Schools need flower gardens
Elementary kids need to know three things to succeed.
They have value.
All people have value.
Shining the light on all the beauty and value of others will change the world.
Thought it was going to be reading, writing, and arithmetic? They do need those. They will succeed better if they have the three I lead with. Our communities will thrive if we teach the first three alongside the second three.
We, the generation ahead of this country's youth, have lost our way and moved from lifting people up to knocking them down if they don’t agree with us 100%. Instead of blaming the kids for not having these skills we need to fill the gap and teach them what we know. We have to help our kids turn this around.
We need to plant flower gardens at our schools—all schools. If there isn’t room for them, we should make room or grow indoor plants in every possible corner of the schools.
How will flowers and plants help kids understand the three things they urgently need to know?
Gardening improves self-esteem. Self-esteem is key for people to feel they have value and are worthy of good things, and are capable of doing amazing things from beginning to end.
Gardening increases social connections around a topic that brings people together. I've never met a gardener who wasn’t excited to talk about how or why they did something. This is so true that if you are in a hurry, don’t ask a gardener about their garden or how they grew something.
The flower garden is full of beauty. Cutting those flowers and sharing that beauty is a powerful way to share beauty and remind others of the simple beauty in the world.
