Summer may be peak gardening season for the rest of the country, but autumn is the ideal time in our area to get the kids outside (and away from screens) to start growing food and flowers for the family! Not only does fall provide the perfect weather window to start a garden in Boca Raton, but it’s also a fun and engaging activity that offers many benefits. Gardening provides a healthy distraction, promotes physical and mental health, encourages healthier eating habits in children, and can even build a sense of community. Not to mention some incredible new discoveries about how soil helps to improve your mood…
“Spending time in nature doing activities like gardening helps reduce stress and allows us to recover from tense situations more quickly,” explains Sandi Schwartz, author of Finding Ecohappiness: Fun Nature Activities to Help Your Kids Feel Happier and Calmer and a South Florida resident. She adds, “It is special when we can pick fruits and vegetables grown in our own backyard and savor them at our dinner table. We have dabbled in growing our own tomatoes and peppers, which the children absolutely love doing. It’s a wonderful experience for them to pick the produce and play a role in creating a healthy meal for our family that incorporates the food we grew ourselves.”
Family gardening can indeed help grow happier and calmer kids! Here are 5 reasons why according to Schwartz.
5 Reasons Why Gardening Can Help Children Feel Happier and Calmer
- Healthy Distraction – Engaging with a garden helps children feel more mindful and get lost in the moment, distracting them from their worries. One study showed that after 30 minutes of gardening, participants’ stress hormone levels dropped, and they felt happier after the activity.
- Exercise – Gardening also provides some light exercise from digging, lifting, carrying, and bending up and down. Exercise helps kids feel better as a result of their body producing endorphins, chemicals in the brain that act as natural painkillers. Exercise also reduces the level of stress hormones in the body like adrenaline and cortisol, helping kids (and their parents!) feel calmer.
- Eat Healthier – Gardening can motivate kids to eat healthier foods that make them feel better. When kids are invested in growing their own fruits and vegetables, they feel more connected and want to enjoy the “fruit of their labor.”
- Builds Community – Whether it is family bonding in the garden, sharing produce and gardening stories with friends and neighbors, or volunteering in a community garden, that social interaction also plays a major role in boosting kids’ well-being. Experts explain that the most important way to feel happier is through positive relationships, so gardening can provide a vehicle for children to connect with others over a healthy hobby.
- Soil – Recent research has found that the simple act of touching soil can reduce stress and improve mood. This is because a bacteria in soil called mycobacterium vaccae has been shown to stimulate areas of the brain that produce serotonin. It thrives in soil that is enriched with organic matter like fruits and vegetables. Researchers have found that eating trace amounts of soil on garden vegetables helps people manage stress and enhance brain function.
If your backyard is too tiny (or non-existent), there are several ways you can still incorporate gardening into your family life. Start small by growing a few herbs on your windowsill or even a single type of vegetable in a large flowerpot. Get your kids involved by purchasing them their own gardening tools and letting them choose what to grow. Then, use the fruits of your labor to cook and enjoy meals together. You can also explore volunteering in a local community garden like the one run by the Junior League of Boca Raton for more gardening experience. Let’s get growing happy and calm kids this fall!
Finding Ecohappiness: Fun Nature Activities to Help Your Kids Feel Happier and Calmer is available from Amazon.com (commissionable link), BarnesandNoble.com, IndieBound.org, and wherever books are sold. For more information, please visit www.ecohappinessproject.com or contact Sandi Schwartz at sandi@ecohappinessproject.com.
Michelle Olson-Rogers is a mom of one and the founder of Modern Boca Mom, an award-winning lifestyle website for the stylish & modern South Florida parent. She can also be found on Instagram at @modernbocamom.
