...you never know what might happen when you hand a child a shovel and invite him into the garden.

 

Why try to explain miracles to kids when you can just have them plant a garden?    Robert Brault

When my grandson, Sean, was three years old he was helping me in the garden when we unearthed one of those tiny plastic soldiers that boys used to buy by the bagful. It wasn't the first nor the last time that I dug up one of these wounded plastic warriors, caked with dirt and invariably missing an arm or a leg.

“What is it?” Sean asked.

“It's a toy soldier from when your dad and uncles used to play war on this hill.”

“What is war?” he asked.

I put down my trowel and attempted to answer that question in a way that a three-year-old would understand.

“War is when two groups of people fight with each other,” was the simplest answer I could come up with.  But he wanted to know more, and I found myself trying to describe war in an honest, but not too graphic, way to this innocent child.

“Why do people have wars?” was his next question.

This one was even harder.

“I guess it's because they're afraid that they won't have enough,” I answered.

“Enough of what?” he asked.

“Enough of the things they need and want.”

“You mean like food?”

“Yes, food and other things.”

Sean thought about this for a while. Then a big smile filled his face.
“Oh, but Grandma,” he said. “They don't have to have a war. Everybody can just make a garden.

That seems like a very simplistic and childish solution to a very complex problem. But Sean's answer to the problem of war is not so far-fetched. If everyone's needs were met and we could do away with greed, why would anyone want to go to war?

Children love to dig in the dirt, which makes it very easy to get them interested in gardening. And they love to watch things grow, to see the tiny seeds they plant in a cup, or in the ground, sprout and grow into a beautiful tomato plant, a head of lettuce or a vine full of beans. In all the places that I've had the opportunity to make gardens with kids, they've been incredibly enthusiastic learners. In addition to my grandchildren, I've gardened with school children in Washington DC and Pittsburgh, with orphans in Venezuela and kids in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. It's always been a joy to witness and become drawn into their exuberance.

Children all over the world have a steady diet of violence. It's on TV and in the movies, in the news, in toys and video games and even in the schools. In some parts of the world children are living with the horror of war and famine. Sadly, anywhere in the world, violence can be right in their own homes. Although the subject of violence is not often discussed with children until some horrific event occurs, there is all too much evidence of how it's affecting them – anxiety and despair, bullying, school shootings, and a rising rate of suicide in children as young as ten years old.

No one can stop war or violence just by making a garden, but the fruits we will harvest by gardening with children are rich and varied. Gardening gets them off the screens, out of the house and into the fresh air. They will learn about and come to respect the Earth, our common home. They will come to realize that the Earth offers an abundance of the things we really need. The garden can be a means of teaching them that people are the same all over the world and have the same basic needs. It can be used to teach them about nutrition and maintaining a strong, healthy body. Gardening will foster the virtue of patience and, when done with a group of kids, will teach them about mutual respect and cooperation.

Schools all over the country and the world are discovering that gardening with kids is one way of helping to foster a more peaceful and equitable world. As Dr. Jane Goodall, famous for her work with chimpanzees, became aware of the scope of the environmental crisis, the focus of her work broadened. In 1991 the Jane Goodall Institute initiated the Roots & Shoots program. Young people from kindergarten through college age are involved in projects for the betterment of the community, the preservation of the environment and the welfare of animals. The program started when a group of teenagers met with Dr. Goodall on her back porch in Tanzania, There are now 10,000 groups in 100 countries. Want to know more? https://www.rootsandshoots.org/for-youth/