-
Raising plants for food and taking care of pets at times can help small school children to learn life essential skills. While this teach them sense of responsibility and bonding with animals, sometimes it can impact their health due to the harmful chemicals present in the soil and further pets may harm them if too much agitated.
It is very important to understand as a young person that how and from where we get the food, what it takes to grow the vegetables we eat every day. If as a young person they know the effort and time required to grow plants, then they will be more responsible in consuming the end product. Secondly, bonding with a different species such as dog or cat can make young ones compassionate towards them from early age therefore they will be more caring towards everyone.
However, gardening comes with its own risks such as hazardous ingredients in topsoil can impact the health of the children. Unless the soil used for plantation is organic, it may contain chemicals such as urea, phosphorous, sulphur which are dangerous not only for the skin but also for the eyes. Threats are also associated in keeping pets for example pet may infect adolescent or may bite if not supervised carefully.
In the end, I would recommend that schools should start planning to introduce plantation methods and taking care of pets at the young age. Although it appears to be a straight forward task, we must ensure the health and safety of kids while doing so.
