Kids in the garden

[pigletwillie]

Jane,

I inherited a stepdaughter when I married Mrs Piglet, who is now 26 and hasnt really shown any interest in gardening until the past year when she often popped down to our plots to see us at weekends, and quite often half heartedly joined in for a while.

This grew into having some tomatoes in growbags and some runner beans in bags as well at her home this summer. The rewards were small but obvious as she has now asked for a small portion of one of our plots so that she can grow something of her own. To say we are pleased is an understatement. So one our plot there is now Mr & Mrs Piglet plus one little Angel to keep us company.

Piglet

[peter]

My two are now 12 and 9.
Boy still interested, wants most of my second plot to grow "stuff", but drifts off when hard work needed.
Girl totally dis-interested, bar eating what comes out.

One ruse that works quite well (with my boy when younger) is if they are into "Timeteam", I got quite good bean trenches out of that, he got some shards of pottery that had to be kept for a few years.

Booby traps are only booby traps if you don't control the digging location.

[mandylew]

my 2 yr old is into torturing worms and woodlice, not intentionally its the way she picks them up, cant seem to get her interested in catterpillars and slugs unfortunately.

she does like freshly dug soil, so i often turn over a patch for her before i begin elsewhere, or sods law she will dig up whatever I've just planted.

I got some very useful 1m lengths of picket fence, about 15" high which just press into the ground wherever protection is needed most. And an old rabbit run! A slide is good, not a swing because you have to keep pushing them!, honestly mine just play with sticks and stones though, for hours!


Mandy

[lizzie]

Mandylew, what cute kiddies. It's nice to see kids getting all mucky in this age of excessive hygene. What happend to kids climbing trees, scabby knees, "interesting" things discovered in pockets.

I hear parents in the school where my son goes, berating their children for getting their clothes dirty. The worst ones for this are the designer clothing mobs who spend excessive amounts of money on their childs clothing.

Personally, Matalan and Primark do me or the charity shops. Got a belting pair of timberland and regatta pants for £2.50 each for myself.

Maybe it's me, but you don't see kids playing like I used to with my pals in the street. Kick the can, British Bulldog, hopscotch, kirby, football and all kinds of other sports.

Oops, sorry, rambled on a bit there. Got a bit carried away

[Beccy]

And because they don't they are actually more likely to get the immune related diseases like asthma, eczma etc that are among the things their parents are so foolishly trying to protect them from.

[jane E]

Piglet - It was something like that with one of my daughters this summer. We moved house in May and she helped. She went out into the garden and said - aren't you taking any of the poppy or the bleeding heart or the columbine - I didn't know she'd even noticed them; let alone knew their names. The next moment they were being dug up and when we arrived she dug holes for them and watered them in in her spangly shoes!Then this summer she got going on her own garden and I was amazed at what she had imbibed as a child and never used since until it was needed.

Lizzie - as a teacher it infuriates me when parents get cross over the state of clothes, because the children get all upset when they get dirty and always want to shift the blame onto someone else, because they know they're going to get told off when they meet Mum.Fortunately, I've got to an age when most of the mums are old enough to be my daughters, and like a granny, I stand up for the children and explain that a little bit of dirt is nothing and that's why they have washing machines!

[earthstar]

I agree with you Lizzie and having a few rugrats of my own i must say they are at their happiest when up to their eyeballs in mud!!! Even my little girl whos 6 happily picks up worms. One thing they enjoyed doing in the summer was finding snails and lining them up to race. It was quite fun watching how the snails behaved. We even experimented with bits of copper pipe made into bands to see if the snails crossed over to eat the courgette plants. It was fantastic fun, educational and kept them quiet for ages.

My kids are always asking questions and I keep answering them and even though my twins are only 6 they know loads of bird species and know loads about plants - they are often telling their teacher things she didn't know.

Grock just read what u said methinks you must be telepathic

[Carole B.]

I don't think any germs would dare land on my 6 year old for fear of what they might catch!He will collect just about anything from the wild if he considers it interesting enough,I have,at the moment,drying out in my greenhouse:-
1 deer skull,1 sheep skull and 3 leg bones(various),
and on the shelf by my right shoulder as I write:-
1 egg shell,1 sheep leg bone,1 deer leg bone,2 rabbit skulls,1 partly knapped flint,lengths of interestingly shaped bark,8 pine cones,a spray of oats and a crow feather.The more manky things have been removed and this is only the residue!
The doctor wouldn't know who he was if he jumped up and bit him on the bum...he's never had to treat him for anything!
Do you think there's a market for bottled antibodies?
Carole.

[earthstar]

Carole
I think you have a future scientist there!!!!

[lizzie]

Hi Carole

I bet he's happy with what he's doing and can give the teachers a run for their money. My son was doing solids, liquids and gasses in science during Year 4. He asked the teacher what quicksand was, solid or liquid? The teacher couldn't answer.

Kids learn more by being outside and active. I let them get mucky, nothing a quick dunk in sheepdip won't cure.

[The Grock in the Frock]

oh what a joy,adults who actually like kids.personnaly i think their fab,must do,ive got 4 of the little beggers.the story about the snail reminded me of last summer when comming home from my plot with my 5yr old.she was sitting in the back seat of our car talking too her little babe,when i turned around to see who this person was ,she had a big juicy snail crawling along her arm,she informed me that she had bought Chesney from the plot pet shop for £10 and was taking him home for safe keeping.he was kept in the lap of luxury in an old hampster roto stack cage.needless to say her little brother demanded one of his own from the plot pet shop,she was called Chesnetta.the kids looked after these snails for months,till eventualy taking the snails back too the plot,it was most probably Chesney and Chesnetta who demolished my lettuces.

[pigletwillie]

Grock,

5 year old? surely you made a typing error and meant 35 year old

Piglet

[The Grock in the Frock]

no honestly i had her young,that makes my 18 now

[pigletwillie]

I like it Grock,

Lizzie recons that you must have had a really big paper round then?

Piglet

[The Grock in the Frock]

no it was a milk round,and im'e not pulling ye tail,it really was.