Hello, tuna(@miyakojimalife_) (^^)
Thank you for always reading my blog♪
Today, I’d like to introduce “Home Gardening × Parenting,” which we practice at our house.
Miyakojima, where we live, is a place rich in nature. If you go into the ocean, you can see tropical fish in water that’s only as deep as a preschooler’s belly, and if you go rock fishing,Sea TurtlesyaAYou might even come across them (and sometimes even sharks…)
I think that kind of environment feels like a break from everyday life for people living in urban areas, but with a home garden, you can connect with nature regardless of whether you live in the city, the countryside, or on an island.
Actually, before I moved back to Miyakojima, I lived in an urban area, but after my child was born, I started growing vegetables in planters on my balcony.
I’d like to talk about the positive relationship between parenting and home gardening that I’ve felt ever since then.
FromIt appeals to the five senses.
Babies gradually transition from a black-and-white world to a world of color.
Even in educational toys, the three primary colors—red (cyan), blue (magenta), and yellow—are frequently used, and a connection between color and brain development has been noted.
When you have a home garden, you can see how the colors of a single vegetable change—from bright red tomatoes to yellow ones to those that are still green.
“You can’t eat the green ones yet—take the red ones.”
That said, my child will take it regardless of the color.
While showing the picked fruit and saying things like, “This one is red, and this one is green,” children connect their daily lives with the kinds of conversations they’d normally have with picture books and toys.
Also, even if you’re not very good at English, you can still teach them English words for colors and vegetables, such as “Red tomato,” “Tomato is red,” and “It’s red.”
My smartphone tells me how to pronounce them… lol
Just like the tomatoes, our garden is also full of bright red pitangas.
It has a tartness similar to acerola, and children love it.
FormIt tells you everything from its size and texture to its smell and taste
Round tomatoes, oval tomatoes, big ones, small ones, numbers… All of these concepts are connected to the basics of math, and vegetables and fruits teach us these lessons through home gardening.
Even if children have trouble counting just from books or illustrations, they’ll understand right away when they see the actual objects.
It’s just like the addition we learned as children by counting marbles, isn’t it?
Everyone knows from experience that children are very curious, but at the same time, they get bored easily.
If it were simply a matter of learning about shapes and sizes, children aged 2 to 3 would eventually get bored, but here, the rough texture and scent of the plants, as well as the screams and curiosity that arise when they encounter insects, all come into play.
As a last resort, you can keep them interested or make them happy by giving them vegetables or fruit.
Since my kids love tomatoes, we planted a lot of them.
I also love fruit, so I grow tropical island varieties such as island bananas, passion fruit, guava, shikuwasa, and star fruit.
If you include vegetables and other fruits, there are about 20 varieties in total. One of the joys is that children’s discoveries—such as how each flower blooms, how the fruit grows, and the shape of the leaves—and questions from adults lead to more opportunities to explore and learn.
It makes you realize that children are much better at observing, discovering things, and concentrating than adults realize.
IkI grow as a person through the act of teaching others.
I think many people have raised animals or plants when they were children.
The love we feel for animals and plants, the worry we feel when something happens, and the sadness of parting—these experiences help not only children but also us adults to grow.
Seeing the children happily show off the watermelons and onions they’ve worked so hard to grow, and the confident expressions on their faces when they’re thanked by their cousins and uncles after giving them away—you can really sense how they’ve matured on the inside.
Compiled by the National Institute for Youth Education, an independent administrative agency“Research Study on the Current State of Children’s Experiential Activities”However, it appears that there is a tendency for the relationship between “nature experiences” during childhood and current “motivation and interest” to be stronger.
■ The more experiences people had as children—such as “nature experiences” and “playing with friends”—the greater their motivation and interest in things like “I want to learn more about this,” a sense of social norms—such as “giving up a seat for the elderly or people with disabilities when riding a train or bus”—and a career mindset—such as “wanting to do work that benefits society and others”—tend to be higher. [Adult Survey]
Source: National Institute for Youth Education, “Survey and Research on the Current State of Children’s Experiential Activities”
I don’t think this applies to everyone, but I can imagine that the breadth of one’s experiences will have a positive impact on the rest of one’s life.
ChildThe number of experiences you have as a child also affects your annual income
While it may not go as far as the benefits provided by a home garden, it has been suggested that the number of experiences a person has during childhood may influence their annual income.
It may be that positive effects can be expected from a combination of factors, including nature-based activities, interactions with friends, and connections with the local community.
The idea that the time parents devote to raising their children—or even a single word they say—might affect a child’s future income can be a source of pressure. However, I feel that doing what you can without putting too much pressure on yourself fosters a healthy relationship for both parents and children.
It’s the kind of content that parents can enjoy alongside their children, and I’d love to let them experience as much as possible.
FoodRaising Children Who Learn on Their Own Through Upbringing
The final stage of home gardening is, after all,Eating!
While bananas and acerola can be eaten right after washing, cabbage, eggplant, and onions must be cooked before eating.
At our house, while we don’t let our child do everything on their own yet, we let them figure out for themselves “what to make” and “how to make it.”
Even if a parent suggests, “We have these ingredients, so let’s make this,” if the child doesn’t feel like eating it, it just feels like the parent is being selfish.
Even when the ingredients are set, seeing children take the initiative to research and act on what they “want to eat” gives me a sense of their resilience.
As has been the case so far, the environment surrounding children in the future will increasingly require them to have the ability to “learn and express themselves independently.”
This means that,This can be seen in developments such as the new curriculum guidelines and changes to university entrance exams.
This is an aspect that has long been prominent at renowned universities abroad.
Society has changed so much that the kind of talent sought today is probably different from what was expected of our parents’ generation.
There are various ways to plant the seeds of new experiences in children.
Among these, home gardening is easy to get started with and offers plenty of ways for parents to enjoy themselves, so we highly recommend it in our household.
I hope this article can serve as a source of inspiration for someone’s parenting journey.
