Kids CAN Help In The Garden!

Newbie garden parents might be wary of trying to include their children in their new gardening adventure. If you are one of those, don't fret. Children have been helping their parents with this kind of work for longer than recorded history. They ARE capable, and they CAN learn to work (even if it seems hard) no matter what sob story they use to convince you otherwise. So what can children do to help in the garden? It all depends on their age:

What Can Kids Do To Help In The Garden?

Age 1-3: Their Help is Like No Help At All. They are really too young to be much help and they might actually be a hinder. These kids are sure to get very dirty, and are somewhat at risk of getting hurt. They need constant supervision if they are out in the garden. At this age, it's usually better to bring out a play tent and some toys or send them to an appropriate play area in your yard that you can see and monitor while you work.

If they are in the garden with you, these children can:

• pick things up off the ground
• eat a little dirt and build up antibodies (harmless in an organic garden. If a child eats a lot of dirt and will not stop, they probably are lacking in an essential nutrient in their diet.)
• dump water from a tiny watering can
• chase cats and birds away :)
• "thin" seedlings either by trampling on them or pulling them up whether you wanted them pulled or not (such great helpers)

Seriously, my advice is find something else for them to do, or garden during nap time. While my youngest children were in this age group, I sometimes used 1 older child as a babysitter. Their whole gardening job that day was to keep the baby out of the dirt.

Age 4-7: The Passive Resistant Helper: works s-l-o-w-l-y or pretends it's just too hard for them. Whines. At this age, you are in training mode with your kids. Don't count on their help to be very productive. The point of having a child this young in the garden is to teach them how to do the work and teach them that they are expected to do it, that the yard work is not going away, that they have a job which nobody else is going to do for them and they must do it. Nip the lazy entitlement attitude in the bud. Plan for these kids to max out at about 20 minutes of work. Acknowledge their good effort and reward them with freedom.

These kids can:

• rake
• trowel
• plant large seeds
• weed with supervision
• use a watering can
• harvest by picking
• snap beans
• pod peas
• get excited about bean teepees, raised bed mazes, eating fresh peas straight from the pod, hunting strawberries, riding in a wheelbarrow
• get a ride in a wheelbarrow
• roll pumpkins out of the garden

Age 8 to 15: really becoming a True Helper: starts out grumbling, but as he/she matures, accepts the work and just gets to it. Sometimes a kid this age even has fun with it. You can expect 30-60 minutes from these kids several times a week.

These kids can:

• shovel
• hoe
• rake
• trowel
• plant all seeds
• weed with instruction
• drag a hose
• use a watering can
• harvest by picking or digging
• snap beans
• pod peas
• stem strawberries
• top carrots
• corn "Chuck and Shuck"
• give a little kid a ride in a wheelbarrow
• help design the garden layout 
• plant seedlings
• tend their own planting bed from seed to harvest

Adult Jobs -16 and up and only after training: The Helpful Leader: knows how it's done, does a decent job and can help direct younger kids.

These people can:

• Perform and supervise all of the above jobs
  Ferlilize
  Rototill
  Prune
  Use chemicals if necessary
  Use power equipment
  Drive a tractor

Congratulations, Mom and Dad! You have raised a competent gardener and passed this skill to a new generation.