Gardening helps kids to become responsible and calm: study

Todays children know more about gardening than their parents actually did when they were in school.

A new survey suggested that teaching children how to garden helps them to become responsible,realise where food comes from and calms their behaviour.

The poll by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) revealed that more than half parents said it gave their children a sense of responsibility,while almost 20 per cent said it calmed their behaviour.

A full 60 per cent agreed that it helped youngsters know the origin of food,and another 20 per cent said gardening was an activity grandparents could be involved in.

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When children learn to garden it is a skill that stays with them for life,something they will use and fall back on as they grow up, the Mirror quoted Sue Biggs,director-general of the RHS as saying.

However,it also showed that todays children have more awareness about gardening than their parents actually did when they were in school,and so did the grandparents.

In the poll conducted,8 out of 10 parents are said to garden with their kids and blamed the school curriculum back then for their inefficiency to instil horticulture knowledge on them.

Less than 1 pc of parents were taught to garden compared to 55 pc of grandparents and 40 pc children.

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It would seem todays parents are shy of volunteering their time probably due to a lack of knowledge, Biggs added.