The current pandemic has transformed many of us into modern day plantitos and plantitas as evident in social media posts, and abundant planting supplies available in the market. Rightfully so, because in a world so consumed by instant gratification, we tend to forget the most basic skill: Survival.
Different types of services like salons for cutting hair, restaurants and dessert places are at our disposal and just within our reach that we unconsciously relied on these external factors for far too long. We have to equip our kids with these essential skills necessary for their survival. First, let’s turn them into little plant babies with these tips:
Start by making a connection.
To make a good foundation, we start from the very beginning. Let the kids put soil in the seedling tray and press down a few seeds on each slot and then we wait.
Be creative and personalize your garden.
Make it your own. Choose plants that spark joy. Start by planting what you love. Do you like flowers? Succulents? Herbs?
We also repurposed some containers found around the house and turned them into pots and watering cans instead of buying from the market. We used these coconut husks as pots and personalized them by painting different colors and patterns to spruce up the garden.
Establish a schedule.
Every day at 4:00pm, just like clockwork, the kids would drop whatever they are doing and immediately grab their own spray bottles, dash towards the garden and start spraying their plants.
Label the Plants.
Just like sight words, labelling each plant makes for better recall. Labelling provides information on what kind of care each plant needs. To be honest, I still get confused on identifying some herbs and plants because they kind of look the same. But once you get to know them, it gets easier.
Gardening has countless benefits for the kids: It encourages healthy eating, it teaches responsibility, develops patience and self-confidence. They learned so much about the different kinds of plants and their personalities. Gardening is also part of a therapeutic technique called “Grounding” or “Earthing” that focuses on realigning the mild negative energy from the Earth to rise up to our positive bodies thus returning them to our neutral state. The kids are drawn to nature, they sleep better, feel happier, and their hearts full of hope and inspiration.
The best part of our plant journey is it fostered a unique family bonding for us. Every time we have questions about the plants, we research about it together, we learn together, we grow together. The world is our classroom. There are still so many things to learn and experience, so start planting those roots and I guarantee that the harvests you will reap is far beyond the crops that you sow. See you in our next adventure.
Perfect Mommy Project 