Artie

Here I am eating a new season Jonathon apple, just thought I would have a look at Gardenweb, and now I have to type a response, fingers sticky, oh dear !

What a great topic to bring up. I agree with you 100%, I see gardening as a nuturing activity and I think if you are a nuturer, you wont want to destroy. I think all schools should have an organic garden going for the primary children. Each child could grow seeds, and nuture something or other, everyone should know how to grow food, at least.

With my daughter, now 19, I spent most days pottering around the garden, from when she was a bub. We looked at flowers, clouds, made things out of leaves, twigs, grew things, ate them. You name it we did it together. Much to my utter disappointment she told me the other month, she hates going outside, its all too boring ! So I guess, as a parent, you can instill a love for the garden, but dont mean they will take it up.

Whats going to happen when all the fossil fuel runs out, we will have to grow our own food, cause there wont be any in the shops !

Popi

Couldn' agree more Artie - the reason I am so well adjusted is all the blood and bone and horse poo I had in my boots as a kid. I'm now working on another generation with my grandies having created only one committed gardener out of my 2 daughters. Kids are great fun to work with and they do like what they help to grow even if the effort is only sporadic. They still claim responsibility for the best of the produce and that's what encourages them! We are setting up a children's centre and one of the projects ( bugger legislative rules) is going to be to create a produce garden so the kids can learn and encourage their parents to give it a go too! Here's a couplea pics - my grandies digging for buried treasure - look at the face on finding a spud and the pride of 'their' early morning pick.
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Let's have some kiddie pics folks!

Artie, this is the sort of thing we're trying to encourage at my kid's school. It might be a garden club but the idea is to encourage the kids to do some outdoor activities. I am always looking for ideas on outdoor activities to put in the garden club newsletter.

I think we should be spending more time with our kids as a family not just driving them to sports training or similar. I know the kids need the exercise but shoving them into competitive sports isn't the answer. I think we should have more friendly, non-competitive games not competitive sports which is only pushing the kids all the time. They need to be able to relax, have fun and be kids.

We need to spend more family time together kicking the ball in the backyard (or park), gardening together, going on bushwalks, even playing hide 'n' seek. Remember, families that play together, stay together. Kids are less likely to get involved with the bad elements if they have a close relationship with their family.

There has been articles in a couple of papers over the last few months about reclaiming the streets. One neighbourhood has gained permission to use a cul-de-sac every Friday afternoon to have a neighbourhood street cricket match, etc. Parents take seats and refreshments and sit on the footpath chatting while the kids play and ride bikes on the road. A good idea though not always practical but can work in certain areas.

I can go on about this for ages as I think it is very important. Starting the kids young is one answer. We need to get more schools involved. We're having trouble at school as even though the teachers agree in theory they don't want to be involved in practice. It is not hard to incorporate outdoor actvities with education. Then we need the parents to back up the teachers. Sometimes I feel like giving up and I'm running out of ideas so am looking forward to following this thread, it might help motivate me to motivate teachers and parents.

Lovely children Cosmic..and fantastic veges. Good on you grandpa !

Gardening is fantastic exercise, as well, we have lots of obese children in this country.

Love the cricket idea Goldhills, that fantastic !

It all starts with the parents, though. So many out working to pay for the Mcmansion and 4 wheel drives, then no time for pottering in the garden, but what garden...with the house taking up so much of the block !

Hi Popi,

I think I made the point that almost any dwelling, even an apartment, can have something resembling a herb garden (at least), and even the largest dwelings have courtyards. Failing that, we should be petitioning local councils to fence off sections in each park for produce gardens - your family goes onto a waiting list for a small plot, each plot being 'recycled' at the end of the season, and volunteer gardeners help newbies get started. Even the simple act of everyone mingling in the garden would be positive,and the produce could be sold to buy more seed for the following season.

Yeah, I know its all a bit Utopian, but there has to be an alternative to the way our society seems to be heading - something to do with hell and a handbasket ....

I also accept that we dont always perservere with the things which fascinated us as children, but its a start. Lets see more kids standing in the garden with beaming smiles, and a few less loitering around Maccas :)

Popi, your daughter may not be motivated to pick up a shovel or push around a wheelbarrow right at this stage in her life but I'm sure she's a decent caring human being because of the start you gave her. I'm going through a similar thing with mid-teen DS. He loves nature and bushwalking but these days he's too busy with his own interests to come and help in the garden. The sight of me pushing loads of soil up to the back of our block has prompted him to aspire to owning an apartment. Gardening looks a bit too much like slavery to him. I must admit lately I do feel like a slave to the garden and there are days when I can't quite remember how it feels to "love gardening". (I think I feel a new thread coming on.)

The local high school installed a greenhouse, and it promptly got vandalised. The youth centre beside the shopping mall is surrounded by weed infested tanbark. It's crying out for a garden but no-one seems interested. I think you're right Artie, by the time they're finishing primary school it's too late. (By the way, can I assume you're an Iron Chef fan?)

Community gardens are an excellent idea in city areas but it isn't just kids we have to encourage. Parents have to get in the act to or at least change their attitude. Many of the parents at the school look down their noses at getting their hands dirty and think gardening is too much like hard work. They just want to sit in front of the idiot box watching footy or daytime soaps (depending what sex they are) instead of getting outside. The kids learn by example - they say the same as their parents and do the same. If the parents won't encourage the kids, it is up to the schools and hopefully the lessons learnt then will last for life.

I've found that the kids that are most receptive are the younger grades but the older ones are slowly starting to come around and even at the high school they are talking about an adopt-a-garden scheme. At least it's a start.

GH You are so right, we have to train the parents first, If you can....
I tried training my four and when they were younger they did help around the garden but sadly only one my youngest daughter is the one who has any interest at all in plants.. Two are too busy making a living and the other one well she spends all day on the Internet and her hubby is a TV fan, so my three Grandchildren there have no hope of learning about gardening, when they used to visit they were very interested in what I was doing I used to help them plant seeds into pots and when grown they would take them home.

But its a one day wonder as the plants were never looked after at home, so what chance does a poor plant have when you get this " But Nana I want to play on the PS 2 or I am off to watch a DVD" but the best is "Hey Mum take that pot plant home with you as it will only die here you know I cant be bothered with things like that"
Very sad but I have tried ...Cheers...MM.

MM, I have similar with one daughter - helped in the garden when she was a kid, now she won't cook, won't garden, but is a fantastic mum and looks after 25 other kids, instilling real values in them and encouraging them in other ways. She does bring the kids to see' grandma's garden' and is delighed that her own kids spend ime with us, so they get some exposure. My other daughter used to spend most of her 'gardening' time having 'little rests' when she was a kid but today directs her husband into creating a great garden and cooks up a storm. So you just can't know how their lives will pan out. But at the end of the day they are growing up wholesome and in tune with their own natures and even if they have to be grannies themselves, the message is imprinted. My 32 year old told me the other day that she loved being 3 and diving under the doona with me to make a magic land - I can't remember doing so, but she does. Mum power! The other day I saw an ad for "Fighting Obesety" - it was an "Interactive DVD to play over your TV that all the family can enjoy" - I then had to explain what an Oxymoron is to my grandies!