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I love Pinterest. There are so many boards dedicated not only to gardening but gardening and garden-related activities with kids. I used to have a 80ft long garden which anyone who knows me is hysterical as I can’t mow the lawn straight let alone make anything grow. I am however skilled at growing the most hardy varieties of weeds.
I am that mum who enthusiastically brings her child’s first beanstalk project home and then kills it. I might have done something to the cress too. I did try recently to recreate a clever idea I saw on Pinterest which included re-growing spring onions using the bits that you lop off the onions when you make your salad, but I forgot about it and the water went a bit yucky and I had to throw them out.
Clearly being green fingered is not a skill I possess however I do feel it is something important for the kids. Kieran is nearly 7yrs old and would love his own plot to fill with Vegetable Plants. At 2yrs old Taylor would thoroughly enjoy digging and helping out too.
My 80ft long garden has now gone and I have a paved garden (much more suitable for me) with some raised up beds. They really are lovely with poppies and all sorts in there adding height and colour to the garden however I want to use some of it for a herb garden or for a “Grow Your Own Veg” section for the boys.
Given that I actively avoid supermarkets, enjoy organic fruit and veg and what not it makes sense to try and persevere (I might need to do some reading up I think) with some clearing and planting and to give the boys the opportunity to grow something all of their own. I remember having a section of a garden when I was a young child where my Dad let me grow herbs, mostly mint in abundance, and it was great fun.
Perhaps if I just supervise and let them do everything without me touching anything will work?
I am determined so watch this space. If you have any great tips for gardening with kids or if any of you bloggers have posts on the subject say hello in the comments below and use the CommentLuv to leave the urls. I can’t be the only terrible gardening parent surely….. can I?
He enjoyed this activity (I might have killed the plants off with too much watering though)
*Written in collaboration with the mentioned business yet true to my thoughts, feelings and experiences.
We were asked recently if we would like to take part in National Share a Story Month (this month!). Kieran is a keen reader and has a fantastic imagination so he accepted the challenge to create a short bedtime story – and here it is….. (Please leave a comment for him, I know he’ll love reading them).
Kieran’s Tidy Bedtime Story
Once upon a time there was a little boy called Kieran. Kieran was very good but something was wrong with his bedroom! He just could not keep his bedroom tidy even when he tried to. His Mummy and Daddy got cross because they kept standing on Lego and toy car in the middle of the night.
“Ouch! Kiiiiieeeerrrannnnn!” They would shout.
One night Kieran climbed over his piles of books, Lego and other toys and went to bed. But when he got to bed he had a dream that was a bit different to his other dreams. He dreamed he was in an organised world. When he woke up in his dream he was in his own bedroom but he saw his room was really tidy, not like his room in real life.
He saw some awesome things like a pencil pot made of Lego, and a tidy grown up boy’s desk. There were Lego toy boxes and he had a cool DVD player for watching DVDs on at the weekend. His Jedi lightsaber was tidied away but he could still get to it and his set of drawers had no fronts on and the drawers were filled with colourful mini Lego boxes which had all sorts of different types of Legos in.
When Kieran opened up his wardrobe in this special room he thought everything would fall out on him because that was what happened in his own room. Kieran loved this room, it looked super grown up and special.
Kieran started to feel really tired so he climbed into his tidy bed and fell asleep.
When Kieran woke up he was back in his messy bedroom.
“Oh no” said Kieran and sadly went downstairs to get breakfast. Kieran’s Mummy told him that he would have to tidy his bedroom when he got home.
After school Kieran came home, put his book bag away and had some juice at the table. His Mummy reminded him he still had to do his room. Kieran walked slowly upstairs to his room, opened the door and instead of the horrible messy room that was there this morning he found the super tidy grown up room that was in his dream!
When Kieran could stop staring he raced downstairs to see his Mummy.
“How did you know what happened in my dream???” he said.
“Ah” said Mummy, “Mummy knows…..”
“Everything!” finished Kieran with a big smile.
After that day Kieran kept his room tidy all the time and because his room was so grown up and not messy he could have friends come and play and have sleepovers all the time.
THE END.
This post has been written in conjunction with children’s bed makers Warren Evans for National Share a Story Month. For his part in the Warren Evan NSM campaign he will receive 4 specially printed copies of his story to share with family and friend.
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