My eldest, Rowan, is distinctly unimpressed when I tell him I am going to turn him into a gardener. “But I don’t want to be a gardener, I want to be an engineer,” he protests, and gives me the side eye when I tell him that he can be both, honestly – lots of people are.
I know that gardening is something kids should do. Getting their hands dirty and watching seeds germinate helps them develop a love of the outside world and a solid set of wisteria pruning skills. I garden and I have kids – Meg is seven and Rowan is nearly 10 – but I have only ever made the vaguest of attempts to garden with them.
They spend a lot of time on the allotment but they generally just climb trees and… Actually I don’t even know what they do: as long as they are having fun, I tend to keep out of it. They have barely sown a seed, and on the odd occasion that they have dabbled, their interest has not lasted through to germination, let alone harvest. Where have I been going wrong?
Comments
Sounds like you are doing everything right! The last thing you want to do is to try and force kids to do things and put them off for ever. Climbing trees and just loving being outside is so vital to child development. The technical side can come later if they are interested, but if not it's not the end of the world. Gardening is not for everyone.
I have found my nephew who is 3.5 yrs enjoys watering plants and helping harvesting things like potatoes (a good hunting for treasure game). To be honest I still find planting seeds and waiting for them to germinate pretty tedious! Just them being in and around an allotment will be great for them. Just relax and enjoy having them around. The rest will come in time.