Yard Work with Kids

Maintaining the yard is a full-time job, and most of us can’t afford gardeners. As an alternative, we enlist our youngsters within the course of. Fortunate them. And fortunate us!

 Getting children to assist with yard work is often simpler than getting them to assist with indoor chores. Kids like to be exterior.

They like to play within the dust. They love something to do with squirting water.

Some yard upkeep, comparable to mowing, requires no motivation. Kids like to deal with something that has a motor and the facility to maim or kill them. Here is how one can maintain yard work protected for all concerned.

Beware the Lure of the Garden Mower for Kids

Kids, particularly boys, are born with a love of garden mowers. They’re massive, they’re noisy, they’re harmful – what extra might a rising boy ask for?

Therein lies the issue. Adults, particularly mothers, do not like garden mowers for exactly the identical causes.

Subsequently, it fits each events if older children do the mowing, so long as a couple of security precautions are noticed. 

Nobody below the age of 14 ought to deal with a garden mower, a weed whacker, a chipper-shredder, or different probably harmful, sharp-edged, debris-spewing machines. Or, for that matter, pruners and different sharp-edged backyard instruments.

And oldsters ought to by no means take children for pleasure rides on a lawnmower. It offers them exactly the fallacious message. Mowers will not be toys. Kids are apt to slide and fall below the blades.

Do not even let children close to while you’re mowing as a result of the mower might spit rocks out, or you would additionally by chance again over them. Ship the youngsters (and pets) inside whereas mowing.

Enjoying Secure with Yard Work and Kids

When you’re mowing, set a protected instance, and all the time put on lengthy pants, sturdy sneakers (not sandals), gloves, and goggles. 

Don’t attempt to free objects which are caught within the mower blade with your hand, even when the mower is turned off. There could possibly be residual pressure that can spin the blade as soon as the thing is eliminated.

Natural Gardening and Garden Upkeep

Dad and mom often like having a lush inexperienced carpet of grass for his or her children to play on. However simply make it possible for that carpet is not poisoning your children (and pets).

And even when your garden is only for present and the youngsters by no means go close to it, these chemical compounds wash off your garden, down the gutter, and finally into our water provides.

For those who backyard organically, nevertheless, you will not want chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides. Listed here are a couple of concepts:

Nice Grass and Floor Cowl

For those who purchase the proper of grass in your local weather and backyard soil, you may have denser, more healthy grass that can choke out many of the weeds.

You can even weed by hand. Or you would plant a groundcover comparable to chamomile or creeping thyme as a substitute of grass – your name.

Pure Alternate options to Herbicides and Chemical Fertilizers

One pure various to business herbicides is making use of a layer of corn gluten, which retains weed seeds from germinating.

An natural various to fertilizer is merely leaving the grass clippings on the garden after you mow. When the clippings decompose, they may return nitrogen to the soil.

For those who insist on chemical compounds, be as protected as doable. Know every part you’ll be able to concerning the chemical compounds you’re utilizing. At all times retailer them out of attain of youngsters. And by no means let children aid you fertilize or unfold herbicides or pesticides.

Apply business fertilizers in late October after the youngsters have come indoors for the winter. This timing may even assist the grass develop a wholesome root system for the winter forward.

Age-Acceptable Yard Work for Kids

As I discussed earlier than, mowing will not be a protected chore for small children. As an alternative of mowing, there are different, safer, methods children can assist with yard work.

Our job as dad and mom is to determine how one can get them to assist out with the kid-friendly facets of yard work comparable to weeding, watering, or simply selecting up their bicycles.

For instance, after an grownup or older child has completed mowing, youthful children can assist collect up the grass clippings and take them to the compost pile.

Kids are additionally nice at edging – utilizing a spade or particular edging software to stipulate a backyard mattress, driveway, or path. 

One of many hardest components of garden care is holding it from taking up the driveway and sidewalks. This is a wonderful chore for youths as a result of they’re low to the bottom, anyway.

One other activity children can often do is function leaf blowers – they usually sometimes love to take action! These are protected to make use of, however inform children to not intention them at anybody – together with the poor canine or cat! – and to put on a masks and earplugs when utilizing them.