Family Gardens

It's fair week. I'm broke and it's wristband day which means that for one price, kids can ride all the rides for four hours. I'm doing the math in my head on the way home from the gas station when my son asks me to stop and pick up one of his friends. I assume that his friend will have his own fair money so I'm not even worried about that when I pick him up. I was wrong. I think of all the things I have to get done today and wonder how I am going to cover two boys at the fair when I can barely manage one. Then it hits me. I can cut my work in half and earn more money, as well as teaching the boys a valuable lesson about money and food. I send them out to pick the beans.

These days, children are so focused on technology that they barely seem to have a concept of nature and how things grow. Some children don't even know that beef comes from cows! I never wanted to be a parent who didn't educate her child on how the world really works, technology or not. This year, we planted a garden as part of those lessons.

To me, a garden offers a wealth of opportunity for lessons and healthy eating. I'm not a parent who insists that my child clean his plate, but I don't like to waste food either. I find that my son and I are both more excited about something as simple as green beans when we grow it ourselves. Not only do we get healthy food, but we both get a sense of pride and accomplishment. You might think that because I paid the boys with wristbands for the fair that they missed out on some valuable lessons, but I beg to differ. Now they not only have pride in their work, but they appreciate those wristbands even more because they earned them.

A family garden is a great place to develop bonds. You are literally watching life form and that in itself is quite an experience. Working together always brings a family together as well. Since we plan to share our harvest with our neighbors, my son also gets to learn about charity and sharing. These are some valuable life lessons that are being passed on through one very simple and rewarding experience.

Not only are there life lessons to be learned here, but the family garden also is a chance to give children some level of control, something that they often feel they don't have since they don't make the decisions in the house. Let your children pick some seeds to grow on their own. Allow them to experiment with putting different things in the soil to see what makes their plants grow best.

If you have problems getting your child to eat vegetables, you have a unique opportunity here. They can choose their own vegetables to grow. Make a deal with your children that you will try their vegetables if they will try yours. Plant some fun things like red sweet corn. If you have a large enough garden, you can even take some of your produce to the farmer's market so that children can see another benefit of growing a garden.

Get out of the house. Get a little bit dirty with your children. You can even have fun with food by allowing your children to drop a watermelon on the ground to break it open so that you all can enjoy a healthy snack as you garden!