SUSY'S FAMILY CHILDCARE

5 Amazing Benefits of Teaching Children About Gardening

We all know that children love to play outside, but have you ever considered how much they can learn when you involve them in the gardening process? When kids are involved in planting, watering, and harvesting veggies, they not only reap the health benefits of eating fresh produce but also develop life skills that they'll use throughout their lives. Here are five amazing benefits of teaching children about gardening.

Let's Discuss 5 Amazing Benefits of Gardening for Kids

It's a well-known fact that gardening has some amazing benefits for kids and adults alike. However, did you know that by teaching your child how to garden, you are providing them with lessons in patience, hard work, organization and so much more? You can also open up important lines of communication between parent and child by getting involved in something together. So let's dive right into it!

1) Helps Improve Physical Health

Let's face it, kids spend more time sitting than they should. Additionally, children are well known for snacking on fast food and consuming large amounts of sugar-filled drinks. The result is that children suffer from obesity at an alarmingly high rate. Healthy eating is one keyway to improve your child's health—but so is exercise! While adults tend to think about exercising through strenuous activities like running or weightlifting, children can do lots of things that are equally important but less tiring. Gardening allows kids to work up a sweat without even breaking a sweat—and there's no better way to improve your health than getting your heart pumping (gently) while doing something fun.

2) Mental Health

Along with improving physical health, gardening for kids helps improve mental health. The benefits are twofold. First, spending time outside exposes children to much-needed sunlight—which research has shown is important for both physical and mental health. Second, using their hands to grow plants encourages children to connect with nature—and there's no better way to help kids have respect for our beautiful planet than by showing them how to take care of it! It further educates them to better connect, communicate, collaborate and work as a team, which will assist in developing future skills for leadership and entrepreneurship.

5. Lack of Communication Between Staff and Parents

One thing that can kill a business's success is a lack of communication between both parents and staff. Parents should have their questions answered, concerns dealt with, any problems (such as sickness or punishment for bad behavior) resolved as quickly as possible and treated like they're valued customers instead of someone who has to pay your bills every month. One way to maintain these levels is by communicating often with your clients; use phone calls, e-mails, SMS messages (with their permission), etc., to stay in contact with them as much as possible without overwhelming them or making them feel like you're constantly nagging them about something minor.

3) Emotional Intelligence

Emotion is an intrinsic part of being human - an essence of who we are. It inspires, motivates, and moves us forward in life. Learning to understand our emotions and manage them appropriately is a key part of emotional intelligence (EQ). Not only do gardening activities help nurture a child's EQ by encouraging feelings of achievement, but also because learning about plants helps children appreciate growth and change! Whether they're small seedlings or well-established plants, children learn from watching plants grow from small to big, from fragile to strong.

4) Cognitive Skills

The process involved in starting from a small seed to a fully grown plant teaches children skills that have been proven to assist cognitive development. In fact, gardening tasks require constant observation, perception, and judgment. Furthermore, as mentioned above, all growing tasks require problem-solving abilities as well as emotional intelligence. Additionally, it encourages creative thinking and resourcefulness - which are vital for life-long learning!

5) Environmental Perspective

A child's first encounter with nature is through hands-on gardening. Kids are more likely to appreciate nature if they have had a chance to explore it, manipulate it, and watch it grow. Parents can expand on what they've learned about gardening by taking their children on nature walks or engaging them in activities that help their children become even more aware of environmental issues. For example, planting trees to reduce the urban heat-island effect or using native plants instead of non-native ones are actions children can be involved in as part of a family project. The results may seem subtle - but we need everyone's effort and participation to make any difference.

Conclusion

Parents today are faced with many challenges when it comes to raising their children. There is an overwhelming amount of information and conflicting ideas about how to do so. One tool that can help immensely is gardening! A child's first encounter with nature is through hands-on gardening. This can be a valuable opportunity for parents to create memories and teach some valuable lessons while bonding with their kids over something they both enjoy doing. While it might seem like a lot of work, just think about all those amazing benefits! That's worth putting in some elbow grease, right?