Education is a subject on the lips of most parents and has been the cause of debate for many years. The discussion on education is in full flow in our house right now, especially with the pending school selection for Munching Menace due soon.
I am super keen on exploring with a real drive to make sure we travel together as a family however at the same time need to be mindful that whatever adventures we choose must be full of enrichment for both of the little munchers.
I don’t believe that is a real challenge in today’s world. There are plenty of lessons to be learnt by exploring and being immersed in the experience directly. What better way could there be to experience history or getting to grips with your geography hands-on rather than from a textbook.
The fundamental of this post will focus on other opportunities to educate our children. The world is changing and fast! We are testing our ethos and learning more about human-kind more and more each day. I want to talk about produce in this country, which is churned out in vast quantities and with real speed – likely speed over substance! Then huge quantities are thrown away every day. Did you know that over 250,00 tonnes of our food waste is still edible!!
Do children understand what is on their plate? Do we, as parents and caregivers understand what is on our plates and how it arrived there? What are we feeding to those most precious to us above all else?
That is where ‘Auntie Meg’ steps in and takes over. In terms of a little background, ‘Auntie Meg’ is a family friend and a full-time nanny to two beautiful children and her approach on education is one which offers involvement, enrichment and action.
‘Auntie Meg’ has her very own allotment and is currently challenging the concept that you need to be retired with a million hours to grow some beautiful produce. There are a lot of hours in the day, and an iPad typically consumes most for our young generations but not on ‘Auntie Megs’ watch.
The kids LOVE getting involved. There is a tremendous amount of reward on offer with such a project with your children. The importance of understanding where the food has come from and the respect for the food on the plate – I do not believe we would be so wasteful as a nation if we all had this appreciation from a young age.
The kids love being successful and are proud when they can see the results of the work completed together. The ‘grow your own’ concept is an excellent idea for fussy eaters as well – the praise and recognition from their input make them more comfortable around exploring the food itself.
Myself, Munching Mummy, Munching Menace and Munching Milk all spent time over with ‘Auntie Meg’ and her ever keen assistant Tom (who at this rate by 5, will understand more about produce than most of the country).
We spent the day understanding all the varieties that had ‘Auntie Meg’ and her assistants have been growing, Tom was keen to show us where to get our water from and what parts of the allotment needed it the most. I was quizzing Menace throughout our time there and asking if she recognised anything. She knew both Strawberries and red onions and got beetroot spot on after she helped pull them out!
Just consider allowing your children/grandchildren/dependants the ability to complement their traditional 9-3 with something fun, outdoors and rewarding (a little different to sitting on a desk thinking about your 11+).
The costs of allotment space are nominal, plus there are plenty of local allotments that would benefit from the input of families with the energy behind them. You can start small and turn part of the garden into a mini-allotment.
If anyone would like some advice on getting started, then please leave some comments or get in contact via our social media channels – we would love to help. If you want to share and get behind kids growing then follow #LetChildrenGrow
Munching Mouthfuls 