I have found many kids (and adults!) that live in the country and just kids in general don't like to go outside anymore.... at first this upset me, but then I thought I would change my approach, stop asking them and just get on with it! And it worked! Even the teenagers, but they are attracted to my other aspects of gardening...
Anyway as I kept going about my outdoor business the kids slowly came to me! And then so did the questions! But kids questions are a good sign of their intelligence and I can tell you when you have twins, that's alot of questions!
So generally within 5 minutes of me putting my boots on the questions start.... What are you doing now mum? What is that? Look how dirty your feet are! Do I have gardening gloves? Are you digging? Whats that? Can I hold the lady bug? Wheres the snail? Can I feed the snail to the chickens? Why did she get a snail and I didn't? Can I look for snow peas and beans on the bush? What is the chicken doing to the other chicken? Are we having that for dinner? Im not eating that, its covered in dirt! What is that anyway? Why did she get to taste something? Give me a bean to taste..... See where I am going with this!
It has been frustrating at times but very entertaining! Now that they are seeing the results of our work, without pestering them at all, they want to come out and help, be part of it and learn at the same time. And the best part is that they then want to pick, cook and eat what we grow or collect from our local area.
When we are in the garden we talk about nutrition, health, exercise, birds, bugs, bees, the birds and the bees, trees, trees that fall, life, death, seasons, compost, the universe, friends, what the sheep are thinking or not thinking! It is lots of fun! I also talk to them about why we live this way, being a consumer, the way the world is changing and how food today is very different from what is was 1000, 100 and even 10 years ago.
And in the meantime, I have them dig the garden, plant some eggplants, capsicum and broad beans, mulch the seedlings, weed the pathway all without one complaint!!!
Score for mum, the kids and the Earth!!!!
I hope my kids learn alot from me and I would apologise in advance for my contribution to the gene pool, but I think my kids are awesome, we have a good life and growing up too fast is not necessary!