TEACHING OUR CHILDREN TO SHARE IN THE ABUNDANCE OF THE EARTH
Karen Schachter, contributing editor
Ahhh...juicy blackberries, sweet peaches, ripe tomatoes, fresh corn, yummy watermelon...the late summer season abounds with deliciousness!
Come to think of it, each season abounds with its own version of deliciousness: Fall brings us comforting root vegetables, like sweet butternut squash and bright red beets; winter ushers in beans and hearty, homemade soups of all kinds; and spring is abundant with bright green leafy vegetables popping out of the ground everywhere!
As we move from season to season, from warm to hot to cool to cold and back again, the conditions of the earth change, and these changes determine which foods are able to grow. And interestingly, according to some health experts, the foods that are grown in each season, in our local area, are precisely the foods that are better for our health during that time!
Yet, in this global economy, in this modern-day world where we can walk into a grocery store and get anything we want anytime of the year, it’s easy to forget the connection with the seasons and earth. As a result, the shelves look almost identical in January as they do in June!
Unfortunately, the greatest “victims” of this disconnection are our children. Many children today believe that their food originates in the grocery store, and comes straight out of plastic bags or cardboard boxes. They are presented with bright orange cheese that comes from a squirt can or a powdered mix and we all know this has no connection to a cow!
Yikes!
As a result, they crave the highly-processed, artificially-sweetened and colored cereals, crackers and candies that are made in a factory; perhaps on the other side of the world, and bear no resemblance to real food that comes from the ground!
Yet it doesn’t have to be this way! Children are very malleable and love having the opportunity to plant, pick, touch, and see where REAL foods come from. And when they have this opportunity, they begin to understand that “food” is not simply something to put in their mouths because it tastes good and feels good in that moment, but real food is actually good for you.
In my healthy eating classes for children, instead of labeling foods as “bad” or “good”, I talk about “real foods” and “fake foods.” “Real foods,” I tell them, are “growing foods.” They aren’t called “growing foods” simply because they help them grow bigger and stronger and healthier, but because real foods actually GROW! Whether in the form of a plant or an animal, growing food comes from the earth. Fake food, simply put, comes from a factory.
Children naturally want to protect the earth, connect with the seasons, and do what is good for their bodies. Yet with the distractions of brightly colored boxes and toys being given as bribery to entice children, parents are up against a lot of external pressure!
Here are a few simple ideas to help you and your family share the abundance that the earth, with its changing seasons, has to offer us:
- Head out to a Farm! Allow your children to see and even touch the animals and vegetables, reminding them that this is where real food grows!
- Spend time at a Farmer’s Market. Remind your children that the people selling food here actually grew their own food, on the land. Taste the samples, talk to the farmers.
- Play “hunter” and “gatherer.” Teach your kids how people — a long, long time ago — used to eat. Help them think through what they might have had in each season.
- Grow your own veggies or herbs! Let the kids help plant, water, pick and prepare. And then let them taste them.
- At each meal, before you start eating, say “thank you” for the earth, the farmers, and for the food for bringing you this nourishment. This is a very simple reminder to your children of our powerful connection to the good things that have been provided for us through the earth.