Children helping in the garden is to be encouraged

Having children helping in the garden is one of the greatest gifts I believe you can give any child as it instills an appreciation of how food grows. There is nothing more joyous than seeing young ones learning how to plant seeds and then wait for them to grow. In this world of instant results it can be very difficult for a child to wait days and sometimes weeks for that small green shoot to appear from beneath the soil.

It can be hard to try and work out just what children activities to try and engage them in, more especially in these days of digital entertainment. But I can say gardening with an attentive and patient gardener is a favored children activity.

It’s also staggering how many children just don’t eat vegetables. Where I live here in Australia the main vegetable eaten by children is potato and only potato it seems to me. I remember years ago my young nephew came to announce he ate his vegetables now (we had been trying to encourage this for years). He listed all the vegetables he now ate, roast potato, French fries, chips, mashed potato and finished with a pomme noisette flourish. He had no idea all were potato and when we told him he cried. So much for adding diversity to such a young life.

Children helping in the garden can be one of life's special moments

For a keen gardener there is nothing more precious than children helping to plant, carry, water and ask those endless questions - all beginning with 'why'. It's a wonderful time to teach them so much.

It should go without saying vegetables are good for us, we evolved eating them and our bodies do need the nourishment they provide. I thought one way to try and entice young ones to eat vegetables was to start by introducing them to grow their own Halloween pumpkin. This is a vegetable they are more than familiar with, in some cases it is probably the only vegetable they have seen cut open to expose the flesh and seeds. No better place to start than learning how to grow pumpkins.

Let’s be honest carving up the Halloween pumpkin is one of the most treasured childrens activities, imagine their sheer delight when they can carve a pumpkin they grew themselves.

These children help in the garden on a regular occassion

These children help in the garden quite a lot, they have learned over the years how to handle tools, prepare the soil for new plants and tend the existing plants.

There are just so many ways to carve a pumpkin for this special occasion and there are plenty of ideas here. In fact, I thought why not let the kids see some wonderful Halloween costumes as well, it’s all in keeping with the pumpkin theme.

It’s my hope this will encourage some adults to think more carefully about how they educate their children about how food is grown. The more children understand this the more they will be able to have physically healthier lives and all that flows from that.

My hope is it will be fun for all the family.

You can see how pumpkins grow here

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