The idea of "responsibility" is a difficult one to convey to children.
Because they are so in the moment and most of their understanding is centred on things they can see and touch, something as vague as "responsibility" is hard to understand.
We can try and show what it means with toys or with a pet. But at the end of the day, most grownups will tidy a room to keep everyone from hurting themselves on floor lego and take over feeding the pet so it doesn't die.
But a garden is a safer place where children can learn about how and why to be responsible.
In a garden, the worst thing that will happen if you forget to water a plant is that it dies. Which is sad, and not a great result, but no one really gets hurt.
It is an important lesson though, and not one that should be dismissed. Something did die, and it was because something else didn't happen.
And here is where we start to show what it means to be responsible.
If your little helper has been named as the person in charge of watering the plant, it is their responsibility. And their fault if it doesn't happen.
It is also their job to fix.
And this where the nicer lesson about resilience comes in.
Learning about our responsibilities and the consequences of our actions can often come from a sad example, but from this we can turn it around and learn about how to move on and try something else.
Or try harder.
It is also important, as the grown up, to make sure the responsibilities given to the chidlren are age appropriate.
It is unrealistic to think a 4 year old can be in charge, by themselves, of a whole garden!
A 4 year old is more than capeable of looking after a garden bed, a potted plant or one area of a larger garden.
They can rake leaves, pull weeds and trim bushes as long as you have spent time showing them the correct, and safe, way to use the tools needed to complete these tasks.
Giving children age appropriate tasks that they can do by themselves builds their sense of self worth, their understanding of responsibility and develops their drive to want to try harder things!
So why not give your little friends a job in the garden this week?
It doesn't have to be a big job.
Start small and work up.
Because from little things, big things grow!
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