Graft and Gardening go together!
My kids have life easy in many ways due to money, my availability and the conveniences of modern life. If they want something to eat I can cook up a meal in no time. If they want entertaining they have toys galore and consoles a plenty. If they want to go to an activity they have me their chauffeur always at the ready. Friends back to play?…sure no probs. Both of them are academically pretty bright so that isn”t hard work and they are both pretty confident and social.
Apart form learning to read and learn to ride a bike (both challenges that took a while to overcome) they haven’t had to wait for much in life or work too hard for it.
So far!
I want them to understand that waiting and putting in effort can reap wonderful rewards. So I set the kids to it in the garden. Patience and hard work are key to gardening!
Oh my was there a lot of work to be done. It has been sorely neglected over winter and gosh where to start?
Earlier in the day we had been to visit Great Grandma who had these gorgeous crocus on display
Pretty gorgeous right?
These totally inspired my little girl to get outside as soon as we got home and make our garden looks as nice! Suhc a lot of work to be done before our garden looks anything at all as nice as Great Grandmas! First we had rubbish, abandoned toys and stones (for painting ) to gather up and sort out.
Every single one of these toy animals had survived months outside and they were all covered in dried on mud. It took me nearly an hour to scrub them clean. ‘That children,’ I declared ‘is love’
Look how grim it all looks, such a mess and so much work to be done (sigh.) But undaunted, we brushed and tidied and worked very hard despite both feeling very weary indeed!
So many jobs to be done and still to do but order became to overtake the chaos.Still a lot to be done but a good start.
To encourage us some daffs we planted last year had popped up to say hello and we picked a few for the kitchen to reward our hard work.
I am sure Miss A will be utterly delighted when the things we have planted grow. She will know all her effort has been worth it. Life lessons indeed in patience and graft. But oh the rewards!
If you enjoyed my post on graft and gardening with kids you might also enjoy my post on how to turn your child’s room into a teenagers room..that takes some graft too
gardening with kids is certainly an adventure. I remember when my toddler first started helping me — I spent more time trying to keep him from pulling the plants than actually gardening! Fortunately he was pretty quick to learn which are weeds and ask if he could pull them before just yanking away.
you need a special mothers day present scrubbing all those toys your daughter has really lovely hair, love you garden plans
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You are right!
You’re very good for cleaning all those toys, I just chuck them in the bin, I guess that’s why my children hardly have any toys now 😉
Amazing pictures. Colors abound.
We live in a modern, fast, everything at our fingertips NOW sort of a world – fast food, instant messaging, TV on demand etc etc. Gardening is such a great way to teach children that sometimes you have to be patient. Sometimes things take time and that these things need nurturing. Gardening is great for children on so many levels!
Those crocuses look beautiful! x #HDYGG
It’s great that Great Grandma’s flower inspired your daughter to get our in the garden. Love those white jugs!!
You are very kind scrubbing those animals all up! Sometimes I stick things in the dishwasher or bath with bleach. Those crocuses really are pretty. I always like an excuse of work to be done outside!
i hear you on having an easy childhood. our Lily is the same…. lucky. so we too put her to work. when it comes to cleaning toys, i always fill a tub with water and have her go at it. she loves it because she is playing and meanwhile she is working 😉
I do think it’s great to get kids involved in gardening, as as you say, it teaches patience and then a sense of achievement, as well as being great to get out in the fresh air and do some work. Enjoyed reading x
Ah it’s so good to get out and do these things together- many life lessons can be learnt in the garden.
I too have been scrubbing toys abadoned in the garden this week – harder than it first seems isn’t it?
Lovely photos Becky, just lovely xxx
Thanks for joining in again!
You’ve all been busy, the prep work can be so tiring! Looking forward to seeing all your hard work start to blossom