We all know that parenting is hard. It has a lot of challenges especially during this pandemic. We are 24/7 with our kids. We have to take care of them on top of our usual work. Parenting never stops. We have to be intentional parents wherein we could apply life lessons with the daily activities we do at home. How do I apply this with gardening? Gardening is a form of self-care for me. It helps me calm my mind. How can I involve my child with this?
I wanted to learn how to plant tomatoes. Tomatoes are staple in our kitchen. Going out to get them is usually hard during this pandemic. So I thought that even if we have limited space, we could grow our own tomatoes in pots and be a little bit self-sustaining with it. We used food scraps to get the seeds and planted them. It took a few days before I saw the seeds sprout.
Benefits of Gardening
Indoor gardening is a great bonding with kids. It is a slow process. It teaches children the value of waiting. For a few days, we take care of a seed and nothing is happening (or so it seems). It teaches us patience. And if we are consistent in what we do, we get rewarded. We get excited when the first sprouts appear because we worked hard for it to survive. Taking care of the plant by watering it everyday is a great opportunity to teach responsibility. We teach our child how to take care of a living thing. We have to nourish it with love, attention, time, water, sunlight and many more.
Other benefits of gardening includes introducing kids to scientific concepts. It develops Math skills through counting and measuring of the sprouts. It enhances their ability to observe by writing down on a daily basis the changes they see in their seeds/ sprouts.
Mother Nature, Mother Nurture Mother’s Day Special
Jennie, founder of Plant Project, invited us to be her guests in her online class “Mother Nature, Mother Nurture”.
We talked about gardening with kids. This is a Mother’s Day event sponsored by Ortigas Malls and organized by Plant Project PH. Let’s start saving those food scraps and make them grow.
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Here is a journal of our journey after our Tomato seed Project.
Gardening with kids is a really nice bonding. It promotes life skills in an enjoyable manner. In case you want to watch this online gardening class check out the Facebook Page of Plant Project PH.
Thank you Plant Project PH for this Tomato Seed activity.
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