7 Parenting Lessons That Gardening Teaches Us

It was just the other day that I read an interesting article that good parenting could be compared to good gardening.  

Here are the lessons that gardening teaches us about parentin

1. Every gardener has the choice of looking at his garden as a burden with many weeds to be removed or as a pleasant place to smell the fragrant flowers; the same applies to parenting. We could treat parenting a burden or as a pleasant experience to improve our children and bring out the best in them.


2. Good gardening and good parents are alike; good gardening involves dirty hands and clothes, while good parenting involves real hard work and ups and downs that are involved in bringing out the best in our children. No one brought out useful human beings lying down as no gardener cultivated a beautiful garden.


3. It may be right for a gardener to admire other people’s garden and think of ways to make his own garden beautiful; however he has to admire the good in his garden also. Same thing applies to parenting, it is good to admire other children and think of ways to improve our children, but it is equally important to admire the positive traits in our own children.


4. Gardens are greener on the other side; parents tend to compare their children with other children. It is futile to do so; the smartness lies in knowing the positive traits in their children and then accentuating them. In addition it is to be understood that just like flowering and other plants require different  fertilizers, each child would require a different treatment to bring out his/her  positive points.One child may excel when praised, while another may require tuitions.


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   I would say as far as parenting is concerned, a weed or a flower lies in the eyes of the beholder; you view your child according to the lens you see her or him. If your child is good in debates and cannot just play soccer at all, it does not mean he is diffident; every parent has to realize the unusual traits of a child and not force him/her.

   
   


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   A gardener cannot focus always on the imperfections of his garden, as a parent cannot focus on the imperfections alone of one’s child; one mother wanted her son to become a software engineer, but he was only interested in humanities and wanted to do research in economics. It lies in her son’s happiness that she understands he needs to do what keeps him happy.

   
   


7. A gardener accepts annuals as well as perennials; good parents accept children that come often and those that come once in a while to them. This also applies to children of aging parents where one abroad just rings them once in a while and asks them to take care, while the other looks after them by being close to them.

To conclude good parenting is also nurturing to see our children one day fly out of the nest; let’s feel proud we raised well-rounded children.