Why Gardening Should be Taught in Schools

Well, why gardening should be taught in schools. Recent statistics indicate 1 in 3 children are overweight by the age of 11, with a third of children eating junk food every day; meaning it’s clear our children’s nutrition is being dangerously affected by convenience food. Also, the amount of time children spend outside is dramatically decreasing, in fact – three quarters of UK children are spending less time outdoors than prison inmates due to lack of green spaces and the influence of technology.

Gardening provides children with opportunities to gain extra outdoor exercise which we all agree I hope is very important and gardening is also very good for keeping stress levels down. I know I always feel a sense of peace when I’m pottering in the garden.

Showing where your food comes from

It is staggering how many children have no idea where there food comes from. Peas and carrots don’t come from the supermarket ready frozen. Someone has had to grow them.

There can be few more rewarding experiences – for either children or adults – than watching the seeds they have sown, sometimes more in hope than expectation, push up through the soil and grow into beautiful flowers or vegetables that they can pick and eat.

Most Schools have a small plot that could be turned into a garden, and even the very few that don’t can do something. In my day we grew cress and things like this on a window sill and anyone who has been reading this blog can see how many vegetables can be grown in pots and containers.

A really good School would then take the next step and show their pupils how to cook the vegetables and fruit they have grown. I would be very interested to hear other views on this, but it seems to me to be a win win scenario. What do you think ?