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.

The Bathroom Rotation

The Bathroom Rotation: How to clean 3 bathrooms in 20 minutes

This idea sprouted from 2 needs: My need for clean bathrooms and my need to make my kids clean them for me. I would like to say that I had a benevolent feeling of preparing my kids for real life by teaching them the basics of bathroom cleaning but really it was just me needing a little help. In all fairness, though, the process of teaching any chore is, at the beginning, more work than actually doing the job alone. But, once child chore-mastery is gained, I feel sure my part in the process of cleaning bathrooms will get easier... surely... right? Well, it is getting better. S-l-o-w-l-y. In the words of Han Solo, "Short help's better than no help at all."

The Bathroom Rotation is a system that divides the work of cleaning the bathroom into stages. Each person (or team) is assigned a stage and is responsible to clean that portion of each bathroom in the house. For instance:

Team 1 is in charge of Prep and Sweep. This is the beginning stage of bathroom cleaning. Put everything away, clear off counters, shake and remove rugs, remove all items from the tub/shower area, empty the garbage, get everything off the floor and sweep away all hair, lint and dirt.

 Team 2 is in charge of Wet Cleaning: Clean the sink, tub and shower.

Team 3 is in charge of the Toilet room: Clean the toilet including the seat, base and the wall and floor surrounding it.

 Team 4 is in charge of Finishing: Clean mirrors, cabinet fronts, mop the floor and return removed items to their places.


Team 1 begins in the first bathroom. In my home it is the Master Bath. As Team 1 finishes in there, they call Team 2 to begin in the Master and Team 1 moves on to the next bathroom, and then the next. As each team finishes their first bathroom, they call the next team to begin. All teams will finish up at different times, but they will also start and different times. Working efficiently, each team will usually work for about the same amount of time.

 To make things easy, I printed and laminated a card for each stage. This card can be carried around with the team as they clean. On it is listed the steps in completing the assigned stage and the supplies needed to do the work. I have enough supplies on hand that no team needs to share with another. You can see my cards below; but your bathrooms are different and you will need to modify these or make your own.

Another option is to post a chart of stages and supplies in each bathroom eliminating the need to carry a card around as you go. My preference is the cards since I have some younger children for whom reading a complicated chart is overwhelming.

Each time we clean bathrooms, stages are rotated so everyone learns to do every job in the bathroom. I have a rotating chart in my cleaning closet and I store the work cards there as well.

Our family has been using this system for about 1 year. My children think it's as good as any other way to clean bathrooms, but I like it better. We rally together and we get the work done quickly. We now can clean all 3 bathrooms in 20-30 minutes on a good day. One hint for speed: We still have enough liberty in America that we don't have a toilet police. You need to face the fact that your bathrooms will only ever be sparkling clean if you do all the cleaning yourself. Don't expect perfection... even from your teenagers. Expect them to do their best, but don't harp on every little thing. You are on a team too and soon the rotation will come around to you and you can scrub each area until it shines if you want. Just remember that the whole reason for a bathroom rotation really isn't to get "short help." It's to lovingly train your children in the essential skills for life.