Currently, I have a seven year-old daughter and five year-old son. They love most fruits and vegetables, which sometimes surprises other parents.

In most cases, kids take to a handful of fruits with ease, but vegetables of any sort can prove challenging.

I avoided this situation, for the most part, by planting a garden and my children helped with this family project from the beginning.

When my kids were five and three respectively, we started a family garden in the backyard.

Of course, my son couldn’t do that much because he was so young. I’d carry him and let him plant seeds in our little garden area, though. My daughter took care of watering the plants. However, I handled more complicated garden maintenance.

I attempted to let the kids handle most of the work as time went on and sat back in more of a mentoring role.

Two years of gardening: Looking at the results

Gardening helped my kids and I bond together for at least an hour each day.

I was able to teach my children how to grow their own food. At some point, I managed to show them how important vegetables and fruits are for their bodies.

My two children learned how to be patient and wait for their labour to turn into edible foods. Our garden even taught them how to solve (gardening) problems and take a delicate approach to things. Also, the whole endeavor made our family closer than ever.

• Creating a DIY vertical garden from household items
• Edible gardens for small spaces

My advice for other parents

In my opinion, the benefits of gardening with your children speak for themselves.

You shouldn’t jump into this endeavor without some planning, though. It’s important to make everything fun for the children.

Therefore, you should let your children handle most of the work. Feel free to join your kids, but make the garden about them and what they want to do with it. Don’t hesitate to let them pick the fruits or vegetables and be sure to educate them along the way.

Children are just like us, they don’t like failing. As a parent, you should help make sure the garden succeeds. If your children miss on some garden maintenance, then you’ll want to take care of it.

Then again, a failed garden can serve as a valuable lesson to show children that failure doesn’t mean the end of the world. Always give your children a taste of the end product by encouraging them to eat the fruits or vegetables they’ve grown with their own hands!

A family tradition I intend to maintain

Our family has spent over two years with our backyard garden. For now, I don’t plan on stopping this tradition, and I doubt I’ll put an end to the garden.

My children love gardening after school each day and they still love their fruits and vegetables.

The original plan was to maintain a small garden to save money. From there, it turned into a family bonding experience that we cherish. It’s rare that one of us misses our daily time tending to our plots.

I recommend that all parents build a garden with their children because I can’t think of anything that’s more rewarding.

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