When you plant your garden, try to make a space where your child is free to experiment and grow things. From an early age, children can be involved in the cycle of the year, from planting seeds indoors or in a cold frame in the early spring and transplanting the seedlings to the garden when the danger of frost is past, to tending the garden and watching the fruits and vegetables grow, all the way to harvest. For young children, there is something marvellous about going out to the garden and bringing in a basket of lettuce, scallions and tomatoes that they helped to grow -- getting children to eat vegetables is rarely a problem when they have grown, picked and washed them themselves.
Don't forget to include fragrant herbs in your garden. The aroma of fresh basil, fennel and sage should be part of your child's memories of childhood. The fact that they can be picked and eaten, adding colour, scent and flavour to your food, is yet another benefit.
Child-size equipment
You can buy gardening tools, watering cans and wheelbarrows that are just the right size for your child. Set up racks in your garage or garden shed to hold these special tools, and teach your child to clean them and return them to their places when she is done for the day. Provide child-size gardening gloves and sturdy dark green gardening aprons to help teach your child the concept of neatness and order. Look for child-size baskets to hold flowers, fruits and vegetables that your child collects as they become ripe and ready to eat.
When space is limited
If you don't have a family garden, consider window boxes or create a container garden. With the right soil, watering and a sunny location, you can raise an amazing amount of produce in a small space -- strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, beans and herbs are all easy and convenient to grow. One of the greatest advantages of container gardening is that it puts the garden at a perfect level for small children.
 | Excerpted from How To Raise An Amazing Child The Montessori Way by Tim Seldin. Copyright 2006 by Tim Seldin. Excerpted by permission of Dorling Kindersley Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. |
