Planning The Suburban Garden 8 - Children

We all love children and want them to enjoy themselves but do we love them in the garden?

If you are a parent then you need to plan the garden to cater for there needs over the period from toddler to adult. If you have children as occasional visitors, for example, grandchildren, then you have to be mindful of their needs and problems.

Small children
If you are, or want to be, a parent then you will have children in your garden for a long time and for most of that time they will have different needs so it is important to realise this and plan ahead.

A play area can be, in many eyes, an unsightly addition so first of all make sure that the area is screened - but not so screened that you are unable to watch what is going on. This is difficult and the best advice is to not shield the area while children are very young but add some form of border as they grow.

The provision of a sand pit and adventure area is to be recommended if you have the room but make sure that you plan it with safely in mind.

To cater for growth, a sand pit can later become a raised garden with little modification and an area with play equipment can later but turned into a private garden once the children are grown.

Safety
Make sure that ponds are well protected or, if you have small children, don't have one until the children are older.

Make sure you can supervise children and watch what they are doing at all times and ensure that you can see where they are in the garden. This includes making sure that the borders are secure and that fences are maintained.

Occasional little visitors
If you have children as occasional visitors follow the safety ideas above and also try to make a garden interesting for them. Having a special little garden for grandchildren will captivate them and teach them the importance of gardening from early on while providing access to a wild area will allow them to study nature as they get older.

It goes without saying that borders must be maintained and garden features that could be a hazard like ponds should be well protected.

There are many different ideas for play areas and equipment is easy to find so making provision for children is far from the hard task it was a few years ago.

Yes, we love children in our garden and are always ready to cater for them and help them learn to understand the appreciate the beauty and the best that a garden and gardening has to offer.