How Gardening Helps Your Family
Mar 18, 2024
Gardening can nourish your soul in many ways. It’s a great way to unplug and connect with nature, and it gives you the satisfaction of producing your own food and enjoying healthier meals.
For families looking to lead a healthier lifestyle and do more meaningful activities together, consider starting your own garden this year. You and your family can go through the process together, from researching what will grow best in your area to planting the seeds and collecting your harvest.
Gardening has countless benefits for your physical and mental health. Read on to learn about how this activity can strengthen your bond with your family, while promoting a healthy lifestyle.
1. You’ll Make New Memories
Spending time with your kids creates memories. They’ll look back fondly on everything from going to theme parks to getting candy in the grocery store. Experiences also help children discover who they are and what they like or dislike. Most importantly, they’re the best way to bond with the people you love.
Find something new for everyone to try by starting a garden. You’ll spend more time outside and create memories while honing your gardening techniques, determining plant placement or decorating pots that form an indoor garden.
The most essential part of getting started is asking everyone how they want to participate. It won’t be a fun experience for anyone if your kids feel dragged outside. Get them excited by letting them pick their plants so they’ll look forward to their responsibilities.
2. You’ll Relieve Your Stress
Research shows that spending more than a few minutes in your garden reduces your cortisol levels through mindfulness and creative expression. It’s challenging to enjoy someone’s company if one or both people are stressed. Your family members will have a much better time hanging out if gardening releases their tension.
3. You’ll Feel Excited Together
Finding joy in the same thing is an incredible bonding experience. Asking family members to focus on one hobby will create that feeling for everyone. Planning ensures your garden succeeds and brings you happiness every day.
Do some research together on what flowers are in season. If you’re looking to start this summer, go for roses or hydrangeas in June and daisies in July.
4. You’ll Get More Involved
As your kids have fun gardening with you, they’ll look forward to spending more time together in other ways too. You could talk with them about starting a second hobby that builds on their garden skills.
Taking nature walks, going hiking or creating art all utilize the same skills regarding your family’s ability to communicate and trust each other. Take baby steps in your backyard by growing plants, and everyone can get more involved with each other later on down the road.
Gardening can also be an opportunity to connect with people in your community. You and your family can take a walk through your neighborhood to see if any of your neighbors have a garden too. You can also volunteer with a public garden to learn about best practices while making a positive impact on your community.
5. You’ll Improve Your Communication
A gardening team can’t operate without good communication. Your family doesn’t need perfect skills to start, but they will improve if everyone stays involved long term. You’ll learn how to listen to each other and describe things clearly to achieve the same goal.
It’s a simple step in forming a cohesive family unit that gets everyone involved. Little kids can water plants with a watering can while others apply fertilizer, rotate the pots on your porch or harvest veggies grown at home.
6. You’ll Build Trust
Family members that don’t feel close often don’t trust each other. Your shared history might be complicated, or your kids could be going through a challenging phase. No matter what keeps you apart, gardening can form a new sense of trust that helps your family grow together.
You’ll need to rely on each other to take care of your gardening responsibilities on time. Set up a schedule to keep track of watering and other maintenance, and alternate who does what task each time. Each person helps everyone else get closer to your shared goal, and a strong sense of trust will begin to develop. It may not erase the complicated events of the past, but it will make your current life together more joyful.
7. You’ll Teach Them Valuable Skills
As a parent, your job is to impart life skills on your children. A skill like gardening will benefit your children for many years to come. When they have their own home, they can continue the practice of growing their own food. You can also teach them to cook with the produce you grow.
Gardening may also spark a love of science for your children and inspire them to pursue hobbies or careers in related fields. You can read books about plant life together to teach them the why and how of growing. This knowledge can help them out in science class and keep their brains active at home and over the summer.
8. You’ll Cut Down on Screen Time
Screen time is one of the biggest challenges facing parents today. It’s so easy to sit your kids in front of the TV or rely on video games to keep them occupied at home. But it’s not just kids who struggle to turn the screens off. Adults can be just as addicted to scrolling social media.
Having an activity that does not involve technology can do wonders for your family. Everyone working together and doing something with your hands will strengthen your bonds and provide mental stimulation for everyone.
A garden requires regular upkeep, so you can block out time on your schedule a few times a week where everyone turns off their devices and helps out with the garden. This time is sure to become the highlight of your week.
Help Your Family Grow Together
Gardening as a family is a fruitful experience in more ways than one. Consider which responsibilities your kids can handle — like watering, weeding or fertilizing — to start a lifelong hobby that will create lasting memories.