I recently gave a talk at my local API chapter’s monthly meeting about adapting your hobbies for children. The main examples from my talk were all about gardening since that’s my number one hobby (obsession!), so I decided I ought to turn this into a post.
Both of my children started gardening in utero. I know that sounds crazy, but I seriously encouraged the progression of labor from periodic contractions to hard labor by going out to pick asparagus (i.e. lots of squatting!) about 14 hours before Lily was born. And I renovated our entire back yard during my first two trimesters of pregnancy with Gabriel. I remember planting the last shrub about a nanosecond before I was too big to wield a shovel, thank you very much!
Anyhow, Gabriel was at least big enough at 8 months to sit in the grass and watch me work or sit in the sling for a closer view by the time gardening season rolled around and the following year, he was big enough to drop onion starts and pea seeds into holes I’d made and to help me water a bit. This season, Lily joins our growing gardening crew at the energetic, if slightly destructive, age of 23 months.
So how do you garden with children? The first maxim I mentioned in my talk was scaling back your expectations. The kids are going to trample your flowers occasionally, are going to over or underwater, and are notorious for pulling out row markers or, as I learned the hard way, digging up your onions without your knowledge, leaving them to sprout in wild patterns instead of neat rows!
Let children participate in less complicated tasks so they’re more likely to leave you alone to complete the more complicated ones and either fence off delicate areas (like the rose garden or a place where you have delicate seedlings starting) to avoid disasters. Keep in mind that children do not know the different between weeds and seedlings, so if you have them help you weed (or even if they see you weeding), they may be inclined to copy you with disastrous results.
Repeat the activities that you do want your child to be involved in often so that the child knows what to expect & can master the task. This works especially well with tasks like watering where even a three year old can figure out how to water each and every plant and how to water gently so as not to blast new growth.
And finally, come up with something the child can do in parallel if you need less “help”! My children love spreading mulch, so I have them work with their little shovels and wheelbarrows while I do things like weeding and pruning that they can’t help me with. The whole point of including your child in your gardening hobby it to connect with them and to have fun–if it’s not fun, make a change!
What to plant?
I’ve already mentioned peas and onions, but there are other very easy garden vegetables that will delight your children. Herbs are great because the children can smell them and because they won’t hurt the child if he or she takes a nibble. Vegetables like pumpkins, zucchini, or watermelon are nice because they sprout quickly and grow nice big vegetables that, unlike a tomato or a pepper, cannot easily get damaged by tiny hands.
Before starting a garden project with your children, please do review CSU’s list of toxic plants. Some very common flowers are highly toxic: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/Pubs/Garden/07237.html This is not an all-inclusive list, so please do contact Poison Control if you have a specific question.
Additional Resources
How to Amuse Toddlers - http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Amuse-Toddlers/
Craft & Activity Library - http://www.creativekidsathome.com/activities.shtml
Cooking with Kids - http://www.cookingwithkids.com/
Gardening with Children - http://coopext.colostate.edu/4dmg/Children/children.htm
Gardening with Young Children - http://www.gardening-with-kids.com/gardening-with-kids-beginner.html
