Parenting: Growing bond through gardening

My 9 year-old son Nicholas has developed quite a green thumb.

He and his mom have spent many a spring, planting flowers in the family garden, or in decorative flower pots outside our home. Like many kids, it started as a fun excuse to play in the dirt, but it's now become a great way to learn about nature, and the environment.

In Camden, young children also learned about gardening, but it wasn't flowers they were planting in an abandoned lot, but fruits and vegetables; the reason is a vital one. There's just not enough access to healthy, home-grown food where they live so the city wants to teach them how to grow their own, a lesson that will hopefully blossom into a life-time activity.

Experts will tell you that gardening is not only a wonderful way to get kids to spend time outdoors, but it also feeds their innate curiosity about the world around them, not to mention the hours of quality time spent between the two of you. And as you watch the wonder in their eyes as they witness the harvest of their hard work, the child learns the importance of caring for something and the value of nurturing.

Introducing your child to gardening can be as simple as taking them to a nursery or a plant store, and letting them pick out something, whether it's a pretty flower or a seedling that will eventually become something for the dinner table.

Happy gardening!

Read more Parenting Perspective blogs by visiting the Parenting Channel on 6abc.com.

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rick williams parenting reports, parenting, rick williams

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