks he was diligent in his duties. He watered them regularly, moved them into sunny spots and even talked to them to make sure they were okay. Tending to his seeds was the first thing he did every morning.

One morning he woke up to beautiful little buds peeking up through the soil. He was astonished! He just couldn’t believe that those seeds he had planted were actually growing. And grow they did…I don’t know who was more excited, me or Liev! Adrian built us a few raised garden beds, and we planted our beautiful little seedlings in their boxes.

We’d go out every morning to tend to our little garden and Liev is super proud of his plants. When we pulled that first ripe tomato off the vine, we made it a celebration. It was a cherry tomato but we still quartered it so everyone could have a taste.

I’ve been collecting seeds over the season and have already commissioned more raised boxes from Adrian. Liev and I will be expanding our garden exponentially. My hope is that through our garden experiment Liev will learn to love the earth and appreciate what it’s capable of giving us. That sounds like hippy talk, but it’s true. We’ve always tried to instill an appreciation for good food in our little guys. But it’s bigger than that: I want the boys to appreciate where their food comes from—appreciate that they can grow that food themselves and take pride in it.

Adrian and I were talking the other day about the importance of teaching our children how to work, that rewards come from hard work and dedication, and that they should take pride in their work and always put forth their best effort. Now I know planting and tending to a garden isn’t necessarily hard work, but its underlying lessons–patience, responsibility, consistency, dedication, and perseverance (not throwing in the towel when your plants start yellowing!) are invaluable. All of these traits transfer to real-world jobs. Learning these traits from a young age leads to good work ethic later in life—no matter which career path they choose.

After watching Liev work so hard on the garden, we’ve decided to give him more responsibility—Silas too eventually—and the funny thing is, he LOVES it!! He loves going out and helping Daddy with yard work or helping me with laundry. We started composting, and Liev’s job is to tip the compost bin and roll it around the yard to mix it (sounds easier than it is) and he LOVES it!!

I think sometimes as parents we don’t give our kids enough credit. We don’t give them responsibilities because we think they’re too little or they shouldn’t have to work at their age, but I think we do them an injustice by doing that.

We bought Silas a little baby tricycle to scoot around the house on—the thing doesn’t even have pedals—but we were sure he was too little for anything else. A couple days later Adrian and I are in the kitchen and Silas comes ZOOMING out of the playroom on his brother’s scooter! He expertly makes a loop around the dining table, corners around Sam’s bed on the floor and comes to a full stop in front of the couch. We were in SHOCK!! Anyone else seeing this would have thought he’s been training on the scooter for months. It was amazing. We realized that maybe we should ease up on the parenting paranoia and over-protectiveness a little.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think children should be slaving away all day and not having fun. I actually believe the opposite…at their age most moments of their little lives should be filled with fun.

But why can’t we make gardening, yard work or even laundry fun for an hour a day or make helping out in the kitchen fun by teaching them how to make their own snacks. These invaluable life lessons can be taught while doing just about any housework or outdoor work. It’s the responsibility that’s also important. They need something that’s all theirs. Some chore or job they can take on and be proud of.