Mindfulness Benefits of Gardening with Children

Research findings from a University of Colorado study published this May have added to the understanding that increased exposure to microorganisms found in soil can help to inhibit inflammation and increase resilience to stress.

The Heart-Mind article comments that “older generations perhaps know this intuitively – a knowledge that has ceased to transmit intergenerationally as we become more fragmented both from nature and from the elders in our communities. Scientific research is just starting to catch up with what generations before us knew and practiced both recreationally and to support their livelihoods – that being in nature is good for us, and that being physically in touch with the earth heals.”

The bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, produces a stress-burning fat that decreases inflammation, which is a risk factor for stress-related disorders such as anxiety and depression, as well as trauma-related disorders like PTSD, as well as in auto-immune disorders.

The article includes suggestions for engaging toddlers, children, and teens to “get dirty to feel calmer”:

·         Toddlers: Set up a ‘mud kitchen’ in an outdoor area. “Install an old play kitchen, sand tray, or low table outside and furnish with cast-off pots, pans, ladles and other kid-safe kitchen ware. Then just add water (or wait for it to rain!), pour in some sand and dirt, and join your toddler in making marvelous mud-pies and sandwiches to their heart’s content.” An article on MUD Kitchen at Happy Hooligans Art Craft Play website, gives a number of ideas

·         Children: Children as young as 4 or 5 can take an active role in planting a simple wildflower garden. For a ‘how-to’ on planting a wildflower area, the American Meadows site offers planting guidelines. If you wish to create a wildflower meadow area, then including seed for yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor) which is a natural deterrent to grass growth, will greatly increase the chances of success.  

·         Teens: The article offers suggestions for activities to incorporate in a family hike or an outdoor adventure field trip.

A July, 2017, Washington Post article by Shannon Brescher Shea investigates the ways gardening can help build healthier, happier kids, discussing the calming effect of the outdoors, the benefits of exposure to ‘dirt’ (garden soil), and increased willingness to eat a wider range of fruits and vegetables.

Jack Gilbert, director of the Microbiome Centre at the University of Chicago, argues that over-sterilization of environments for children is not beneficial to them. When children are in the garden playing in mud, for example, it’s not necessary to immediately sterilise their hands and worry that the mud may have got close to their to their faces. In a compelling TED talk, he speaks about how his son’s autism diagnosis informed his microbiome research and the findings he had his research team have had on the impact of gut microbiomes on rising levels of allergies and depression in the developed world.

In her article, Shea quotes from Gilbert: “’The immune system is there to act like a gardener or a national park warden…It’s there to promote the abundance and growth of good bacteria and act as a barrier to the generation of bad bacteria.’

“Not being exposed to enough microbes as a child can result in an underdeveloped immune system, which can cause a host of problems, according to Gilbert, including autoimmune diseases, inflammatory bowel disorders and allergies. Being around dirt, in the garden or otherwise, can help kids develop that healthy microbiome that helps prevent these issues.

“’Picking up soil and smudging it into their face, there’s nothing wrong with that,’ Gilbert says. ‘Exposure to the outside environment…can be extremely beneficial in helping your child to grow a functional immune system and their brain and their body in the best way possible.’”

Jessica Campbell